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Are you paying for more oil than you’re really getting? Unscrupulous oil companies can trick owners about the amount of fuel that’s delivered to a building. Recently, a joint report released by the New York City Department of Investigation and Business Integrity Commission revealed widespread heating oil fraud across New York City, with nine companies and 44 individuals indicted on multiple felony counts. According to authorities, the defendants shorted oil ...

By Eileen O’Toole, Esq.

When a rent-stabilized tenant complains to the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) about a rent overcharge, owners often submit contractors’ invoices as proof of the cost of the equipment installed in or other improvements made to the tenant’s apartment. Invoices can help owners show that they’re entitled to collect a rent hike of either 1/40th or 1/60th of the cost of the improvement.

Suppose you’ve agreed to the pass-on of a rent-stabilized apartment to a tenant’s family member after the tenant has died or moved out. For example, you may choose not to fight the pass-on in court because the family member has a strong case that he or she is entitled to pass-on rights. Even though you’re not fighting the family member, you should be careful how you handle this kind of pass-on.

You may feel like celebrating after you win a money judgment for unpaid rent from an ex-tenant in court. But sometimes it can be tough to get the ex-tenant to pay you the amount of the judgment. Fortunately, if you know where the ex-tenant works, there’s a way you can get the money you’re owed. You can do this by garnishing the tenant’s wages. This means that you collect a certain percentage of the ex-tenant’s salary until the judgment is paid off.

For rent-stabilized and rent-controlled apartments, a “family member” of the tenant may have the right to a rent-stabilized renewal lease or protection from eviction in an apartment under rent control when the tenant dies or permanently leaves the apartment.

On June 29, in a 7 to 2 vote, the city’s Rent Guidelines Board decided to freeze rents for rent-stabilized tenants with one-year leases. This had never been done before in the board’s 46-year history. With the rent freeze, Mayor de Blasio delivered on a campaign promise to freeze one-year rents for a year, to make up for what he regarded as excessive rent increases approved in the past. In addition to the 0 percent increases for one-year leases, a 2 percent ...

A difficult situation an owner may face is when a tenant withholds all or part of the monthly rent over a claimed problem in his apartment. For example, the tenant may claim no heat or hot water or a broken dishwasher. If you investigate the problem and find that it exists, you must then decide what to do. In certain situations, it may pay to reach an out-of-court settlement agreement with the tenant, giving the tenant a rent abatement for the months when the problem ex...

When legal rents in rent-controlled and rent-stabilized apartments reach a level of $2,500 per month, two things occur. These apartments are now subject to vacancy deregulation. If the apartment is occupied, you are allowed to initiate an annual income certification process and deregulate the apartment if the household income exceeds the definition of “high income” in the rent laws.

Cotenants are two or more tenants who rent the same apartment under the same lease. Sometimes cotenants sign at the same time or a cotenant may be added later to an existing lease. In New York City, due to the short supply and high demand for apartments, there’s a good chance that a primary tenant will approach you seeking to add a roommate to the lease. After splitting rent for a while, the roommate might want to seek the stability of knowing that he or she could...