It’s difficult to keep track of the various painting requirements that apply to building owners. If you own a building with three or more apartments or own a one- or two-family building with a tenant-occupied apartment, you must comply with Sections 27-2013 and 27-2014 of the city’s...
Tenants can install and maintain their own locks on their apartment entrance doors in addition to the lock supplied by the owner. The lock may be no more than three inches in circumference, and tenants must provide owners with a duplicate key upon request. Any lease provision requiring a tenant...
When a tenant passes away or moves out of your rent-controlled apartment without leaving behind any occupants who qualify as tenant-successors, the apartment becomes decontrolled or no longer subject to rent-control laws. If that apartment is in a building built before Jan. 1, 1974, containing...
Tenants sometimes treat their apartments as if they own them, making alterations without your consent. For example, a tenant may remove the existing kitchen cabinets and install his own. This could cause big problems, especially if the tenant’s alterations aren’t done properly. If...
To implement the January 2014 amendments to the Rent Stabilization Code, the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) has issued revised versions of its rent-stabilized Renewal Lease Form, as well as the New York City Lease Rider for Rent-...
If you’re like most owners who discover that an illegal subtenant is living in a rent-regulated apartment, your first reaction may be to contact your attorney and sue in housing court to evict the tenant. But this course of action doesn’t always make sense. Housing court cases based...
Although it’s currently a favorable rent regulatory environment for tenants in New York City, there are still a few ways to deregulate a rent-regulated apartment. One way that remains untouched by policy makers requires an owner to “substantially rehabilitate” their building to...
Sooner or later even the luckiest owner gets stuck with a tenant who’s not paying rent. This makes it tougher for owners to make mortgage payments and pay bills such as employee paychecks, utilities, and insurance. But before you can sue to evict, you must ask the tenant to pay the rent...
If you’re like most owners, you may be confused about what documents you’re legally required to include with the vacancy and renewal leases you offer to tenants. Both the city and federal governments have passed laws requiring you to include various documents with leases in certain...
When it comes to apartment repairs, some tenants may be highly opinionated about all aspects of how the work should be done. In one case, an apartment needed painting and plastering, but the tenant wouldn’t allow the owner’s employees access to her apartment. She demanded that they...
When you sue to evict a tenant’s family member who claims to have pass-on rights to the apartment after the tenant dies or moves out, you should try to get witnesses to testify that the family member didn’t live at the apartment. Having witnesses will bolster your case. And, as...
On May 5, the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) approved preliminary numbers for increasing rent-stabilized rents. The board approved rent hikes of between 0 and 3 percent for one-year renewal leases and increases of between 0.5 percent and 4.5 percent for two-year renewal leases commencing between...
