In our case, it is not pre-existing in teh specific apt where a rent-controlled tenant just passed away. The current sponsor/owner (an investor who bought it from the original sponsor) hopes to install a WD before the sale of the apt.Our building prohibits new ones: Can they do this?

I also cannot make sense of the below from a recent article on sponsor apts...?

"No grandfather clause. Sponsors do not need board approval for renovations, so a sponsor-owned apartment might have a washer/dryer in a building that forbids shareholders from installing them. In such cases, says Karen Sonn, a closing attorney with Sonn Associates, “the board will not grandfather that washer/dryer to the next buyer.” Sonn adds that the building’s alteration package or sales package may require the incoming buyer to do upgrades to the electric panel, windows or radiators.