Feature Articles

How to Tell If Tenant Has Corrected Illegal Sublet

November 26, 2018

Before you sue to evict a tenant for illegally subletting an apartment, you must send the tenant a legal document called a “notice to cure,” which gives the tenant a chance to correct the illegal sublet. If you end up in court on your illegal sublet claim and win, the court will...

Stovetop Knob Cover Law Goes into Effect on Dec. 6

November 26, 2018

Effective Dec. 6, 2018, per Local Law 117, the owner of a multiple dwelling must provide stove knob covers for gas-powered stoves where the owner knows or reasonably should know that a child under 6 years of age resides. Owners must also provide stove knob covers in a unit without a child under...

Asthma-Free Housing Act Goes into Effect Jan. 19

November 26, 2018

This past January, the New York City Council passed Local Law 55, the Asthma-Free Housing Act. The law intends to combat rising asthma rates and improve the quality of life for more than one million New Yorkers who have been diagnosed with asthma. Effective Jan. 19, 2019, under Local Law 55 of...

Take Complaints About Tenants’ Secondhand Smoke Seriously

November 9, 2018

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), secondhand smoke exposure contributes to approximately 41,000 deaths among nonsmoking adults and 400 deaths of infants each year. Secondhand smoke causes stroke, lung cancer, and coronary heart disease in adults. And children who...

Check to Make Sure Person Who Signs Renewal Lease Is the Tenant

October 24, 2018

Generally, tenants in rent-stabilized apartments must be offered renewal leases. The renewal lease can be for a term of one or two years, at the tenant’s choice and is at a rate set by the Rent Guidelines Board. The renewal lease offer must be made on a form created by or on a facsimile...

DHCR Increases Air-Conditioner Rent Surcharge for 2018–19

October 24, 2018

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 $26.42, up 40 cents from $26.02 last year. This year’s decrease reflects a 1.5 percent...

Building Owner Heating Obligations as 'Heat Season' Begins

October 24, 2018

During the previous “heat season,” the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) fielded 215,138 heat complaints, an increase of 7.8 percent as compared to the previous heat season. The current heat season begins on Oct. 1 and continues through May 31, 2019. During...

Submit Tenant Protection Plan, Post Notices for Buildings Occupied During Construction

September 20, 2018

Last year, the city’s focus on tenant harassment culminated in Mayor de Blasio signing a package of bills into law that gave sweeping protections to renters against tenant harassment and unsafe living conditions. Among the bills signed into law was one for an Office of the Tenant Advocate...

Important 'Four-Year Rule' Decision for Owners in Rent Overcharge Dispute

September 20, 2018

In August 2018, the Appellate Division for the First Department ruled that, in the absence of fraud, there is a strict four-year lookback limit to calculate damages in rent overcharge cases where an apartment was incorrectly deregulated during the owner’s receipt of J-51 benefits. “...

Start Compiling Bedbug Infestation History for HPD Reporting Requirement

September 20, 2018

In 2017, Local Law 69 passed requiring all multifamily owners to attempt to obtain bedbug infestation history from tenants, including any remedial or eradication methods they used. By state law, owners were already required to notify prospective tenants about bedbug infestations within the last...

How to Comply with NYC's New Smoking Policy Rule

August 27, 2018

In August 2017, New York City passed Local Law 147, which requires residential buildings with three or more residential units to create a policy on smoking and to share it with current and future tenants. For years, the city has banned smoking in the common areas of buildings with 10 or more...

How to Calculate RGBO #50 Vacancy Lease Increases

August 27, 2018

If you sign a vacancy lease with a tenant between Oct. 1, 2018, and Sept. 30, 2019, the new order issued on June 26 by the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB)—RGBO #50—lets you collect the vacancy increases permitted under the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1997 (RRRA).