Suppose a tenant’s apartment is burglarized or a building visitor falls when a stairway handrail becomes loose or something happens in your building that causes property loss or bodily injury. Are you certain your employees let you know about certain incidents like these as soon as they...
Are you paying for more oil than you’re really getting? Unscrupulous oil companies can trick owners about the amount of fuel that’s delivered to a building. Recently, a joint report released by the New York City Department of Investigation and Business Integrity Commission revealed...
When a rent-stabilized tenant complains to the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) about a rent overcharge, owners often submit contractors’ invoices as proof of the cost of the equipment installed in or other improvements made to the tenant’s apartment. Invoices can...
Suppose you’ve agreed to the pass-on of a rent-stabilized apartment to a tenant’s family member after the tenant has died or moved out. For example, you may choose not to fight the pass-on in court because the family member has a strong case that he or she is entitled to pass-on...
You may feel like celebrating after you win a money judgment for unpaid rent from an ex-tenant in court. But sometimes it can be tough to get the ex-tenant to pay you the amount of the judgment. Fortunately, if you know where the ex-tenant works, there’s a way you can get the money you...
For rent-stabilized and rent-controlled apartments, a “family member” of the tenant may have the right to a rent-stabilized renewal lease or protection from eviction in an apartment under rent control when the tenant dies or permanently leaves the apartment.
On June 29, in a 7 to 2 vote, the city’s Rent Guidelines Board decided to freeze rents for rent-stabilized tenants with one-year leases. This had never been done before in the board’s 46-year history. With the rent freeze, Mayor de Blasio delivered on a campaign promise to freeze one...
A difficult situation an owner may face is when a tenant withholds all or part of the monthly rent over a claimed problem in his apartment. For example, the tenant may claim no heat or hot water or a broken dishwasher. If you investigate the problem and find that it exists, you must then decide...
When legal rents in rent-controlled and rent-stabilized apartments reach a level of $2,500 per month, two things occur. These apartments are now subject to vacancy deregulation. If the apartment is occupied, you are allowed to initiate an annual income certification process and deregulate the...
Cotenants are two or more tenants who rent the same apartment under the same lease. Sometimes cotenants sign at the same time or a cotenant may be added later to an existing lease. In New York City, due to the short supply and high demand for apartments, there’s a good chance that a...
The recent appointment of Carmelyn Malalis as the new chair of the NYC Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has coincided with renewed legislative interest in the Commission’s fair housing testing program. Commissioner Malalis recently testified in front of the City Council regarding Intro....
