Stucco Restoration Doesn't Qualify as MCI

The DRA denied landlord’s MCI rent increase application, which was based on the restoration of exterior stucco walls at the building. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord argued that only the stucco exterior walls were restored because the brick exterior walls were pointed about 10 years earlier and the useful life of the pointing hadn’t expired. But it is established DHCR policy that, to qualify as an MCI, the resurfacing of exterior walls with stucco must be performed on the entire area of all exposed sides of the building. Landlord claimed that the front façade was brick and didn’t require resurfacing. But the brick portions of the facades must either be completely pointed or re-bricked in order for the stucco resurfacing to be considered an MCI. And if the brick façade was pointed 10 years earlier, as landlord claimed, the resurfacing would be considered to have been performed piecemeal, and therefore was ineligible for an MCI rent increase.

419 West 47th Street LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. BN410029RO (6/24/16) [1-pg. doc.]