Online Alerts

RSS

At a recent protest in Albany, hundreds of protesters frustrated by the slow movement of proposals to strengthen tenant protections in New York State blocked access to the Senate and Assembly chambers in Albany. Sixty-one people throughout the Capitol were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

At a recent press conference, Gov. Cuomo rejected the idea of eliminating the major capital improvements (MCIs) and individual apartment improvements (IAIs) mechanisms for recouping owner capital investments in rent-regulated buildings. He said the package of reforms he and the state Legislature must agree upon should retain MCIs and IAIs but limit how long building owners can increase rents after improvements. "I support reforming them so that they're fair to the tenants," said Cuomo. "You want people to do capital improvements.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams intends to introduce legislation that would force a racial impact analysis as part of the city’s environmental impact statement of zoning changes. City-led rezonings have faced criticisms for targeting neighborhoods of color. “Rezonings have had a net effect of speeding up gentrification. If people are going to be gentrified out, that should be paid attention to and studied,” Williams said in a statement. The bill is also sponsored by Bronx City Council Member Rafael Salamanca.

For the third year in a row, New York Apartment Law Insider has been recognized by the Specialized Information Publishers Association as one of the best business newsletters published today. Also among the top three newsletters awarded was the Insider's sister publication, Fair Housing Coach, which trains property management staff nationwide on how to avoid costly discrimination lawsuits.

Mayor Bill de Blasio recently initiated NYCHA’s new lead-based paint testing program. For the first time, 135,000 apartments will be tested with portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzers. Surpassing local and federal requirements, this effort will determine the presence of lead paint and abate any hazards found in these units. These 135,000 units were built before 1978, when lead paint was banned at the federal level. Testing will be completed by the end of 2020.

Mayor de Blasio recently appointed the following five members to the Rent Guidelines Board:  David Reiss as Chair; May Yu, German Tejeda, and Alex Schwartz as public members; and Patti Stone as an owner member. The Rent Guidelines Board determines annual rent adjustments for approximately one million apartments across the city subject to the Rent Stabilization Law. The following are the appointments:

Blackstone Group will pay about $1.1 million in refunds to rent-stabilized tenants at Parker Towers in Queens. The lawsuit was initially launched in March 2018 against the Jack Parker Corporation, which accused the real estate company of illegally deregulating apartments in the 1,327-unit Forest Hills rental complex despite receiving tax breaks under the J-51 program, which requires landlords to keep their apartments rent stabilized. Jack Parker then sold the towers to Blackstone in November for $500 million, after which the firm was named as a defendant in the suit.

With rent laws coming up for renewal, landlord groups have been pushing back against the support that has been building for major reform. A coalition of New York City building owners has begun an ad campaign that calls on lawmakers in Albany to protect small property owners' ability to recover the costs of upgrading their rent-regulated buildings.

Democratic Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris both wrote legislation last year to help out rent-burdened households. They are planning to introduce new versions of those bills for this legislative session. The new proposals may create a tax credit for housing rental assistance every month. The proposals may involve a tax refund that would be paid out monthly instead of annually. The two impending bills reflect the idea that the American housing crisis will be a 2020 election issue.

A group of rent-stabilized tenants at a Brooklyn complex have filed an objection with the state’s Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) agency over the owner’s plans to install facial recognition technology at the entrance to the site. The tenants are concerned over the potential for privacy and civil liberties violations.