Rallying for stronger rent regulations in NYC

More than an estimated 1,000 NYC residents descended upon the state Capitol in Albany yesterday to urge lawmakers to renew and strengthen rent control laws that are set to expire on Monday.

EVG reader Peter Brownscombe was there and shared these photos…









The Wall Street Journal reported the following today:

The powerful New York City real-estate industry, which is aligned with the state Senate’s Republican majority, opposes many of the regulations, saying they don’t help tenants or landlords. Many lawmakers simply want to leave Albany without upsetting the status quo this year after a tumultuous few months marred by two corruption arrests.

Real-estate executives, city officials and state lawmakers say little has been decided, and that it is likely the current rent regulations, set to expire this year, will be extended at least for a limited period. More than 1 million units in New York City are affected by rent regulations, according to a 2011 study by the Furman Center at New York University.

People familiar with the talks don’t expect the de Blasio administration to get its way on a key issue: ending “vacancy decontrol” — the practice of exempting regulated apartments from rent controls once their rents hit a threshold, currently $2,500, and letting them go for market rates. Mr. de Blasio wants to end vacancy decontrol and put a cap on rent increases, a move championed by liberal lawmakers as crucial to strengthening rent laws.

The Mayor's Office tonight sent out a link to this petition — Support Affordable Housing in New York City


[Image via the Mayor's Office]

U.S. Supreme Court rejects challenge to NYC rent control

In case you missed this earlier ... The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to the constitutionality of New York City’s rent regulations, the Times reported.

Know your rights: Help with understanding NYC rent laws

EV Grieve reader EVFlip wrote the following article... Per EVFlip: "Recently, due to a change in my building's ownership, I've become more active in housing issues. I always thought I was the only one who didn't know about NYC rent laws, but as I speak with more and more neighbors, I find that very few people know their rights."

As Mayor Bloomburg pursues rebranding New York City as a "luxury item," paving the way for aggressive landlords to clean house, New Yorkers need to educate themselves regarding their rights. Many of us have a vague idea of our housing rights and the laws concerning rent stabilized apartments.
 
If your building has six or more units and was built before 1973, then probably your apartment is, or once was stabilized. If your apartment is not currently rent stabilized, then you still need to know about rent stabilization! Roughly, an estimated 20,000 apartments are destabilized each year. Many are destabilized illegally. The tenant has four years to catch an overcharge before it becomes permanent. Illegal overcharges consistently lead to the illegal destabilization of rent stabilized apartments.
 
Too many of us depend on the perceived trustworthiness of real-estate agents, managing agents, and landlords. Their job is to turn a profit, not to advocate for you.  Just because you are presented with a lease stating that your apartments rent is X, does not mean that X is the legal rent. There is no state or city agency that will catch this. It is your responsibility to find out. 

So what can you do? 
Get your rent history! It is a simple phone call, (718) 739-6400. You'll go through a short automated menu, and then you'll speak to an operator. Ask for your full rent history, back to 1984. The operator will ask for your name and address and that's it. In a few days, you'll receive your rent history in the mail. 
 
Some management companies specialize is prepping buildings for sale. One way to do this is preferred rents. A stabilized apartment for $1600/month may be offered to let at $1,200/month.  A great deal right? Aren't they nice! Except that this preferred rent may be recinded and then a tenant is left with not only the rent increase designated by the rent Guidelines Board (RGB), but the $400 difference. 

When a tenant in a rent stabilized unit moves out, the landlord is entitled to a 20% vacancy increase. It behooves any managing agent to have a high turnover on stabilized apartments. In one paricular building on East 4th street, HALF the apartment were stealthily destabilized.  Tenants were told it was a "stabilized building" and they never questioned the agents. When the building was sold to a real estate equity firm, unsuspecting tenants found themselves with doubled rents.
 
Get a copy of Tenants Rights' Guide. It can be downloaded or you can get a printed version at the Cooper Square Committee. To download a copy go here.

Where can you find help? 
If there is any question you might have about your lease, repairs, confrontations with your landlord/managing agent, or any housing issues there is help.
 
Cooper Square Committee (You can pick up a Tenants' Rights Guide here)
61 East 4th Street
(212) 228-8210
 
Metropolitan Council on Housing
339 Lafayette Street, #301
212-979-0611 (hotline Mon-Wed-Fri 1:30 to 5 p.m.)
212-979-6238
 
University Settlement (Project Home)
184 Eldridge Street (at Rivington Street)
(212) 674-9120


Also, Henry Street Settlement, GOLES and Tenants and Neighbors too!

So, whether you are in a stabilized unit or not; get your rent history, be aware, and don't assume that your best interest is being looked after...it is not.


 

Scenes from today's march in the East Village against rent hikes

Earlier this afternoon, dozens of residents joined Council Members Dan Garodnick and Rosie Mendez for a March and Rally for Fair Rents ... The group met at the northeast corner of 14th Street and First Avenue ... and then marched to The Great Hall at Cooper Union.

EV Grieve correspondent Bobby Williams documented the march...

The Rent Guidelines Board's final vote happens next Monday at the Cooper Union's Great Hall.

For more on the story... DNAinfo ... The Local East Village ...

2 rent rallies

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Two things to consider doing tomorrow

1. Get on the bus to Albany on Monday

Tenants and our allies in the State Senate and Assembly are hoping to get a deal done on stronger rent laws Sunday or Monday. Buses are going up to Albany on Monday and if you want to let Republican state senators who are holding up stronger rent laws know what you think, here's your chance to get on the bus.

FREE buses to Albany leave Monday morning from Manhattan (95th & B¹way) and Brooklyn (Dekalb & Flatbush). Call 347-541- 3339 to reserve your seat. More buses to be announced!

Sponsored by the Real Rent Reform Campaign.

OR...

2. Join Council Members Dan Garodnick and Rosie Mendez tomorrow for a March and Rally for Fair Rents

When:
June 20 at 4pm.

Where:
Meet on the Northeast corner of E. 14th St. and 1st Ave.; march to The Great Hall at Cooper Union, 7 East 7th St. at 3rd Ave.

Why:
MARCH, RALLY, AND GIVE TESTIMONY at the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) public hearing. The RGB proposed renewal lease guidelines for rent stabilized apartments to increase rents between 3 - 5.75% for a 1 year lease, 6 to 9% for 2 years, and add a 1% surcharge for buildings with oil heat. That is way out of line with inflation and wages.

Co-Sponsors:
NYS Senators Tom Duane, Liz Krueger and Daniel Squadron; NYS Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Members Deborah Glick, and Brian Kavanagh; Community Boards 3 and 6; The Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association, Tenants and Neighbors, CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities, the Cooper Square Committee, Good Old Lower East Side, Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing, and University Settlement

Rent increase proposed; tenants are disappointed

From the Times:

The board that oversees rents for New York City’s one million rent-stabilized apartments proposed a range of rent increases on Tuesday, disappointing tenants and their supporters, who say the recession warrants a rent freeze.

In a preliminary vote, the city’s Rent Guidelines Board proposed increases of 2 percent to 4.5 percent for one-year leases and 4 percent to 7.5 percent for two-year leases. Last year, the board approved its highest set of rent increases since 1989 — 4.5 percent on one-year leases and 8.5 percent on two-year leases. The board will hold two public hearings, on June 15 and June 17; it is to take a final vote at a meeting June 23.

That time of year

CBS 2 has an early report on the Rent Guidelines Board's meeting tonight at Cooper Union.

Staying put on East Third Street

Residents at 176 E. Third Street have been offered up to $125,000 apiece to move out of their rent-stabilized apartments. They declined. As the Post notes:

The residents charge that the buyout bid by Icon Realty Management, owned by Terrence Lowenberg and Todd Cohen, would destroy the building's sense of community.
"They offered me $120,000," said Carolyn Chamberlain, 65, a secretary who pays $400 for her two-bedroom apartment in the six-story, prewar building.
"I told them I would only be interested if it was middle-six-figure offer. It's outright harassment," she said.
Alexander Camu, a bartender, said he turned down a $125,000 offer.
"I moved here when the neighborhood was crap," he said. "I turned down the offer because I'm being paid to leave my life."

Bob Arihood has been covering this story at Neither More Nor Less. Read his coverage here.

Report: State housing official nabbed in rent scam

From today's Post:

A state housing official from Brooklyn was busted for selling lists of rent-regulated tenants to builders so they could target properties for redevelopment, The Post has learned.

Keith James, 53, of Brownsville, a rent program specialist at the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, took the bribes from January 2001 to September 2005, authorities said.

A source close to the investigation told The Post that the rolls - which are not public - "are valuable because it gives developers and potential purchasers insight into the long-term revenue of a building that has rent-stabilized and rent-controlled apartments," allowing them to target buildings with fewer or older rent-regulated tenants.