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Mayor de Blasio recently appointed the following five members to the Rent Guidelines Board: David Reiss as Chair; May Yu, German Tejeda, and Alex Schwartz as public members; and Patti Stone as an owner member. The Rent Guidelines Board determines annual rent adjustments for approximately one million apartments across the city subject to the Rent Stabilization Law. The following are the appointments:
Blackstone Group will pay about $1.1 million in refunds to rent-stabilized tenants at Parker Towers in Queens. The lawsuit was initially launched in March 2018 against the Jack Parker Corporation, which accused the real estate company of illegally deregulating apartments in the 1,327-unit Forest Hills rental complex despite receiving tax breaks under the J-51 program, which requires landlords to keep their apartments rent stabilized. Jack Parker then sold the towers to ...
With rent laws coming up for renewal, landlord groups have been pushing back against the support that has been building for major reform. A coalition of New York City building owners has begun an ad campaign that calls on lawmakers in Albany to protect small property owners' ability to recover the costs of upgrading their rent-regulated buildings.
Democratic Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris both wrote legislation last year to help out rent-burdened households. They are planning to introduce new versions of those bills for this legislative session. The new proposals may create a tax credit for housing rental assistance every month. The proposals may involve a tax refund that would be paid out monthly instead of annually. The two impending bills reflect the idea that the American housing crisis will be a 2020...
A group of rent-stabilized tenants at a Brooklyn complex have filed an objection with the state’s Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) agency over the owner’s plans to install facial recognition technology at the entrance to the site. The tenants are concerned over the potential for privacy and civil liberties violations.
Attorney General James and Governor Cuomo recently announced a lawsuit against a Queens landlord, Zara Realty, for violating rent stabilization laws and harassing tenants. The lawsuit alleges the landlord targeted tenants in at least 38 rent-stabilized buildings by charging excessive fees, coercing them into signing improper leases, illegally raising rents, and denying tenant rights.
State Senator Michael Gianaris and State Assembly Member Brian Barnwell have introduced legislation that would completely eradicate the MCI program. The proposed legislation represents a change from a previous piece of legislation that was introduced by Gianaris and Barnwell, which called for reforming the MCI program and extending protections to tenants who were subject to increases due to apartment renovations. The previous legislation did not advance.
Brooklyn City Councilmember Jumaane Williams is New York City’s next public advocate after winning a special election with a solid plurality of the vote. The special election was called by Mayor Bill de Blasio in January to replace Letitia James, who vacated the role when she became the state’s attorney general earlier this year. Williams had served on the council since 2010, representing Brooklyn’s 45th district.
Mayor de Blasio and Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, the new interim NYCHA chair, recently released the city’s “Roadmap to Eliminating Childhood Lead Exposure,” following a 90-day review of all agencies’ policies related to lead prevention. The plan will screen every apartment for potential lead hazards, eliminate lead risks in NYCHA apartments and family shelters, target unsafe consumer goods, provide children with dedicated nurses, and l...
HPD Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer recently announced that 250 apartment buildings have been placed in HPD’s Alternative Enforcement Program (AEP). The added buildings each have enough Housing Maintenance Code violations to allow for enhanced enforcement by HPD, which may include roof-to-cellar inspections, fees, and an AEP Order to Correct underlying conditions and bring the buildings up to code.
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