Beginning in March 2009, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) began installing Automated Meter Reading (AMR) transmitters on water meters throughout the city. This is a three-year project designed to virtually eliminate estimated bills and provide apartment owners with...
The Tenant Protection Act, which gave tenants the right to sue owners in Housing Court for using threats or other disruptive tactics to force them out, was upheld in a recent State Supreme Court ruling. The law made harassment a housing code violation and allowed a judge to impose civil...
QA tenant has just notified us that his girlfriend has been an occupant “domestic partner” for the past year by recently filing the “Notice to Owner/Succession Rights” DHCR form. The tenant is an 89-year-old rent-controlled...
QI have a mixed-use building with both commercial and residential tenants. When I apply for a major capital improvement (MCI) rent increase based on elevator upgrades and related engineering costs, will some of the MCI costs be passed on to the...
QIf I made improvements to a rent-stabilized apartment that qualify for a 1/40th rent increase, but I don't list those improvements on the annual rent registrations that I file with the DHCR, will I be disqualified from collecting the rent...
QI recently got a violation from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) for not having a superintendent living in my building or within 200 feet or one block of my building. To correct the violation, I would like to recover a...
QMy buildings have master antennas that have been registered with the DHCR as a provided service. Only a handful of tenants do not have cable and are using the master antenna for their television broadcasting. What impact will the analog-to-digital...
QIf a tenant denotes a specific month to which to apply his rent payment, is the owner still allowed to apply the rent payment to the arrears and not to the specific month noted on the tenant's check?
In an attempt to address affordable housing issues in New York City and surrounding communities, the state assembly overwhelmingly passed a sweeping 10-bill legislative package that, among other things, would scale back increases on rent-regulated apartments statewide, returning to regulation...
The Section 8 program is a federal program that helps people with low income pay rent to a private apartment owner. While a Section 8 tenant may have a lease with you, the tenant will also have a contract with a housing agency that pays part of your rent and “administers” the voucher...
QA tenant signed and returned a lease that is now in effect. After I mailed his copy of the lease back to him, I realized that a calculation error was made in the tenant's favor. Therefore, I sent him an adjusted lease with the correct figures...
QI have a rent-stabilized tenant who I suspect may be here on a foreign tourist visa. Would you review the requirements for evicting a rent-stabilized tenant on the basis of nonprimary residence, and give me more information on whether I can show the...
