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At some point, you may want building staff to work overtime or to handle an extra job. But whether you’re asking a doorman to work extra hours to fill in for vacationing employees or offering a handyman a lump sum to paint an apartment on a Saturday, you need to make sure you pay that employee the right amount.
If you plan to send the annual Department of Health & Mental Hygiene (DOHMH)-required window guard notices to your tenants by Jan. 16, 2017, you may believe you’ve fully complied with your window guard obligations. That’s just the first step, however. If a tenant hasn’t signed and dated the notice and sent it back by Feb. 15, 2017, and you don’t know whether he or she wants or needs window guards, DOHMH regulations require you to do more.
One day you may get an order from the District Rent Administrator (DRA) denying you a rent increase you think you’re entitled to, or unfairly finding that you’ve overcharged a tenant for decreased services. As a result, you may find yourself filing a petition for administrative review (PAR) with the DHCR to appeal the DRA order. But it’s important to keep your cool when you appeal the order. You want to handle the paperwork correctly and avoid mistakes that could delay or even cost you your appeal.
When you sue to evict a tenant for not paying rent, chances are the tenant will claim in court that his apartment needs repairs and use that as an excuse for not paying rent. For example, the tenant may say he’s not paying rent because you haven’t painted his apartment in five years. You can usually reach a settlement with the tenant in these cases. You and the tenant sign a settlement agreement—known legally as a “stipulation”—in which you agree to make any needed repairs and the tenant agrees to pay the rent.
You may unknowingly break the law each time you fire or lay off an employee. That’s because there are several state and federal laws that employers must follow when they terminate an employee. These laws involve a lot of paperwork, especially if the terminated employee participated in a group health insurance plan. Owners may be unaware of these laws or unsure of their requirements. But it’s important to be aware of these laws because owners can get hit with hefty fines and even lawsuits if owners fail to comply.
On July 6, 2016, the New York State Department of Health’s final regulations applicable to all owners of buildings with cooling towers went into effect. The new regulations grew out of emergency regulations the Department adopted last summer when 138 residents of the South Bronx fell ill with legionellosis, and 16 people died. The source of the South Bronx outbreak was determined to be a cooling tower. Cooling towers are part of a recirculated water system incorporated into a building’s cooling, industrial, refrigeration, or energy production system.
In April, HUD’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) issued guidance addressing how refusing to rent or renew a lease based on an individual’s criminal history could violate the Fair Housing Act (FHA). Although the guidance does not have the force of law, it shows how HUD intends to interpret and enforce the Fair Housing Act.
Few things can cause headaches or lower the value of your building faster than a disruptive or destructive tenant. If you do nothing while a tenant harasses other tenants, you could run into trouble later on. If the tenant harms another building tenant, you may be brought into court to explain why you didn’t take any action to get rid of the troublesome tenant. Or other building tenants may start withholding rent, or move out, because of the tenant’s activities. Or if the tenant damages your building, you may be stuck with costly repairs.
Even though your lease bans pets, a tenant may violate the lease by moving in with a pet—or by bringing in a pet sometime later. In either situation, you want to get the pet out. While you can always seek the tenant’s eviction as a last resort, you can first try to get the tenant to voluntarily remove the pet. But you must act quickly.
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