On May 5, the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) approved preliminary numbers for increasing rent-stabilized rents. The board approved rent hikes of between 0 and 3 percent for one-year renewal leases and increases of between 0.5 percent and 4.5 percent for two-year renewal leases commencing between Oct. 1, 2014, and Sept. 30, 2015. Additionally, the RGB approved a sublet allowance between 0 percent and 10 percent and a special guideline for decontrolled apartments equal to th...

In late December 2013, Mayor Bloomberg signed new smoke alarm regulations that came into effect in April 2014. Local Law 112 of 2013 was signed to address the public safety concern that apartments may be equipped with smoke alarms that no longer function properly. Properly installed and working smoke alarms can provide an early warning of the presence of fire, allowing sufficient time for occupants to escape. But all too often batteries that power alarms are either remo...

In New York City, the NYC Commission on Human Rights is charged with enforcing local fair housing laws. The New York City Human Rights Law is one of the most comprehensive civil rights laws in the nation. The law prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, creed, age, national origin, alienage or citizenship status, gender (including gender identity and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, disability, marital status, and partnership status. In addition,...

The Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) recently updated its Web site with the necessary forms you have to fill out to start the process for increasing the rents of your rent-controlled apartments during the 2014–15 maximum base rent (MBR) cycle. Once you receive the orders of eligibility, you can raise your MBRs by 8.3 percent over their 2012–13 levels. The MBR increase for this cycle is higher than the 7.8 percent increase used in 2012–1...

If a rent-stabilized tenant asks your permission to sublet an apartment, you may legally refuse that request only if you have a good reason. Owners can’t “unreasonably” say no to a sublet request, according to the state’s sublet law [Section 226-b of the New York Real Property Law]. But what’s a good—that is, “reasonable”—reason for saying no?

Rent-stabilized apartments are sometimes temporarily exempt from rent stabilization. For example, while they’re occupied by the owner they are considered exempt. But when a new tenant moves in, the apartment reverts back to stabilization. In addition, you can collect the rent guidelines increases you missed out on while the apartment was exempt by pretending you increased the rent during the exempt period. And in some instances you may be able to collect a first r...

You may believe you have a right to charge extra fees to rent-stabilized tenants for certain items or services. For example, you may want to charge your tenants a fee for paying rent late or for taking over use of the elevator when moving furniture into their apartments.

As an apartment building owner, you constantly face the prospect of rent-stabilized and rent-controlled tenants getting rent cuts over service complaints. The Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) has the authority to grant rent cuts for a wide variety of service problems.

If you want to collect a rent hike for making improvements to, or installing new equipment in, an occupied rent-stabilized apartment, you must get the tenant’s written consent to the rent hike. If you don’t do this properly and the tenant challenges the rent hike by filing a rent overcharge complaint with the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), you could lose out on the rent hike.

By Eileen O’Toole, Esq.

Sometimes staff or neighboring tenants may complain about behavior by a tenant that poses a health or safety risk. They may say that a neighbor keeps animals that he’s unable to care for, or simply keeps too many. They may complain that a tenant allows his apartment to become so dirty and cluttered that there’s an offensive odor, vermin infestation, and serious risk of fire. Or a tenant may repeatedly harass other...