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The de Blasio administration recently filed its first lawsuit against apartments operating as illegal hotels. The city has been granted a preliminary injunction against the owners of two residential buildings in Manhattan, where investigators claim units were rented out by the night on apartment-sharing websites like Airbnb.com and were violating fire and building code violations.
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman recently announced an agreement that requires an unlicensed tenant relocator to cease all operations. The agreement was secured following an investigation that revealed the tenant relocating company and its owner harassed rent-stabilized tenants living in three New York City buildings. The investigation also revealed that the owner operated illegally in more than 60 rent-regulated buildings, mostly in Manhattan and Brooklyn, but also in the Bronx.
A new Web app called Heat Seek NYC, which tracks ambient temperatures inside apartments with an Internet-connected sensor, is designed to be used by New York renters. Its creators are collaborating with two not-for-profit groups to launch the product. It's intended for renters, who filed some 214,000 complaints last year alone, according to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The data recorded on the app produces a log that can be printed and taken to housing court.
After Superstorm Sandy, you or your tenants may have obtained a backup generator for your building. Generators offer the convenience of using our everyday devices despite a prolonged power outage. They can even be life-saving in the case of hospitals or elderly persons who depend on oxygen machines. But they can be dangerous if used improperly. So before you fire up a backup generator, there are a few safety tips to keep in mind:
The City Council recently approved a bill that would create an online public registry of landlords who bully tenants. Illegal tactics used to force out tenants can be as simple as falsely accusing residents of not paying rent and as elaborate as starting disruptive renovations without any intention of finishing them. The legislation modified a bill passed by the council in 2008 and signed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg that allowed tenants to sue for harassment in housing court.
Recently, a falling air conditioner hit a Manhattan woman walking on the sidewalk, splitting open part of her leg, cutting her elbow, and scraping and bruising her arm. She was walking with her boyfriend when she said something hit her on the head.
The Article 8A Loan Program run by HPD provides rehabilitation loans to correct substandard or unsanitary conditions and to prolong the useful life of multiple dwellings in New York City. Rehabilitation is generally limited to the upgrading or replacement of major building systems with an emphasis on energy items. In general, loans cannot exceed the actual cost of rehabilitation. Loans are available in amounts of up to $35,000 per dwelling unit with no maximum per building, subject to the availability of funds.
The growing social networking site, LandlordsNY, is giving New York owners and managers free access to a variety of tools, resources, and services, including the ability to send questions to top industry experts, search for and get quotes from qualified vendors, and share information and advice. The Insider contributes information weekly to the site and offers LandlordsNY members discounts on its sister publications, Apartment Management Checklist and NY Landlord v. Tenant.
An eccentric investor who hoarded expensive clothes, exquisite silverware, and pricey paperweights in a two-bedroom rent-stabilized apartment allegedly left behind $18 million when he died last year. However, according to court documents, the details of his fortune's whereabouts are buried under piles of paperwork and boxes in his locked-up cluttered apartment.
Despite his wealth, the tenant chose to live in a rent-stabilized apartment on Park Avenue and East 96th Street, where he paid $1,640.85 a month. He lived there for more than 38 years.
City Councilwoman Margaret Chin (D-Manhattan) plans to introduce a resolution urging the state to bring a larger swath of the city's elderly into the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption, or SCRIE, program, which offers landlords a property tax abatement in exchange for freezing the rents of qualifying tenants.
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