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You may feel like celebrating after you win a money judgment for unpaid rent from an ex-tenant in court. But sometimes it can be tough to get the ex-tenant to pay you the amount of the judgment. Fortunately, if you know where the ex-tenant works, there’s a way you can get the money you’re owed. You can do this by garnishing the tenant’s wages. This means that you collect a certain percentage of the ex-tenant’s salary until the judgment is paid off.
For rent-stabilized and rent-controlled apartments, a “family member” of the tenant may have the right to a rent-stabilized renewal lease or protection from eviction in an apartment under rent control when the tenant dies or permanently leaves the apartment.
On June 29, in a 7 to 2 vote, the city’s Rent Guidelines Board decided to freeze rents for rent-stabilized tenants with one-year leases. This had never been done before in the board’s 46-year history. With the rent freeze, Mayor de Blasio delivered on a campaign promise to freeze one-year rents for a year, to make up for what he regarded as excessive rent increases approved in the past. In addition to the 0 percent increases for one-year leases, a 2 percent increase was agreed upon for rent-stabilized tenants with two-year leases.
A difficult situation an owner may face is when a tenant withholds all or part of the monthly rent over a claimed problem in his apartment. For example, the tenant may claim no heat or hot water or a broken dishwasher. If you investigate the problem and find that it exists, you must then decide what to do. In certain situations, it may pay to reach an out-of-court settlement agreement with the tenant, giving the tenant a rent abatement for the months when the problem existed.
When legal rents in rent-controlled and rent-stabilized apartments reach a level of $2,500 per month, two things occur. These apartments are now subject to vacancy deregulation. If the apartment is occupied, you are allowed to initiate an annual income certification process and deregulate the apartment if the household income exceeds the definition of “high income” in the rent laws.
Cotenants are two or more tenants who rent the same apartment under the same lease. Sometimes cotenants sign at the same time or a cotenant may be added later to an existing lease. In New York City, due to the short supply and high demand for apartments, there’s a good chance that a primary tenant will approach you seeking to add a roommate to the lease. After splitting rent for a while, the roommate might want to seek the stability of knowing that he or she could stay in the apartment if the other primary tenant leaves.
The recent appointment of Carmelyn Malalis as the new chair of the NYC Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has coincided with renewed legislative interest in the Commission’s fair housing testing program. Commissioner Malalis recently testified in front of the City Council regarding Intro. 689, which would establish a testing program to root out housing discrimination in New York City.
It’s difficult to keep track of the various painting requirements that apply to building owners. If you own a building with three or more apartments or own a one- or two-family building with a tenant-occupied apartment, you must comply with Sections 27-2013 and 27-2014 of the city’s Administrative Code. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) enforces these sections.
Tenants can install and maintain their own locks on their apartment entrance doors in addition to the lock supplied by the owner. The lock may be no more than three inches in circumference, and tenants must provide owners with a duplicate key upon request. Any lease provision requiring a tenant to pay additional rent or other charges for the installation of an additional lock is void as against public policy and unenforceable (Multiple Dwelling Law § 51-c).
When a tenant passes away or moves out of your rent-controlled apartment without leaving behind any occupants who qualify as tenant-successors, the apartment becomes decontrolled or no longer subject to rent-control laws. If that apartment is in a building built before Jan. 1, 1974, containing six or more units at any time, it becomes rent stabilized. The owner must register the unit with the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) by completing the Initial Apartment Registration (DHCR Form RR-1) and must provide the tenant with a copy by certified mail.
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