Major Capital Improvements

[digerati]

Is it possible to get a hold of an MCI application a LL filed with the DHCR to justify the rental increase? Can I just go and ask a clerk at the DHCR Rent Office for a copy?

[Phil Cohen]

You need to file a request for access to public records--the form can be downloaded from the DHCR website.
Is this a new application or one that was already approved and is final? If it is a new application you should have been served with the MCI application already. If not -- if you or other tenants haven't been served--that is grounds to object.
If it is old, am not sure why you'd need the application. What you need is the order, assuming it is final.

[digerati]

Thanks Phil.

Went to the lower Manhattan DHCR rent office today and asked for the MCI application. The woman I spoke with told me the same thing you said.. that I need to fill out a request for public records. She pointed to a part of the request I must fill out which indicates the docket number for the document I'm requesting. When I asked for the number from her, so I could enter it for the request, she grudgingly went back to her desk to get it. When she came back however, to my amazement, she said there was no MCI application (or order) on file for my apartment (or building)! I then asked for a certification of this fact, and for a third time she went back to her desk, printed out all of the "building cases," certified it.. and gave me a copy. It didn’t seem like a regular practice of hers, so I glad my persistence paid off!

[Phil Cohen]

Interesting. What made you think there was an MCI pending for your apt?

[digerati]

Well, I hear from neighbors the apartment was renovated a few years back. Also, the majority of the units in the building have not been renovated for decades, literally. So compared to those, mine is virtually brand new.

So, I'm psyched there was no MCI application, as its currently 2 years later, and the RSC states LL's are forbidden from applying for a retroactive increase after 24 months.