Rent Cut Order Based on Failure to Paint No Bar to Hardship Increase

(Decision submitted by Jeffrey Turkel of the Manhattan law firm of Rosenberg & Estis, PC, attorneys for the landlord.) Landlord applied for hardship rent increases for four rent-controlled apartments. The DRA ruled for landlord and increased tenants' maximum rents so that landlord would get an 8.5 percent return on the valuation of the property. Tenants appealed, claiming that landlord didn't provide essential services. The DHCR ruled against tenants. There was a rent reduction order in effect for failure to paint tenants' apartments. But painting was not an essential service, so landlord wasn't barred from collecting the hardship rent increase.

Ryan/Livingston: DHCR Adm. Rev. Dckt. Nos. LL420002RT & LL420055RT (2/19/03) [3-pg. doc.]