MCI Rent Hike Granted in Accordance with DHCR Reasonable Cost Schedule

Landlord applied to the DHCR for MCI rent hikes based on installation of new windows building-wide. The DRA ruled for landlord, finding it had replaced 518 windows in the building as well as nine windows in the boiler room.

Tenants appealed and lost. They claimed that landlord's claimed MCI costs were inflated, that landlord expected repayment or "kickbacks" on the work done, and that landlord didn't observe or acknowledge the DHCR's Reasonable Cost Schedule. The DHCR pointed out that the DRA specifically limited the approved MCI costs to the amount provided for under the agency's Reasonable Cost Schedule. The DHCR wouldn't consider tenants' claims concerning kickbacks and collusion since they raised this claim for the first time on appeal. And there was no proof that landlord knowingly inflated the claimed costs beyond the amount provided for in the Reasonable Cost Schedule since the MCI increases were properly limited to the amount provided for in the DHCR's Schedule. Landlord's MCI application also included an itemized list of work performed, a description of the reason or purpose of such work, and required documentation. The costs for the MCI were actual, reasonable, and verifiable.

Various Tenants of 62-60 108th Street, Forest Hills, NY: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. KM110021RT (1/26/24)[3-pg. document]