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On Jan. 15, Governor Cuomo announced a major settlement agreement between New York State's Tenant Protection Unit (TPU) and Castellan Real Estate Partners/Liberty Place Property Management.
Artists living in a former luggage factory in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood are fighting back against rising rents by pushing for their units to be declared rent stabilized. They’re arguing that because the buildings were constructed before 1974 and the landlord hasn’t significantly renovated them, their apartments should be converted into rent-stabilized units, with lower monthly payments protected by law. The current owner bought the building in 1999, and tenants first began moving into the converted space in 2000.
Internal auditors of the New York City Housing Authority have revealed that 319 of NYCHA’s vacant apartments have been vacant for an average of seven years, with some sitting empty for as long as two decades, because the agency can’t afford to make repairs. With nearly 179,000 public housing apartments, NYCHA plays a key role in preserving the affordable housing the city already has. Although NYCHA has reduced the number of unoccupied units in recent years, it still allows many units to stay empty for long periods, auditors found.
Mayor Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Operations Cas Holloway, and the RAND Corporation recently released a study finding numerous gaps in the National Flood Insurance Program that will significantly increase flood insurance costs for New York City.
Recently, the Division of Housing and Community Renewal’s (DHCR’s) Office of Rent Administration (ORA) released its 2013 Annual Review. The publication gives an overview of ORA’s various bureaus that are charged with effectively administering New York State’s rent laws and maintaining the stock of affordable rent-stabilized and rent-controlled housing.
Smart Apartments, a short-term housing operator that put up visitors in illegally converted apartment buildings, will pay a $1 million penalty to the city and be permanently banned from running its operation. “Unregulated illegal hotels are unsafe and pose a danger to the community and those who unwittingly use them,” Mayor Bloomberg said in a statement.
As part of its continuing efforts to make New York City better prepared for future hurricanes, the City Council recently passed a package of legislation that’s intended to strengthen building standards and enhance building and infrastructure resiliency against the effects of future storms such as Superstorm Sandy. Mayor Bloomberg signed the bills into law on Oct. 2, 2013.
A 79-year-old rent-stabilized tenant is at the center of a bankruptcy case that may pose a risk to her and the millions of other New Yorkers who live in rent-stabilized apartments.
The tenant, unable to keep up with her bills after her husband’s death, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy two years ago. She has no assets and no income other than Social Security. Typically under such circumstances, following a bankruptcy filing, she wouldn’t have to pay the $23,000 she owed.
The Department of Buildings announced that the deadline to file 2012 Category 1 Elevator Inspection and Affirmation of Correction Reports has been extended to Dec. 31, 2013. This extension applies to reports for unsatisfactory Category 1 inspections for the calendar year 2012 inspection cycle.
Even after owners hired a private investigator to document a tenant’s illegal short-term rental activities, the Nolita tenant has managed to avoid getting evicted, due to a technicality.
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