New Building Owners Raising Rent in Crown Heights

its still super cheap in my parts of brooklyn and other parts of queens.

I have a feeling this is going to happen to me next year. I just renewed for another year and the renewal contact is fully executed, but now they are now trying to raise my rent futher for the renewal and sent me a second lease with a higher rent and a note saying use this lease instead. My legal rent is almost 3k, ugh.

Ptdlugos wrote:

It does seem like the new managment is trying to hike up the rent to displace tenants.

Not to be coy, but their ideal situation may be that the present tenants stay and simply pay the HCR max legal rents. This would prevent them from having to incur a lost month of revenue while the unit is between tenants.

But, yes, they are likely aware that this hike will cause many units to become vacant (or, in the language of some: "people to be displaced"). While vacant, LLs will do any repairs and upgrades they believe are needed to fill it at the Max Legal rent.

For better or worse, who gets to stay in rapidly changing Western CH is determined almost exclusively by who is willing and able to pay the increasing rents....

Groups similar to CHA always seem to pop up in rapidly changing areas, such as the Upper Westside, Harlem, the Lower Eastside, Park Slope and Williamsburg.

They often mean well, and are often able to find instances in which landlords have violated laws or procedures, which then results in the tenant being able to stay, or in them receiving a larger buyout than they otherwise would have.

These are clearly good outcomes for the tenant.

In the long run, however, the groups always seem to fail at their stated "ultimate goal": Achieving a neighborhood in which there is a diverse, sustainable array of housing stock.

Slowly, but surely, the tenants the groups champion move out for a variety of reasons, and are replaced by tenants and owners the groups have less sympathy for.

Slowly but surely, the LLs they demonize are able to fill their buildings with tenants whom will provide them with greater profit margins.

If you look closely, you can still see the "Die Yuppie Scum", "Go home hipsters", "Go to Hell Landlords" and the like. Such things are carved in the concrete soon after it is poured, and then last for decades, long after the organizers have faded away.

Yes, unless one has the means to buy or rent in the open market, the trick to stability in a rapidly changing city/neighborhood is often to get in on one of the city-supervised lotteries for rental or homeownership opportunities.

There are all sorts of restrictions, and supply is very limited, and they are often in less than prime neighborhoods ....but they have provided a way for a portion of NYers to remain in the city that would otherwise have to move:

Rentals: http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/apartment/lotteries.shtml

First time homebuyers: http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/buyers/lotteries.shtml

Yes, PACC is a solidly run org, as are all the orgs linked in the nyu.edu mega link. The ones which fail to grow and thrive, tend to focus on macro goals: racial justice, consensus based decision making, wealth redistribution, etc.

While such goals are laudable, they tend to over shadow the "here and now, immediate, practical and measurable goals and needs" of the tenants who live in our present, very imperfect "power and money based" world.

LITERALLY, the exact same thing happened to us last summer. We were to with preferred rent, but rather stabilized. The landlord refused to respond to phone calls, emails, or certified letters asking for our new lease (even though it was his responsibility to do that) until one day, BOOM, new management company asking $600 more in rent. We fought it because it was not allowed, as a stabilized increase, to be that high. We went up the allowed amount after threatening legal action. Of course, if you are saying you weren't stabilized, but rather had a discounted rent, it may not help.

Good luck with this. We ended up moving out and buying a place.

Needless to say, the escalating rental prices are in part due to the escalating prices for home buyers.

For example, this article profiles some people who would like to buy a home, but presently can not:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/nyregion/amid-housing-scarcity-many-buyers-are-going-home-empty-handed.html?_r=0

In a macro demographic way, these folks are among the people who are willing (and able) to pay the full legal rent for the units in ptdlugosz's apartment building, and/or rent them once they are not rent stabilized, and/or BUY them in the event that the building is converted to condos.

Whynot - how in the world is this information helping the OP?!

Are you suggesting that he buy a building? Or are you trying to instruct him on how brokers price buildings?

Yes ....Brooklyn has gotten expensive .... We get it.

.......and since you have such interest in his situation, I would like for you to make one of your apartments available to the OP below market rate because you have vested so much in his situation.

I think I am doing a little of both.

First and foremost, if I were the OP, I would get advice from the established non-profits I linked above:

https://files.nyu.edu/swl2/public/housing.html

By clicking on this link, you will access just about everything you will ever need to know about rent stabilized housing in NYC. Read slowly. Digest. Get the facts.

As others have hinted, just because you don't like something, doesn't mean it is illegal.

Then, the OP should decide what is best for him.

His options could include: Moving to another part of NYC, OR moving out the city, OR paying the new rent, OR fighting the landlord's attempt to raise his rent.

Which option is best for him and each of his neighbors depends upon each of them individually.

Sorry, I do not have an answer for the OP other than to make sure he understands the potential impact of each and every choice before him.

...we also might want to warn the present tenants of 922 Park Place that similar decisions and choices will soon be forced upon them.

"We were labeled (quote) as "the victims of rent-stabilization" by the new owners."

The new owners are correct in that respect. If rent-stabilization was abolished your rent would have not gone up and most likely would have been lower to begin with.

Best of luck on your search for a new place. Hopefully you can find something in the area you have grown to love for a rent you can afford.

(MOD NOTE: We split off the off-topic comments on general affordable housing issues here http://www.brooklynian.com/discussion/44398/affordable-housing-in-ch-discussion)