Is this rent increase legal?

apollonia666 · February 2006

Hey all... I'm pretty sure the answer to this question is yes, but I've had so many people express utter disbelief at the size of the amount my landlord is trying to raise my rent that I thought maybe I should see if anyone here knows for sure.

I have a one-bedroom apartment on Atlantic Avenue, near Tarjay. When I moved in, the rent was $1000 per month. After the first year, my landlord increased the rent on the new lease to $1100, and he informed me last week that if I renew again at the end of this month he's jacking my rent up to $1350. That's a 23% (well, 22.7% actually) increase over the current lease, and 35% more than when I first moved in. I've also learned that he's making similar increases with other tenants as their leases expire.

My apartment is market rate. There's one apartment in the building that's stabilized, but that's because the tenant has been there for many years and is grandfathered in. There was some tax abatement thingy some time ago that ended stabilization for everyone who wasn't there before. I looked into it really thoroughly several months ago -- checked with the city and everything. So I'm pretty sure he can do this, but thought maybe I should just ask here and see if anyone knows for sure. Bueller? Anyone?

Even if I were to find some way to stop him from making this increase, I think I might want to move anyway, so as not to give him another dime of my hard-earned money.

metulj · February 2006

We've been told to brace ourselves as our landlord raised a fellow tenant by 35%. Since we already pay $3900 a month (ah-yup), this July will be brutal. It has been a mild winter, but fuel prices sent maintenance in our building up at least in the short run. We're already looking. Mott Haven anyone?

isa · February 2006

It's time for everyone to move to Sheepshead Bay Heights.

brookfetish · February 2006

It's time to move to Philly.

apollonia666 · February 2006

I'm actually considering Astoria, which pains me to no end. I *so* don't want to leave Brooklyn!

alafairnadia · February 2006

apollonia666 wrote: I'm actually considering Astoria, which pains me to no end. I *so* don't want to leave Brooklyn!

have you tried going to a broker? I know people hate brokers, but I've found, consistently, that they can get me a better deal than craigslist. also, last may, at least, my landlord (who uses marjorie on washington), was offering me a $1,200 2BR rent stabilized place on lincoln and franklin. you can still get decent prices here.

apollonia666 · February 2006

alafairnadia wrote: have you tried going to a broker? I know people hate brokers, but I've found, consistently, that they can get me a better deal than craigslist. also, last may, at least, my landlord (who uses marjorie on washington), was offering me a $1,200 2BR rent stabilized place on lincoln and franklin. you can still get decent prices here.

Oh, I'm definitely open to brokers, but I may not have enough money to afford one this time. I'm still hoping to find something in PH though, if I can.

jamesondean · February 2006

Cringe and shudder. Also, yikes.

isa · February 2006

apollonia666 wrote: I'm actually considering Astoria, which pains me to no end. I *so* don't want to leave Brooklyn!

Death before Queens!

sebhavers · February 2006

alafairnadia wrote: [quote=apollonia666]I'm actually considering Astoria, which pains me to no end. I *so* don't want to leave Brooklyn!

have you tried going to a broker? I know people hate brokers, but I've found, consistently, that they can get me a better deal than craigslist. also, last may, at least, my landlord (who uses marjorie on washington), was offering me a $1,200 2BR rent stabilized place on lincoln and franklin. you can still get decent prices here.

if i remember correctly, i also got my rent-stabilized one bedroom through marjorie. She owns the realty offices on washington across from each other? it was well worth the broker fee b/c i have not seen anywhere as cheap (broker fee or not) since.

apollonia666 · February 2006

sebhavers wrote: if i remember correctly, i also got my rent-stabilized one bedroom through marjorie. She owns the realty offices on washington across from each other? it was well worth the broker fee b/c i have not seen anywhere as cheap (broker fee or not) since.

I've been a little leery of Marjorie after reading this thread about her (I did a LOT of DH searching for info on brokers when I first found out about the impending move!). But it seems that some people here have also had pretty good experiences with her. Man, I'd just like to get into a stabilized place so I can be relatively certain of being able to stay put for more than a year or two.

carnivore · February 2006

apollonia666 wrote: Man, I'd just like to get into a stabilized place so I can be relatively certain of being able to stay put for more than a year or two.

It would be great, wouldn't it? It's purely a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

sebhavers · February 2006

apollonia666 wrote: [quote=sebhavers]if i remember correctly, i also got my rent-stabilized one bedroom through marjorie. She owns the realty offices on washington across from each other? it was well worth the broker fee b/c i have not seen anywhere as cheap (broker fee or not) since.

I've been a little leery of Marjorie after reading this thread about her (I did a LOT of DH searching for info on brokers when I first found out about the impending move!). But it seems that some people here have also had pretty good experiences with her. Man, I'd just like to get into a stabilized place so I can be relatively certain of being able to stay put for more than a year or two.

Interesting...thanks for the link to that thread. I didn't exactly have a great experience with marjorie, just that the apartment i got was much cheaper than anywhere else. it could have been my landlords being decent people and not marjorie. i haven't ever dealt with her since then (3 1/2 years ago).

hopefully rent stabilized units are not a thing of the past in prospect heights! i'd be very interested to see a survey on DH that showed the percentage of posters who rent stabilized units vs. market rate. don't see anything in the past threads.

vanilla · February 2006

Isa wrote: [quote=apollonia666]I'm actually considering Astoria, which pains me to no end. I *so* don't want to leave Brooklyn!

Death before Queens!

queens is a great place, like if you want to settle down and have kids and never leave your apt.. ever!

whyfi · February 2006

vanilla wrote: [quote=Isa][quote=apollonia666]I'm actually considering Astoria, which pains me to no end. I *so* don't want to leave Brooklyn!

Death before Queens!

queens is a great place, like if you want to settle down and have kids and never leave your apt.. ever!
Before my wife was my wife, she lived in Astoria. Nice, but I'll take PH over Astoria any day of the week, thankyouverymuch...

moufaisbad · February 2006

Isa wrote: It's time for everyone to move to Sheepshead Bay Heights.

hahahahahah
i thought that was park slope south II

idlewild · February 2006

Until the real estate market drops or we have a big time reccession/depression expect the rents to go sky high in most of Brooklyn. Remember, that whenever you see gentrification starting rising rents are on the horizon. Rent stabilization is great until increases hit the $2,000.00 mark then it's a free for all. And even if you are living in a rent stabilized apartment you might want to check if it's a "prefered" rent. Meaning that the legal rent is actually higher than what you are paying. Once the lease ends the landlord can raise it to whatever the legal rent is. If your apartment has no restrictions on it then yes you are at the mercy of the landlord in terms of rent increase.

vanilla · February 2006

An apartment will remain rent stabilized even if the rent rises above $2,000 while a tenant remains in occupancy and household income is less than $175,000 for the two previous years. However, as the rent reaches $2,000 or more, the owner has a right to petition the NY State Division of Housing and Community Renewal to deregulate the apartment. Complete information on this can be found in the Decontrol/Destabilization FAQ section.

http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/faq/rentstab.html#exactly

teddyballgame · February 2006

sebhavers wrote: it could have been my landlords being decent people and not marjorie

Does anyone have a landlord that they're convinced is a decent person? I imagine if you're renting from a smaller scale owner they might be cool, but my "landlord" works for a giant corporate slumlord agency, essentially. One time I called my "landlord" for 16 straight days and he never called me back. I ended up just fixing the problem on my own. My apartment was by far the cheapest I found in the area, but I don't think it had anything to do with him. Marjorie brokered the deal, didn't charge a fee, and was pleasant throughout, for the record.

My landlord from DC is now in jail because two people died in a house of his that neglected numerous aspects of fire code. I did meet him a few times, which I'm thankful for, because now I can at least revel in the image of that prick getting his ass kicked and whatever else nightly.

jml · February 2006

Have you tried negotiating? Lots of landlords would rather have a stable tenant than risk an empty apartment. Maybe you can talk the rent down a bit.

apollonia666 · February 2006

teddyballgame wrote: Does anyone have a landlord that they're convinced is a decent person?

Most of the landlords I've had have been utter bastards, but my last landlords (a married couple) are *lovely* people; the only reason I didn't stick with them was because I couldn't stomach having a roommate any longer and they didn't have any one-bedroom places available, mainly because their tenants tend to stay with them for a long time. They have beautifully-renovated apartments (mostly in Park Slope but a few in other parts of Brooklyn), they're super-prompt about repairs, don't do rentjacking, and are just as nice and easygoing as can be. They've already promised that if they have any one-bedroom places open up when I'm moving they'll call me. I'd rent from them again in a heartbeat.

Their names are Chris and Alely Manno; if you ever run across one of their places I highly recommend them.

But yeah, most of the landlords I've had to deal with have been money-grubbing and eeeeevil.

apollonia666 · February 2006

jml wrote: Have you tried negotiating? Lots of landlords would rather have a stable tenant than risk an empty apartment. Maybe you can talk the rent down a bit.

Oh yeah, tried that. He wouldn't budge. He did agree to let me stay an extra month at my old rate to give me more time to get moving expenses together because I'm a good tenant, but that's as far as he'd go. When I asked if he'd be willing to take my last month's rent out of my deposit he refused. When I pointed out that the previous tenant was allowed to do that, that there was no inspection or painting before I moved in, and that I spent the first two months living here scrubbing every surface in the joint and hauling out stuff the prior tenant left behind -- I mean it was DISGUSTING -- he still wouldn't budge.

As much as I hate to give my place up, at least I'm not going to be contributing to his wallet any more.

jml · February 2006

apollonia666 wrote: Oh yeah, tried that. He wouldn't budge. He did agree to let me stay an extra month at my old rate to give me more time to get moving expenses together because I'm a good tenant, but that's as far as he'd go. When I asked if he'd be willing to take my last month's rent out of my deposit he refused.

That sucks. As for your deposit, my advice is don't pay your last month's rent. The worst he can do (other than harass you) is to take you to court for the rent. If it ever gets to court, the judge will simply tell him he already has your money. But going to court's a hassle.

realtor guy · February 2006

Subject: Re: Is this rent increase legal?

my hard-earned money.

unfortunately he can... most landlords (who like their tenants and want them to stick around because its hard to find good tenants) follow the rent stabilalization laws and only increase accordingly.

-mike

Is this rent increase legal?

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories