Landlord Made Insufficient Request for Reasonable Cost Schedule Waiver

Landlord applied to the DHCR for MCI rent hikes based on a concrete courtyard replacement. The DRA ruled against landlord, who appealed and lost. Landlord argued that its Reasonable Cost Schedule waiver application should have been granted, along with the MCI rent increases. The DHCR noted that, when landlord's application was filed, the DHCR's Reasonable Cost Schedule in effect on June 16, 2020, didn't list "concrete courtyard" in its schedule. So, the DRA asked landlord to submit a waiver request of the use of the Reasonable Cost Schedule. The DRA specified that the waiver request "must be in the form of a certification by a licensed architect or engineer stating that the costs claimed by the owner for the MCI work are accurate and reasonable, provided that the architect or engineer's basis for such conclusion is credibly supported." Landlord submitted an architect's affidavit, but the DHCR found that landlord's waiver request insufficiently justified the claimed costs of the MCI. Landlord's architect stated only that the claimed costs were "accurate and reasonable" and "inured to the benefit of all tenants" because the new courtyard enhanced the building and alleviated safety concerns that the prior concrete courtyard might have posed.

Manpoint Associates, LLC: DHCR Admin. Rev. Docket No. JU210007RO (2/16/24)[2-pg. document]