New Mailboxes in Same Location

Landlord applied for MCI rent hikes based on the installation of new mailboxes. The DRA ruled against landlord because the new mailboxes were installed in the same location as the old ones. Landlord appealed and lost. Installation of the mailboxes, in itself, doesn't qualify as an MCI. What qualifies as an MCI is the structural relocation of mailboxes to a more secure area behind locked doors. Here, the old mailboxes already were located in a secure area behind locked doors. So there was no basis for an MCI rent hike.

632 Carlton Ave.: DHCR Adm. Rev. Dckt. No. SF220060RO (9/15/05) [2-pg. doc.]