No MCI Increase for Group Work Where MCI Application Decided Post-HSTPA

Landlord applied for MCI rent hikes based on building-wide kitchen and bathroom modernizations. The DRA ruled against landlord, who appealed and lost. Effective June 14, 2019, HSTPA amended rent control and rent stabilization laws to eliminate "group work" done in individual apartments. The kitchen and bathroom work therefore was no longer eligible for MCI rent increases. Landlord had filed its MCI application on May 22, 2018, and argued that it had been penalized by the DHCR's undue delay in processing the application. Landlord also claimed that HSTPA shouldn't have been applied to its application since it was pending on the date HSTPA became effective. But, unlike some other sections of the HSTPA, the MCI provisions didn't state that HSTPA changes were limited to proceedings commenced on or after HSTPA's enactment date. And rent regulation didn't confer vested rights. There was no guarantee of receiving a future rent increase simply because landlord had filed an MCI application. And the length of time landlord's application was pending before HSTPA took effect didn't create an entitlement to the relief sought.

667 East 232 LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. HM610033RO (11/3/22)[2-pg. document]