Online Alerts

RSS

Mayor Bill de Blasio, Department of Finance Commissioner Jacques Jiha, and Housing, Preservation & Development Commissioner Vicki Been recently announced that the city has enrolled 20,000 seniors and people with disabilities in the NYC Rent Freeze Program since expanding access in June 2014. The program, which includes the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) program and the Disability Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE) program, helps those eligible stay in housing by freezing their rent.

Airbnb’s attempt to bring landlords into the fold by offering them a cut of revenue is off to a shaky start. In an effort to get landlords to allow their tenants to rent units on Airbnb, the rental giant launched a program last month that offers landlords a cut of revenue between 5 and 15 percent from Airbnb guests in their buildings.

Under New York State's Multiple Dwelling Law, it is already illegal to temporarily rent out your full apartment for fewer than 30 days if you're not present, but, in June, a bill passed by the state legislature made it illegal to advertise the units. The bill would levy a $7,500 fine on anyone who violates it. Now, it’s up to Cuomo to either veto or sign the bill.

Citi Habitats recently became the first brokerage to partner with Rentlogic, a website that grades landlords on how they manage their properties. Launched earlier this year, Rentlogic is a database that gathers public information on complaints about issues like mold, water leaks, or construction noise for New York City multifamily properties and then uses an algorithm to give the building’s landlord a letter grade.

On April 21, 2016, Mayor de Blasio signed Local Law 45, which authorized the Department of Finance (DOF) to create a 90-day amnesty program for owners with outstanding ECB judgments. The three-month program allows participants to resolve violations they received from New York City’s Department of Sanitation, Buildings, Transportation, Fire Department, Landmarks, Parks, or other City of New York agencies and which are now in judgment.

The DOB recently implemented its “Stay Safe. Stay Put” campaign to remind New Yorkers that if one becomes stuck in an elevator, the safest place to be is inside the car. According to the DOB, elevators are among the very safest forms of transportation, but New Yorkers have been seriously injured trying to escape stalled elevators. “New York’s elevators make billions of safe trips a year, so they’re one of the safest forms of transportation – but you still need to use common sense.

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman recently announced the unsealing of a 50-count indictment charging Matthew Pappalardo and his former employer, HiRise Engineering, P.C., with allegedly altering engineering reports prepared in connection with the assessment of structural damage of residential properties resulting from Superstorm Sandy.

At a recent news conference with city officials, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, detailed an indictment charging a building owner, his manager, and a contractor with reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child, and other offenses.

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development recently issued a reminder that property owners and managing agents of multifamily residential buildings and certain one- and two-family homes are obligated to annually register their properties with HPD. City agencies rely on the contact information supplied in the registration for all official notifications, including notices of violation, as well as emergency notices in the event of an emergency at the property or a citywide emergency.

Forty-one out of fifty-one New York City council members have signed on as co-sponsors of a bill that would require photoelectric smoke detectors in residential buildings. Fire safety experts have debated for years the merits of the cheaper and more popular ionization detectors versus the more expensive photoelectric type. According to experts, ionization detectors are better at sensing flaming fires, while photoelectric detectors are more attuned to sensing smoldering fires.