Landlord Removed Laundry Room from Tenant's Floor

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of a reduction in building-wide services based on landlord’s removal of laundry facilities. Landlord didn’t answer the complaint and the DRA ruled for tenant and reduced her rent. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord argued that the case should be reopened, that the removal of any laundry room didn’t warrant a rent reduction, and that it had replaced the laundry facilities. But landlord failed to answer tenant’s complaint before the DRA within 60 days or within the additional 10 days granted by the DRA’s final notice of pending default. In addition, tenant claimed that landlord had removed 24-hour laundry rooms with washers and dryers that were on each floor of the building. Landlord’s correspondence confirmed this. Landlord claimed that it had installed a temporary laundry room that would soon be replaced by a permanent laundry room in the building, but this was not raised before the DRA.

HFZ 235 West 75th Street Owner LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. DW410003RO (4/13/16) [3-pg. doc.]