Landlord Submitted Insufficient Proof of Substantial Rehab

Landlord applied to the DHCR for a ruling that its building was exempt from rent stabilization based on substantial rehabilitation in 2021. The DRA ruled against landlord, who appealed and lost. Landlord argued that the DRA was wrong to deny landlord's request for additional time to submit documentation supporting its application. The DHCR found that the DRA had given landlord ample time to submit additional information requested, and wasn't required to keep landlord's application open for an indefinite period while landlord searched for additional proof. Landlord failed to submit contractor invoices, cancelled checks, and work contracts, and should have had those records since the work had been done in 2021, shortly before landlord submitted its application to the DHCR. The DHCR need not consider a DOB Letter of Completion submitted for the first time with landlord's PAR. And, even if considered, the Letter of Completion by itself didn't prove the sub rehab given the lack of other evidence. Landlord also admitted that it didn't replace 75 percent of the required building systems. There was no proof that some systems had been "recently installed or upgraded" so that they were structurally sound and need not be replaced as part of the claimed substantial rehabilitation.

W 36th Villa, LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. KV210022RO (1/24/23)[3-pg. document]