The de Blasio administration has made recent efforts to increase protections for rent-stabilized tenants, including free legal representation for tenants in up to 15 neighborhoods. It’s also launching a new Tenant Harassment Prevention Task Force with State Attorney General Eric...
On March 27, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) formally recommended a water rate increase of 3.24 percent to the New York City Water Board. This marks the second consecutive annual increase since Mayor de Blasio took office, but the lowest one in a decade.
Two Brooklyn owners were arrested for intentionally wrecking apartments in order to drive tenants out of their rent-stabilized buildings. The owners, who are brothers collectively known as JBI Management, had destroyed the kitchens and bathrooms of two ground-floor apartments with a sledgehammer...
Mayor Bill de Blasio recently appointed a new chair of the City Commission on Human Rights (CHR): Carmelyn Malalis, a partner at the law firm Outten & Golden LLP. He also appointed eight new commissioners to the agency. Ms. Malalis replaces Patricia Gatling.
As the annual fight on increases nears, Mayor de Blasio has appointed three new members to the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) that sets rents for about one million rent-stabilized apartments in the city, completing the process of filling all nine seats with his selections.
A sweeping corruption investigation led to the recent indictment of 16 employees in the Department of Buildings and Department of Housing Preservation and Development, along with various property managers, contractors, and expeditors. The defendants are charged in 26 indictments including...
Newly elected New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie recently stated that renewing and strengthening New York City rent-regulation laws will be his “No. 1 priority” during his first public appearance with Mayor Bill de Blasio. “When it comes to the issue of affordable housing,...
City Council Member Corey Johnson seeks to introduce new legislation that would change the methodology of the city’s Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) for determining rent guidelines for rent-stabilized apartments. At a rally in front of City Hall, he said that while owners’ operating...
On Jan. 20, the City Council’s Housing and Buildings Committee held a hearing to discuss various matters related to short-term apartment rentals, especially those listed through Airbnb, the pioneering home rental service. New York has emerged as Airbnb’s largest market. The company...
Council members Mark Levine and Vanessa Gibson are co-sponsors of a City Council bill that would establish the right to legal counsel in eviction cases. The bill, Intro 214, would create a position of civil justice coordinator under the commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development. If...
Recently, an owner with illegally partitioned apartments pled guilty to negligent homicide for a 2010 fire that killed five residents. Prosecutors had filed charges against both the man accused of setting the fire and the owner. In February 2015, the owner is scheduled to be sentenced to one to...
When the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) updated its flood-zone maps for New York City, it covered 84,596 structures in the five boroughs, up from 23,885 in the 2010 maps, according to a recent report by New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer. These newly analyzed flood insurance...
