Court Watch
November 12, 2014
A lawsuit by owner organizations Rent Stabilization Association (RSA), Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP), and the Small Property Owners of New York (SPONY), as well as individual property owners, was filed early this year in Brooklyn State Supreme Court to challenge the January 2014...
Court Watch
November 12, 2014
The Appellate Division, First Department, ruled in October 2014 that, once a building receives J-51 tax benefits, owners are forever barred from seeking luxury deregulation of rent-controlled apartments, even after the J-51 benefits expire. Ram I v. DHCR, 993 NYS2d 706 (App. Div. 1 Dept. 2014). The...
Court Watch
November 12, 2014
In October 2014, New York’s highest court heard arguments on three cases that raise the question as to whether tenants can pursue class action lawsuits against owners based on claims of unlawful deregulation while the buildings received J-51 tax benefits. In each case the Appellate Division,...
Landlord v. Tenant
November 12, 2014
Discrimination: Tenant Claims Therapy Dog Needed as Treatment for Disability
Landlord sued to evict tenant who kept a dog in violation of his lease and didn't remove the dog after landlord sent tenant a notice to cure. Tenant then complained to the State Division of Human Rights (DHR), claiming...
Feature
October 24, 2014
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 on...
Management Basics
October 24, 2014
The Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) recently announced an increase in this year’s air-conditioner rent surcharge for owners who pay for electricity. It set the monthly surcharge at $36.63, up from $27.89 last year. This year’s 31 percent increase reflects an 8.5 percent...
In the News
October 24, 2014
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo recently announced that the state’s Tenant Protection Unit (TPU) has signed an agreement that will end the reported harassment and intimidation of long-term tenants at several rent-regulated buildings in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Flatbush and Crown Heights. The...
In the News
October 24, 2014
Owners who currently participate in government programs that offer subsidies such as bond financing and tax breaks in return for setting aside 20 percent of a building’s units for low-income housing will be able to sell their market-rate rentals—up to 80 percent of an individual...
Feature
September 22, 2014
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 be...
Management Basics
September 22, 2014
If you own or manage a rent-regulated building with garage spaces that are also covered under rent control or rent stabilization, you must be careful when you rent those garage spaces to tenants. You can’t increase the rents of those garage spaces by more than the allowable rent control...
