Remaining Conditions Not Related to Apartment Fire

Tenant complained of a reduction in services after a fire made her apartment uninhabitable. The DRA ruled for tenant and reduced her rent to $1 per month during the period she couldn't live there. Landlord later applied for rent restoration, based on the restoration of services. The DRA ruled for landlord. Tenant had acknowledged that she received keys and moved back into the apartment. Tenant then appealed the rent restoration. She claimed that there were still conditions in the apartment needing repair. The bedroom door didn't close, there was a hole in the center of the living room floor, tiles were missing from the bathroom floor, and there were cracks on the walls throughout the apartment. Tenant said that landlord didn't give her access until she signed a new lease and received the keys. The DHCR ruled against tenant. Tenant didn't raise these claims when she received the DRA's notice of landlord's rent restoration application. And the issue in tenant's complaint was whether the apartment was habitable. Once tenant was able to move back in, landlord was entitled to apply for rent restoration. The conditions now noted by tenant weren't fire-related. Tenant can file a new complaint if landlord doesn't repair the new conditions.

Clarke: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. YC210004RT (7/22/10) [3-pg. doc.]