Landlord Improperly Reduced Size of Tenant Storage Bins

Rent-stabilized and rent-controlled tenants complained of a reduction in building-wide services based on a reduction in storage bin space previously provided. The DRA ruled for tenants and reduced their rents. Landlord appealed and lost. Six tenants had claimed that for 40 years they had access to individualized formal wooden enclosures measuring 12 feet by 5 feet with locks. Landlord replaced these bins with smaller bins measuring 4 feet by 2 feet 8 inches. This was about an 80 percent reduction in size of the storage bins. Landlord argued that tenants didn't have lease provisions concerning storage bins. But the rent-controlled tenants weren't required to have leases. And there was no dispute that landlord had been providing storage bins. Landlord's claim that it was entitled to replace the storage bins since no formal storage space existed should be addressed in a service modification application.

317 West 89th Street, LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. GU430025RO (10/17/19) [4-pg. doc.]