Some Apartment Alterations Changed Building's Room Count for MCI Purposes

Landlord applied for MCI rent hikes based on the installation of plumbing and gas repiping. The DRA ruled for landlord, and tenants appealed. The DHCR ruled for tenants in part. Tenants claimed that landlord's count of 114 rooms was incorrect since there were now at least 125 room following building alterations that included the addition of partition walls within several apartments. Also, in a prior MCI case, landlord had listed 118 rooms. Landlord said that the rooms were reduced to 114 due to removal of a former four-room basement apartment. Landlord also claimed that the building alterations didn't change the room count under the DHCR's definition of a room. The DHCR stated that alterations to an apartment that result in the creation of a new room without any actual change to the overall square footage of the apartment aren't sufficient to modify the room count for MCI purposes. However, landlord's count of 114 rooms was inaccurate because two apartments had been converted into duplexes. The former basement apartment had been converted to private recreation rooms attached to the duplex units via interior staircases. This increased the square footage of the two first-floor apartments. So the room count was 118, not 114. This resulted in a modification of the total cost of the MCI per room.

Reubel/Cox/Green: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. EO430021RT (6/15/17) [3-pg. doc.]