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The recent tragic fire that spread through a Bronx apartment building claiming the lives of 12 people including five children has been deemed New York City’s deadliest since 87 people were killed at a Bronx club in 1990. According to reports, the flames spread quickly from a ground-floor apartment and up the open stairwell, which the city’s fire chief said “acted like a chimney.” Some tried to flee down stairs that were consumed by flames and smo...

The City Council recently approved the rezoning of East Harlem, the third neighborhood to be rezoned under the mandatory inclusionary housing program (MIH). To get the rezoning plan passed, the council modified it to align more closely to the community-based planning vision and evaluated the location of vulnerable rent-stabilized housing to minimize displacement pressure. The council agreed to reduce the density and the height limits on buildings throughout the 96-block...

The City Council recently unanimously voted on the “Predatory Equity Bill,” which will create a watch list of rent-regulated buildings where tenants are potentially vulnerable to investors who may want to kick them out. The legislation requires HPD to compile a “Speculation Watch List” of rent-regulated properties with sales prices that are unusually high in comparison to similar sales in the area. City officials feel that such transactions could...

The City Council recently passed a bill implementing a new tenant protection policy. The “Certification of No Harassment” (CONH) legislation requires covered building owners seeking to demolish or make significant alterations to their building to prove they have not engaged in harassment before they can get the permits they need from the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB).

Scott Stringer, New York City comptroller, recently issued a report encouraging owners and property management companies to give tenants the ability to opt in to reporting their rent payments as a way to boost their credit scores. Looking at a sampling of tenants paying less than $2,000 a month, Mr. Stringer’s office found that 76 percent of them would see their credit scores improve if their rental payments were included. An additional 18 percent of tenants would...

A state appellate court recently approved the city’s plan to take over an owner’s properties after he allegedly failed to prevent his tenants from “Airbnb-ing” their apartments. In August, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge found the owner of several Midtown rental buildings guilty of contempt of court after a two-year-long legal battle with the City of New York.

Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced a new Mitchell-Lama Reinvestment Program. Nearly 20,000 of the city-supervised co-ops and rentals in New York City’s Mitchell-Lama buildings have left the program since 1989. The new program, with an initial infusion of $250 million, will target more than 15,000 homes over the next eight years to save Mitchell-Lamas where affordability is at risk.

Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer recently announced the start of New York City’s “Heat Season,” which legally requires all residential building owners to maintain indoor temperatures at 68 degrees when it falls below 55 degrees outside during the day, and a minimum of 62 degrees indoors overnight, regardless of outdoor temperatures. The 2017-2018 “Heat Season” began on Sunday, Oct. 1 and continue...

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, and Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced a first-of-its-kind settlement between the Tenant Harassment Prevention Task Force and ICON Realty Management. This settlement provides tenants broad relief, requiring the owner to end harassment and hazardous living conditions for the hundreds of tenants in buildings owned and managed by ICON.

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman recently announced the sentencing of Steven Croman, a landlord who owns more than 140 apartment buildings across Manhattan, for fraudulently refinancing loans and committing tax fraud. Croman was taken into custody and will serve one year of jail time on Rikers Island. As part of his guilty plea, he is also paying a $5 million tax settlement to the state; Croman paid the first $3 million of that settlement last month.