Landlord Not Required to Install Smoke or CO Detectors in Hallways

Landlord asked the DHCR for permission to modify building services by eliminating a requirement that smoke and carbon monoxide detectors be installed in the building's hallways. The DRA ruled against landlord because it didn't have the authority to rule on this issue. The DRA directed landlord to address its request to HPD.

Landlord appealed and won. In a prior noncompliance proceeding that landlord had settled with the DHCR in connection with a service reduction order, the DHCR had directed landlord to either install the missing hallway smoke and carbon monoxide detectors or to file an application to modify services to eliminate that installation requirement. So the DHCR had already assumed jurisdiction over this matter. Landlord claimed that there never had been smoke or carbon monoxide detectors in the hallways. Tenants didn't refute landlord's claim, and DHCR records showed that there was no indication that smoke and/or carbon monoxide detectors had previously been installed in the common-area hallways of the building. There also was no law requiring smoke or carbon monoxide detectors in the hallways of this building.

Stahl York Avenue Co., LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. FV430004RO (10/10/19) [3-pg. doc.]