Management Basics

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Local Law 55 of 2018, the Asthma-Free Housing Act, became effective on Jan. 19. Under this law, an owner of multiple dwellings will be required to inspect units annually for indoor allergen hazards, such as mice, cockroaches, rats, and mold. And it requires owners to prevent and remove these indoor health hazards that can trigger asthma.

On Jan. 15, the New York City Department of Finance (DOF) announced the publication of the tentative property assessment roll for fiscal year (FY) 2020, which shows the total market value of all New York City properties for the upcoming year at about $1.323 trillion, an increase of $72 billion, or 5.8 percent from the 2019 fiscal year.

HPD’s bedbug portal is now available and, for this current filing period, owners have until Jan. 31, 2019, to complete their annual bedbug filing. You can find the online application through HPD’s homepage under the Quick Links section at https://www1.nyc.gov/site/hpd/index.page.

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 increase in the price of electricity for electrical inclusion buildings as calculated by the Rent Guidelines Board’s 2018 Price Index of Operating Costs issued in April 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 this time period, residential building owners with tenants are required by law to provide heat and hot water to their tenants.

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 year due to the NYC Bedbug Disclosure Act. But Local Law 69 requires more frequent bedbug history updates—with each lease renewal, as opposed to each lease signing.

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).

On June 26, 2018, the New York City Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) issued an order—RGBO #50—setting the rent increases you may take for rent-stabilized tenants in New York City on leases beginning anytime on or after Oct. 1, 2018, through Sept. 30, 2019. This order’s permitted increases are the highest since 2013.

According to the order, you may take a 1.5 percent increase on a one-year renewal lease and a 2.5 percent increase on a two-year renewal lease. The board voted five in favor with four opposed to the increases.

You must file an Annual Apartment Registration application with the DHCR for every rent-stabilized apartment you own by July 31, 2018, using the DHCR’s online Owner Rent Regulation Application system. As in past years, the penalty for not filing is stiff: You can’t collect a rent increase—or even apply for one—until you file.

In January 2014, the DHCR adopted amendments to the Rent Stabilization Code (RSC). Among the amendments were more exceptions made to the “four-year rule”—the four-year statute of limitations or time limit to initiate an overcharge complaint. Generally, the statute of limitations when examining an apartment’s rent history to determine an overcharge is four years. However, as a result of the amendments, there are now exceptions for certain situations where the legal rent history can be investigated even further back.