Reduced Management and Security Staff Hours Were Minor Conditions

Rent-stabilized tenants complained of a reduction in building-wide services. Conditions included reduced management office hours, removal of a playground, reduced hours of unarmed security personnel, and a broken security camera system. The DRA ruled for landlord in part, finding that the reduced on-site office hours was a de minimis--or minor--condition, as was the reduction in hours for security personnel, which occurred 18 years earlier. The DRA also found that tenants didn't prove there had been a playground. But the DRA granted tenants a rent reduction based on non-operational security cameras.

Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord claimed that the security camera conditions tenants complained about were de minimis because most of the building's security cameras functioned properly. A few cameras hadn't worked since 2010 but had no impact on tenants. But the DHCR's inspector found that the working security cameras didn't produce clear or adequate images on the monitor. The security system also contained cameras that didn't function. This wasn't a minor condition.

Dunbar Owner LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. GW410017RO (11/22/19) [2-pg. doc.]