Substantial Rehab Exemption Not Effective Until DOB Issued Letter of Completion

Landlord applied to the DHCR for a ruling that its building had been substantially rehabilitated and therefore was exempt from rent stabilization. The DRA ruled for landlord but specified that all tenants who lived in the building prior to June 28, 2016 -- the date the DOB Letter of Completion states that the work at issue was completed and signed off on -- remained rent-regulated for the duration of their tenancies. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord claimed that the rent stabilization exemption should be effective upon completion of the work in September 2012, not as of the date of the DOB Letter four years later. But the work and related activity such as inspections, approvals, and so forth, continued under the DOB Job Number well after September 2012. Many of these items in the DOB file were related to the building-wide and individual apartment systems replaced as part of the substantial rehab.

Jefferson Estates LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. HX210012RO (12/16/20) [3-pg. doc.]