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NYC Housing Rent Control Battle, Round: 99,999,999,999 - Page 4 — Brooklynian

NYC Housing Rent Control Battle, Round: 99,999,999,999

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Comments

  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    Correct.

    BTW, here's a play by play of last night:

    http://m.citylimits.org/citylimits/db_316983/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=VBJCxYMK
  • tateinbk
    tateinbk
    Do we think that next year the raise is going to be much higher to compensate for this year?  As long as my landlord keeps following the directive I'll have to decide whether to sign a 1 or 2 year.  Just the 1% would be practically nothing, and we could really use that chance to catch our breath.  But if they vote in a 4% or higher for the following year, I'm really going to regret signing a 2 year lease.  It's all so nerve wracking.

    Sorry you miss out epiclylaterd.  It's something I worry about at every resigning time.  That and the chance of my landlord getting rid of our preferential rate and raising it to the legal rate, about $350 more.
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    DeBlasio is annoyed.

    As a result of appointing 5 of the 9 RGB members, he thought he'd be able to get a rent increase freeze:

    http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20140624/BLOGS04/140629928/de-blasio-disagrees-with-rent-increase

    If he fills the board with his folks, you may get a zero increase next year.

    ...will his power diminish or increase over the length of his term(s)?
  • pragmaticguy
    pragmaticguy
    Anybody who actually thought that there would be no increase either isn't too bright or believes in miracles. Just like anyone else, a landlord is entitled to make some money on their apartments. Otherwise why incur the bother and the risk.
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    If "my" costs go up and I can't increase prices, I am going to reduce costs (ie less maintenance).

    A tenant's value to me is relative to what other tenants will pay me.
  • tateinbk
    tateinbk
    I would welcome less heat my apartment all winter actually, especially if it meant my rent stayed and went down.  So often I watch the heat go out the window all day so we don't broil.
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    edited June 2014
    Although I'm not an expert in HVAC, I suspect that your apartment is overheated because it is cheaper in the short term to do so.   

    Installing the controls and systems required to cost efficiently and comfortably heat your apartment may require a substantial investment, and (because it is overheated, as opposed to under heated) the landlord's failure to make this investment is unlikely to result in a citation from DOB.    

    As a result, your LL may have decided that it will take too long to recoup such costs, and that they are best paid for by the next owner, when they do a Major Capital Improvement.

    The MCI will be recouped from the tenants.

     
  • southeast
    southeast
    edited September 2014
    Mayor de Blasio wants to take control of rent regulation from state lawmakers



    Potential landlords better keep this in mind and factor this into their projected ROI.
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    Some buyers of rent stabilized buildings are already finding that they are unable to recoup their purchase price.

    Tenants no longer have a cheap neighborhood to move to, so they are not taking the buy outs.

    It is about to get uglier.
  • crownheightster
    crownheightster
    http://nypost.com/2014/09/09/landlord-trying-to-swap-renters-for-rich-white-tenants-suit/


  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    edited September 2014
    Yup. It was only a matter of time before this last vestige of the old Washington Avenue changed.

    ...dropping out of Section 8 is within the landlord's rights, regardless of the hue of the present and future residents.
  • mugofmead111
    mugofmead111
    edited September 2014
    http://nypost.com/2014/09/09/landlord-trying-to-swap-renters-for-rich-white-tenants-suit/


    From the Post:




    Three women living at 781 Washington Ave. in Crown Heights — just steps from Prospect Park

    1. Is that location Crown Heights?
    2. I quibble that this location is "steps" from Prospect Park. I'd say that walk would be 10 minutes, no?
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    The picture they use is also from Google maps, and is of the building's driveway gate. Too lazy to move the view to catch the actual building?
  • southeast
    southeast
    edited June 2015

    Rent Freeze in the Forecast for NYC - http://www.wsj.com/articles/rent-freeze-in-the-forecast-for-nyc-1435364637


    Another incentive for  landlords to try their best to get out of the rent control rules; OR, to simply neglect everything that isn't absolutely necessary.  

    This is just going to add more pressure.  Comparing this to China holding down its currency; it's not sustainable.

    "This year, the tenant members submitted five different proposed rules, including one calling for a 4% decrease in one-year rents."  Seriously?!  Property taxes are up; heating bills are up; cost of maintenance is up; just about everything else in life is up...

    "Cutting off the nose to spite the face"
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    Nothing is final until the this year's RGB circus is done. Then, the city has to commit the resources to enforce the rates set.

    I don't see the city being willing or able to enforce the rates.
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    edited June 2015
    The RGB voted for a 0% on 1 year, and a 2% increase on a 2 year leases.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/30/nyregion/new-york-city-board-votes-to-freeze-rents-on-one-year-leases.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
  • mugofmead111
    mugofmead111
    I wonder whether that was done to make a statement (in response to Albany dragging its feet). 

    I watched a roundtable discussion on NY1's Inside City Hall two weeks ago or so. Al D'Amato thought that the gridlock in Albany over this did not look good at all. Anthony Weiner thought this is an example why NYC should petition for home rule. 
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    edited June 2015
    NYC is always petitioning for home rule.

    When NYC has something to give Albany, it might be successful.
  • mugofmead111
    mugofmead111
    You mean, aside from tax revenue? :)
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    I suppose if the city was able to withhold something they presently give (like taxes), it would be as effective giving Albany something new.

    We may never know.
  • crownheightster
    crownheightster
    Perhaps, one day in my lifetime, New York City will be liberated from New York State. That is my dearest wish. Then we could do whatever we wanted -- new subways, better schools, more traffic cams...the possibilities are endless!
  • southeast
    southeast
    edited June 2015
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secession_in_New_York
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    edited June 2015
    For a moment, let's imagine that we succeed at suceding.

    I am not sure it would give us what we want.

    You see, at the moment, downstate lobbyists (like REBNY and GNYHA, etc) "influence" upstate politicians because doing so effectively meets their needs.

    If NYC was suddenly free from upstate, this money and influence would not magically go away; It would merely be redirected to NYC politicians who could serve their interests.

    If you are a cynic like me, you believe that even though the downstate politcians may be more Democratic than the upstate Republicans, they are just as susceptible to such -um- "lobbying".
  • crownheightster
    crownheightster
    Too true.
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    Until then, Cuomo seems to perceive that he has nothing to lose from not giving DeBlasio what he wants, and DeBlasio seems as if he wants to paint Cuomo as malicious.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/01/nyregion/de-blasio-denounces-cuomo-accusing-him-of-hurting-new-york-city.html?ref=nyregion&_r=0
  • southeast
    southeast
    It takes two to tango.  If Bloomberg or Giuliani said the same thing, it would have more credence in my eyes.  It's general knowledge that mayors of NYC and governors of NYS do not see eye to eye, but most seem to figure things out, negotiating, etc.  

    De Blasio has been on a rampage since his first day in office.  It seems that he feels he has the moral high ground and it's all or nothing.

    Waiting to see how this turns out...  I got my popcorn.
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    I don't know if I would describe him as being on a rampage as much as not understanding the limits of his power.

    He seems to not understand that people and entities will do things for him when it is in their best interests.

    ....his job is to figure out ways to make things to be in their best interests.

    If they want something from NYC, their job is to make things to be in his best interests.
  • mugofmead111
    mugofmead111
    edited July 2015
    From Gothamist: New Rent Law Includes Tenant-Friendly Tweaks

    "As for how all those nuggets got into the revised rent law, no politician is exactly crowing about it, but they don't seem to have been accidental, either. Lobbyists for the Legal Aid Society spent three weeks in Albany during the tail end of the legislative session. The organization's attorney in charge of civil law reform, Judith Goldiner, downplayed their role, saying they would wait outside offices, make recommendations to legislative aides and lawyers, and "hope they listened." But another tenant advocate said Goldiner and two others "scrutinized every word" of the legislation. Then Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie went and agreed to a deal no Democrat in regular touch with tenants could stand behind, according to the advocate, organizer Esteban Girón of the Crown Heights Tenant Union.

    "We felt we were going to get at least one major thing. from one day to the next, when the speaker basically chose to accept this deal," he said. "By doing so it left the Assembly in a really difficult position. Most [sympathetic legislators] had significant disagreements with what the speaker had agreed to, but to vote against it would be to vote against their new speaker.""

    I'm a little disappointed that not much more was done about the MCI issue.

  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    edited July 2015
    The inability to be reinbursed for capital costs from tenants is part of what causes landlords keep RS buildings crappy and fuel inefficient, and I wouldn't want to make the present situation worse.

    As it is, many landlords of RS buildings don't make capital improvements until doing so will get the buildings out of RS.

    So, I would not want to further encourage this behavior by making MCIs be even less worthwhile to LLs.
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