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Tenants in Crown Heights and Bed Stuy are being pressured to move and landlords are offering buyouts, but many tenants are refusing to take them. The buyouts, in the four and five figures, would not be enough to assure a long-term place in the same neighborhood, according to a story in the Brooklyn Bureau.

BCB Realty, a management company that has recently invested in several buildings in Crown Heights, has been offering buyouts to tenants. One of its buildings, 1059 Union Street, pictured above, has caught the attention of HPD for its numerous violations, said the story. One tenant of the building interviewed by Brooklyn Bureau said she refused a buyout despite problems with heat, hot water and doorbells.

A tenant in another building with a different owner refused a buyout of $45,000 for her apartment, where she pays less than $1,000 a month. Owner ZT Realty moved her to a different apartment in the same building to make repairs when a ceiling collapsed, then changed the locks and refused to let her back in.

“I can’t move anywhere with that money,” she said. At 870 Bedford Avenue, the landlord offered a tenant only $5,000 to move, which she refused. Landlords try to get long-time, rent stabilized tenants to move so they can renovate the apartments and decontrol them, then rent at much higher market rates for thousands of dollars more. The practice has been particularly common lately in Crown Heights where there are lots of rent regulated buildings and rents are rising quickly.

Do you know any buildings in your neighborhood where this is happening?

Pressured to Move, Low-Income Tenants Resist Buyouts [Brooklyn Bureau]
Photo by Nicholas Strini for PropertyShark


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