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Because of the limited supply of rent-stabilized and rent-controlled apartments, state law requires rent-regulated tenants to use them as a primary residence. Oftentimes, tenants will try to hold onto rent-stabilized or rent-controlled apartments they no longer live in. These tenants may be trying to hold onto the apartments for occasional residences or as places for friends to stay. Fortunately, you can evict tenants who don't use their apartment as their primary r...

The most common tenant complaints deal with loud and disruptive neighbors. Your tenants may constantly be complaining of a neighbor's loud music, shouting and arguments, or barking dogs. And sooner or later, if asking the noisy tenant to stop does not work, you may have to start eviction proceedings. It's that, or risk the continuing anger of other tenants in your building.

In these challenging economic times, owners are stretched to think of new ways to generate revenue. Installing storage lockers for rental and providing advertising space are two ways to boost revenue, but the proliferation of cell phones, broadband, paging, wireless Web, and related technologies makes leasing rooftop space for antenna installation another highly profitable option.

When a rent-controlled tenant dies leaving behind no legal successors, voluntarily moves out, or is lawfully evicted, his apartment automatically becomes “vacancy decontrolled.” When any of these situations occur, it is important to file all the necessary forms with the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) when rerenting the decontrolled apartment.

If you are not careful when you hire a super who will live in a rent-stabilized apartment in your building, the super could maintain rights as a rent-stabilized tenant when he later quits or is fired from his job.

By law, the building superintendent is an employee of the owner. But the owner-employee relationship can become confusing if the owner treats the super as a tenant as well.

As an owner, you are required by federal and state laws to provide a reasonably safe workplace for your employees. Unfortunately, even if you provide proper equipment to your employees and implement safety policies, accidents still occur. To protect your building staff—and yourself, as an owner—you are required under New York State law to buy a workers' compensation insurance policy—even if you have only one employee.

Occasionally, you may need to enter a tenant's apartment to inspect for defects or to perform maintenance tasks. However, there may be some instances when you may need immediate access to an apartment for emergency repairs. A common dispute between owners and tenants involves the conflict between your right to enter an apartment and your tenant's right to privacy.

All owners will have to deal with a problem employee at some point, no matter how carefully they hire employees or how diligently they try to create a good work environment. For many owners, deciding whether and how to discipline or fire an employee is one of the most stressful parts of the job.

From time to time, every owner must hire an attorney to represent it in a lawsuit. With the rising costs of attorneys and experts, it is important to take steps to reduce or limit legal fees. Expensive litigation may have spillover effects on your building's value, and lengthy lawsuits may take a psychological toll on you.

Attorney's fees are not cheap. And depending on the type of case you are involved in, these fees can quickly add up. Below, we give you...