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Regulations that went into effect in July 2012 require building owners to end their use of dirty heating oil by the time their current three-year boiler permits expire or June 30, 2015, whichever comes first.
The renewal of the city's rent laws will be a major issue for debate in the 2015 New York State legislative session. The rent laws are controlled by the state Senate, which is currently in Republican hands. Democrats from New York City will try to protect and strengthen the rules, while Republicans who lead the state Senate are expected to try to roll back the restrictions.
A recent fire in a Brooklyn apartment building claimed the life of a tenant and injured 16 others. According to the FDNY, the apartment had been illegally divided into cramped, dangerous living spaces.
The fire was sparked by a faulty refrigerator wire. And according to the owner, a second-floor tenant, without his consent, had created 11 illegal small rooms in his...
Recently, an owner took a street-side Christmas tree vendor to court, after the vendor set up shop outside of his residential building. The owner had received complaints from residents in his building.
The state's highest court recently ruled that rent-stabilized tenants can file class-action lawsuits against their landlords to recover rent overcharges. Owners had argued that because the rent stabilization law allows tenants to receive punitive damages of up to three times the amount of the overcharge, lawsuits had to be filed and argued individually.
The de Blasio administration recently filed its first lawsuit against apartments operating as illegal hotels. The city has been granted a preliminary injunction against the owners of two residential buildings in Manhattan, where investigators claim units were rented out by the night on apartment-sharing websites like Airbnb.com and were violating fire and building code violations.
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman recently announced an agreement that requires an unlicensed tenant relocator to cease all operations. The agreement was secured following an investigation that revealed the tenant relocating company and its owner harassed rent-stabilized tenants living in three New York City buildings. The investigation also revealed that the owner operated illegally in more than 60 rent-regula...
A new Web app called Heat Seek NYC, which tracks ambient temperatures inside apartments with an Internet-connected sensor, is designed to be used by New York renters. Its creators are collaborating with two not-for-profit groups to launch the product. It's intended for renters, who filed some 214,000 complaints last year alone, according to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The data re...
After Superstorm Sandy, you or your tenants may have obtained a backup generator for your building. Generators offer the convenience of using our everyday devices despite a prolonged power outage. They can even be life-saving in the case of hospitals or elderly persons who depend on oxygen machines. But they can be dangerous if used improperly. So before you fire up a backup generator, there are a few safety tips to keep in mind:
The City Council recently approved a bill that would create an online public registry of landlords who bully tenants. Illegal tactics used to force out tenants can be as simple as falsely accusing residents of not paying rent and as elaborate as starting disruptive renovations without any intention of finishing them. The legislation modified a bill passed by the council in 2008 and signed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg that all...
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