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The DOB’s Facade Inspection and Safety Program (FISP) is offering an amnesty period beginning July 1, 2020. The amnesty period will give owners who didn’t file (No Report Filed - NRF) a Façade Report during Cycle 8 the opportunity to administratively close Cycle 8 with the Cycle 9 report. The Cycle 8 reporting period ended Feb. 20, 2020.
Owners anticipating construction work in their occupied buildings must comply with Tenant Protection Plan (TPP) requirements and notices. These requirements came about in 2017 through a package of bills focusing on tenant harassment. At the time, among the bills signed into law was one for an Office of the Tenant Advocate within the Department of Buildings that monitors various protection plans for tenants and responds to complaints from tenants about construction problems.
In a preliminary vote held on May 7, the NYC Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) proposed guidelines for rent-stabilized apartments effective Oct. 1, 2020, through Sept. 30, 2021. The board voted 5-4 to endorse freezing rents on one-year leases and the first year of two-year leases signed on or after Oct. 1, 2020. During the second year of two-year agreements, rents would rise 1 percent under the proposal.
The NYC Department of Finance (DOF) requires certain owners of residential properties to file the Real Property Income & Expense Statement (RPIE) every year. The DOF needs income and expense information each year to value your property accurately. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the DOF has extended the deadline for RPIE statements and storefront registry filings from June 1, 2020, to July 1, 2020.
New York State has halted non-essential construction. On March 27, Governor Cuomo amended the executive order, which required non-essential businesses and nonprofits to limit in-person work to curb COVID-19 transmission to include the suspension of all non-essential construction. Following the state’s move, on March 30, the city’s DOB announced that all work on non-essential construction and demolition sites is suspended for the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
At the beginning of March, to kick off National Consumer Protection Week, New York Attorney General Letitia James released the top 10 consumer fraud complaints her office received in 2019. After analyzing all consumer complaints received statewide throughout 2019, the AG’s office found that landlord/tenant disputes ranked fourth, with 1,910 complaints. These complaints included disputes over security deposit releases and tenant harassment.
In 2014 and 2015, New York City experienced two deadly gas explosions that prompted lawmakers to pass gas safety legislation in 2016. One explosion in March 2014 brought down two five-story apartment buildings in East Harlem, leaving more than 100 families homeless. And the other explosion occurred in March 2015, reducing an East Village building to rubble, killing two people and injuring four people critically. Inspectors found a flexible hose attached to the gas line that was used to divert gas to apartments upstairs.
On Jan. 15, the NYC Department of Finance (DOF) announced the publication of the tentative property assessment roll for fiscal year (FY) 2021, which shows the total market value of all NYC properties for the upcoming year at about $1.378 trillion, an increase of $62 billion, or 4.7 percent from the 2020 fiscal year. According to the DOF, citywide assessed values rose by 6.7 percent, to $273.8 billion in FY 2021.
As a result of Local Law 69 of 2017, apartment building owners are required to file bedbug infestation and treatment reports with HPD annually. When the law became effective, the initial due date for the filing was Jan. 31, 2019. Now, owners are required to file a Bedbug Annual Report between Dec. 1 and Dec. 31 for subsequent years beginning in December 2019. You can find the online application through HPD’s website at https://www1.nyc.gov/site/hpd/services-and-information/bedbugs.page.
The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) made it possible to freeze rents at preferential rates for qualifying New Yorkers. The de Blasio administration has released guidance regarding renter rights under the HSTPA. This guidance will allow New Yorkers who pay preferential rents in rent-stabilized apartments to benefit from the city’s Rent Freeze Programs.
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