Landlord Fined $90,000 in Per Diem Penalties for Adding Two Illegal Apartments

DOB issued a number of violation notices to landlord for altering a 55-apartment building without approval to add three additional basement apartments. One of these was an SRO unit. Landlord admitted that the work had been done but argued that the illegal units had been vacated. The ALJ went ahead and fined landlord additional per diem penalties for 45 days, which totalled $45,000 per unit. Landlord appealed and won in part. Landlord claimed that the per-diem penalties should have been tolled after the illegal units became vacant. ECB ruled that this reasoning applied only to the SRO unit. So the penalties were reduced by $45,000, leaving total per diem penalties of $90,000. 

DOB v. 1881 Holding LLC: ECB App. No. 2200272 (5/26/22)[2-pg. document]