Rewiring Qualifies as MCI

Landlord applied for MCI rent hikes based on building rewiring. The DRA ruled for landlord. Tenants appealed and lost. They claimed that no increase should be granted because landlord did the rewiring only to convert from electrical inclusion to individual metering where tenants pay for the cost of their electricity usage. In other words, landlord was getting an MCI rent hike while decreasing services to tenants. But the DHCR rules permit MCI rent hikes for qualifying rewiring under these circumstances. And landlord’s rewiring work otherwise qualified as an MCI since new risers and feeders extending from the basement property box to all apartments were included, along with air conditioner circuits and outlets and double outlets in the kitchens to accommodate heavy appliances.

205/209/213/215 East 66th Street: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. SD430073RT (4/8/10) [3-pg. doc.]