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According to a recent report by the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), 42 percent, or 5,885 of the 13,755 low-income units built in 2014 and 2015, were aided by the 421-a program. That study included 156 projects that were either all low-income or mostly market-rate, with about one-quarter of the units set aside as low-income housing.

Mayor Bill de Blasio recently proposed a $183 summer credit on the water and sewer bills of over 664,000 homeowners, in keeping with the city's past efforts to ensure bills stay as low as possible. The 664,000 homeowners represent almost 80 percent of all customers. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Emily Lloyd stated that the one-time credit results from the administration's decision to no longer reques...

In recently released guidance, HUD tells owners that turning down tenants based on their criminal records may violate the Fair Housing Act. People with criminal records aren't a protected class under the Fair Housing Act, and the guidance from HUD's general counsel says that in some cases, turning down an individual tenant because of his or her record can be legally justified.

Mayor de Blasio recently announced two new appointments to the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB). The two appointments – former United States Magistrate Judge Kathleen Roberts and Mary Serafy – have years of experience in both the public and private sectors and will be responsible for establishing rent adjustments for approximately one million dwelling units subject to the Rent Stabilization Law in the city. Judge Kathleen Robert...

A state appellate court recently dismissed the city’s Commission of Human Rights’ $185,000 claim against an owner, finding that the landlord was just in denying a paraplegic tenant a wheelchair ramp to her first-floor Astoria apartment because the costs were too burdensome.

Last December, Airbnb released a massive dataset covering November 2014 through Nov. 1, 2015, about its business in New York City. The data provided information on thousands of hosts in the city including statistics such as host earnings, the types of listings, and how often people rent out their homes. This action was taken to counter the image portrayed by the New York state attorney general, who has accused Airbnb of enabling illega...

Evictions by city marshals have decreased 24 percent since Mayor de Blasio took office, down from 28,849 in 2013 to 21,988 in 2015. And evictions decreased by 18 percent last year even as the number of cases filed by owners for nonpayment of rent declined by only 2 percent, court and city marshals figures show. The drop in evictions may be due to de Blasio administration’s efforts to increase free legal services for tenants.

At a recent public hearing, Anne-Marie Hendrickson, a deputy commissioner at the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), said proposed New York City Council legislation requiring landlords to register their rent-regulated apartments with the city or face fines is a “waste of taxpayers’ resources.”

New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) recently released the new list of residential buildings that have been placed into the agency’s Ninth Round of the Alternative Enforcement Program (AEP). The AEP is aimed at increasing the pressure on the owners of the city’s multifamily residential buildings that have fallen into disrepair, many of which are rent regulated, to bring the properties up to...

As the 421-a tax break program was set to expire on Jan. 15 of this year, developers pushed applications through the city's Department of Buildings. A total of 7,781 permits were approved for 299 different projects, which represents the third highest monthly total in the past seven years. The 421-a tax abatement program allowed developers tax exemptions on the development of vacant land into a residential building with at least 20 ...