Landlord Didn't Correct Enough Violations

Landlord applied to the DHCR for an increase in the MBRs of rent-controlled tenants. The DHCR found that landlord hadn't certified that at least 80 percent of all non-rent-impairing violations recorded against the property had been corrected. The DHCR denied landlord's application. Landlord appealed, claiming that the DHCR's ruling was arbitrary and capricious. The court denied landlord's petition, and landlord appealed again. The appeals court again dismissed landlord's petition. One tenant had stated that conditions in her apartment hadn't been corrected. And the DHCR reasonably refused to waive unlawful occupancy conditions for three other apartments. Although landlord had corrected the situation, landlord had created the violations in the first place by illegally renting the apartments to professional tenants in violation of the building's certificate of occupancy

[Matter of Melohn: NYLJ, p. 27, col. 3 (2/4/93) (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Carro, JP, Rosenberger, Ellerin, Kupferman, JJ)].