No MBR Increase Due to Rodents

Landlord applied for 2008-09 MBR increases. In January 2009, landlord certified that all rent-impairing violations and 80 percent of all other violations had been cured as of six months before the filing date of the violation certification. DRA ordered an inspection to verify this. The inspector found evidence of rodents in two apartments. There were rent-impairing violations that weren’t cured. So the DRA denied landlord an order of eligibility for the MBR increases. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord claimed that the inspection took place four months after the condition had been cured and that he provided an exterminator. Tenants admitted receiving extermination services. But there was no proof that tenants were maintaining the apartments in an unsanitary condition. So the presence of rodents four months after landlord filed a violation certification wasn’t a new condition.

Kohn: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. XH420037RO (9/15/09) [3-pg. doc.]