rent stabilization

The New York City Rent Guidelines Board has lots of info on its site, but you'll definitely have to poke around the site quite a bit to find the various fact sheets and FAQ's. And good luck if you visit one of their offices for help -- set aside several hours, and it might not be a bad idea to have a stiff drink before you go in.

http://www.housingnyc.com/

Here are the basics of how it works:

When an apt is vacant the owner is entitled to a vacancy increase equal to 20% for a 2-yr lease or a slightly lesser amount for a 1-yr lease. For leases signed this year the 1-yr increase amount is 17.25%

On top of that they can add 1/40th of the cost of any improvements that were made to the apt when it was vacant. For instance, if they spent $2000 on new appliances and cabinets, they would be able to add $50/month to the rent (2000/40)

When you sign a new lease the landlord needs to show you how the current legal rent was arrived at. There will be a form that looks something like this:

Previous legal rent: $1200
vacancy allowance: $240 (20% for 2-yr lease)
improvements: $50 (2000/40)
new legal rent: $1490

To verify the previous legal rent you can call DHCR and request a rent history. This goes back 4 years. Keep in mind that the previous legal rent is not necessarily what the last tenant paid as they may have been receiving preferential rent.

Now regarding your question about finding out if the increases they are charging are legit you would need to challenge the current rent paid. At that point the landlord will have to produce receipts for any of the improvements that he claimed over the past 4 years. Anything before 4 years cannot be challenged.

If you want to post some specifics of your situation (or PM me with them if you prefer) I would be happy to give you my thoughts on whether it seems inline with what one would expect.

yes, if the legal rent they can charge reaches $2000 upon a new vacancy lease the apt. became decontroled and is no longer subject to rent regulation. The number of rooms is not a factor.

If the apt. is occupied and the legal rent reaches $2000 it can also be decontroled but only if the tenants make more than $175,000 for the previous two years. If the tenants make less than that it will stay subject to rent stabilization until they move out and will then be decontroled.

Hey Mike, is it true that such extensions of rent stabilization have already happened several times? Do you think it's likely that it'll end up being extended beyong 2009 at some point? I never realized until this story was out that rent stabilization was set to end so soon.

Dammit, I just finally got into a stabilized apartment!

oh yeah... i read a few years ago that the law was going to expire and when the news hit, there was this HUGE demonstration at city hall because of it and because the increase were going to be way too much for many people, especially the elderly.

as for the law expireing, well i think it'll be extended beyond 2009... there will always be people in need of stabilized apartments and who need advocates to fight for them.

-mike

vanilla wrote: [quote=realtor guy]Did you folks see this in the post?
http://realtorguy.blogspot.com/2006/03/stabilized.html

-Mike

wait, so when we renew our lease this august, will the 2 year renewal be 5.5% or 5.5% MORE than last year's figure? uh-oh..

Better than the 35% more that my old landlord wanted after I was in my last apartment for two years!

Pressure washing does not qualify for an MCI it takes a bit more than that, especially to increase the rent by $40.

You seem to be very unhappy with any rent increase while your building is being improved and the neighborhood is changing drastically. If you're not already paying significantly under market value for your apartment you will be in the next few years.

You should be happy with what you have and stop assuming that the LL is illegally increasing rents and trying to scam the system just because the rent is going up. If you have some evidence that you think he is, call DHCR and report it and it will be investigated.