Landlord Showed Building Was Properly Maintained During MCI Work

Landlord applied to the DHCR for MCI rent hikes based on building-wide rewiring. The DRA ruled for landlord. Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant claimed that landlord wasn't maintaining the building at the time it filed the MCI application, or since then. In response, landlord pointed out that all HPD and DOB hazardous and immediately hazardous violations were certified corrected. DOB also had signed off on the rewiring work. And there were no stop-work orders on the premises. The DHCR noted that the failure to maintain required services was generally best proved by a prior DHCR service reduction order. There was no rent reduction order here. And landlord had submitted all relevant HPD and DOB records to the DRA in support of its MCI application. The DOB sign-off also indicated that the rewiring was done in a code-compliant manner. Tenant's claim that the MCI work created dust that affected the health of children in the building was beyond the DHCR's scope of review. That kind of complaint should be addressed to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOH).

Schaya: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. LS230008RT (1/23/24)[2-pg. document]