Rent-Stabilized Tenants Object to $35 Monthly Cable TV Surcharge

Tenants complained to the DHCR of harassment, claiming that landlord unilaterally added a $35 cable TV charge to tenants' monthly rents of the building's rent-stabilized tenants. Landlord settled that case before the DHCR by agreeing that tenants didn't have to pay the cable charge, although it would continue to bill the charge to tenants.

Tenant filed an Article 78 court appeal of the DHCR's decision to close the harassment case. That case was settled by agreement that tenant would file an "AD" proceeding with the DHCR to obtain a ruling on the cable TV charges. The DRA later ruled in the AD case for tenants. The DRA found that the co-op building had recently received cable TV service through an agreement with Cablevision. This created a new service under rent stabilization, and, therefore, in order to lawfully charge tenants for it, landlord had to execute a written agreement with each tenant because some of the tenants had no need for cable service because they used their own satellite dish or the building's master TV antenna. The DRA barred landlord from collecting the surcharge.

Landlord appealed, and the case was reopened. Under Rent Stabilization Code Section 2522.10, as amended in 2000, landlord may be considered to be a provider of a utility service even if the service is generated or distributed commercially by an outside vendor. But, here, landlord was offering a new payment arrangement for an existing ancillary service. Still, the DHCR sent the case back to the DRA to determine which, if any, of the tenants had chosen to accept the offered "basic" Cablevision TV service with the accompanying TV surcharge. Proof in the form of an executed written agreement between landlord and individual tenants was needed to prove this.

Skyview Acquisition, LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. FM610045RO (9/7/18) [6-pg. doc.]