FG 420257 RO
STATE OF NEW YORK
DIVISION OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY RENEWAL
OFFICE OF RENT ADMINISTRATION
GERTZ PLAZA
92-31 UNION HALL STREET
JAMAICA, NEW YORK 11433
------------------------------------X
IN THE MATTER OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE : ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW
APPEAL OF DOCKET NO. FG 420257 RO
: DRO DOCKET NO.ZFE 420168-R
LEON S. POLL
PETITIONER :
------------------------------------X
ORDER AND OPINION DENYING PETITION FOR ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW
On July 24, 1991, the above-named petitioner-landlord filed a
Petition for Administrative Review against an order issued on June
21, 1991, by the Rent Administrator, 92-31 Union Hall Street,
Jamaica, New York, concerning the housing accommodations known as
240 West End Avenue, New York, New York, Apartment No. 16A.
The Administrative Appeal is being determined pursuant to the
provisions of the Rent and Eviction Regulations for New York City.
The issue herein is whether the maximum collectible rents
(MCR) of the subject apartment were correctly determined.
The Commissioner has reviewed all of the evidence in the
record and has carefully considered that portion of the record
relevant to the issue raised by the administrative appeal.
This proceeding was initiated on May 17, 1991, by the
tenant's filing of a rent overcharge complaint.
The Rent Administrator's order, appealed herein, listed the
monthly MCR rates for the subject apartment as $882.38 effective
January 1, 1989, $948.56 effective January 1, 1990, and $952.17
effective January 1, 1991 not including any fuel cost adjustments
for which the landlord may have filed and may have been eligible
to collect.
This order was based upon an examination of the rent records
for the subject apartment. Such records disclosed that in both
1989 and 1991 the MCR rate reached the maximum base rent (MBR)
rate in less than a full 7 1/2% MBR increase so that for those
years, the landlord was not entitled to receive a full 7 1/2% MBR
increase.
In this petition, the landlord alleges in substance that the
monthly MCR rates for the subject apartment are $917.77 effective
January 1, 1989, $986.60 effective January 1, 1990, and $1034.33
effective January 1, 1991.
FG 420257 RO
The Commissioner is of the opinion that this petition should
be denied.
An examination of the rent records in this case, including
MBR records from 1972 to the present, discloses that the January
1, 1989, January 1, 1990, and January 1, 1991 monthly MCR rates
for the subject apartment were correctly determined. Accordingly,
the Rent Administrator's order was warranted.
The landlord apparently based his calculations on his listing
of the 1987 adjusted MBR rate as $764.60 (correct unadjusted
figure is $749.47 adjusted to $759.47) which the landlord then
increased to $957.71 as the adjusted 1988 MBR rate (correct
unadjusted figure is $872.38 adjusted to $882.38). Since the MBR
cycle increase from 1986-87 to 1988-89 was 16.4% above the
unadjusted rate of $749.47 to $872.38 and then adjusted by $10.00
to $882.38 due to a service increase, the landlord's increase from
$764.60 to $957.71 is clearly incorrect. It is noted that the
landlord in the order appealed herein was credited with a $29.58
increase in the MCR due to a labor cost adjustment pursuant to an
earlier order effective March 1, 1987 under docket ZLC-000050-AC,
but in said earlier order it was stated that the MBR rate would
not be increased due to the labor cost adjustment. In addition as
noted by the Rent Administrator in some of the years in question
the landlord was correctly not given a full 7 1/2% MBR increase
because in order to effectuate this full increase, the MCR would
have to exceed the MBR and this is not permissible.
THEREFORE, in accordance with the provisions of the Rent and
Eviction Regulations for New York City, it is
ORDERED, that this petition for administrative review be, and
the same hereby is, denied, and, that the order of the Rent
Administrator be, and the same hereby is, affirmed.
ISSUED
ELLIOT SANDER
Deputy Commissioner
FG 420257 RO
|
