Useful Life of Prior Facade Work Hadn't Expired

Landlord applied for MCI rent hikes based on pointing and waterproofing. The DHCR ruled against landlord, and landlord appealed. The court denied landlord's Article 78 appeal. Landlord appealed again and lost. The appeals court found that the DHCR's decision wasn't arbitrary and capricious, but rational. The 15-year useful life of the prior pointing and waterproofing work for which landlord received an MCI rent increase in 1999 hadn't yet expired when landlord applied again in 2006. Landlord hadn't sought a useful-life waiver from the DHCR before seeking the new MCI increase. Landlord claimed that the new work was done on a different part of the building, so no useful-life waiver was needed. But the prior pointing and waterproofing was done to "all necessary areas" after landlord's contractor examined all exposed facades of the building. This meant that there would be no need for pointing on any part of the building for the next 15 years.

SP 141 E 33 LLC v. DHCR: NYLJ, 2/2/12, p. 22, col. 6 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Tom, JP, Sweeny, DeGrasse, Abdus-Salaam, Manzanet-Daniels, JJ)