As summer approaches, many of your tenants may start to install air conditioners in their windows. Or they may ask a super to do the installation for them. But air conditioners that tenants or building employees improperly install or remove may cause you big trouble. They may fall out of windows...
At a recent City Council hearing, councilmembers questioned fire and housing department leaders on the city’s safety inspections of residential buildings in the wake of a January fire at a high-rise in the Bronx that left 17 people dead. The Bronx apartment building fire, the city's...
The DHCR has finally issued rules to permit rent-stabilized leases and lease renewals to be offered and accepted through electronic means. On March 25, the DHCR issued Operational Bulletin 2022-1, entitled “Electronic Lease Offering and Tenant’s Voluntary Consent.” The bulletin...
The Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) is mandated by law to establish yearly rent adjustments for rent-stabilized apartments in New York City. The board holds an annual series of public meetings and hearings to consider research from staff and testimony from owners, tenants, advocacy groups, and...
The NYC Department of Finance (DOF) requires certain owners of residential properties to file the Real Property Income & Expense Statement (RPIE) every year. The DOF uses income and expense information gathered each year from this filing to value your property accurately for the 2023–...
A recent disability discrimination case involving an emotional support dog highlights the murky waters owners must navigate when making exceptions to pet policies as a reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities. Many leases contain “no-pet” clauses, barring pets...
Local Law 84 (LL84) requires owners of large buildings to measure their energy and water consumption annually in a process called benchmarking. LL84 standardizes this process by requiring building owners to enter their annual energy and water use in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency...
Among the numerous required postings and signage for apartment buildings in New York City, the fire safety notice that's posted on the backs of apartment entrance doors is one that has been shown to be very necessary due to recent tragic events. When faced with a fire in one’s building...
NYC Local Law 30 of 1970 stipulates that Maximum Base Rents be established for rent-controlled apartments according to a formula calculated to reflect real estate taxes, water and sewer charges, operating and maintenance expenses, return on capital value, and vacancy and collection loss...
On Jan. 18, the NYC Department of Finance (DOF) announced the publication of the tentative property assessment roll for fiscal year (FY) 2023, which shows the total market value of all NYC properties for the upcoming year at about $1.398 trillion, an increase of 8.2 percent from the 2022 fiscal...
On Jan. 4, the DHCR issued update number 1 to Operational Bulletin 2021-1. When the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) was enacted, it directed the DHCR to create a schedule of reasonable costs associated with major capital improvements (MCIs). This is the first uppdate to the...
