Rent Overcharge - Advice Needed!
Hello, I recently discovered that when I began my lease in 2007, that the landlord had raised the rent more than $800 from the previous tenant (who vacated approx 3 months before I took the apartment). After reading up on the law, and carefully inspecting my apartment, I do NOT believe that my landlord made…
Hello,
I recently discovered that when I began my lease in 2007, that the landlord had raised the rent more than $800 from the previous tenant (who vacated approx 3 months before I took the apartment). After reading up on the law, and carefully inspecting my apartment, I do NOT believe that my landlord made the capital improvements to justify such an increase. My apartment is rent stabilized. THE DHCR mailed me copy of the rent roll, which is how I came to discover the previous tenant’s rent.
Has anyone been through this process before? All advice welcome.
I believe that the best course of action may well be taking the landlord to civil or supreme court.
I’ve lived in places with absolutely free market apartments and in a rent stabilized place. I’d say that both scenarios seem to breed a certain level of inattention to maintenance and upkeep. But the system is the system. If you want to follow up to see if your landlord is complying with it, it looks like you’ve gotten some pretty good advice.
I guess the only part of the the New York system that continues to flabbergast me is that where a rent controlled apartment can pass on to heirs, as long as the relative has lived in the place for something like two of the past three or five years (don’t quote me on this). I really can’t fathom giving someone having property rights without responsibilities.
I’d add that the huge renter mentality in New York makes for some extremely bad homeowners. Case in point is the comment from someone in a small co-op who said that he or she was treated like a servant by other members of the co-op.
Geez, what altervoce said.
I realize this forum is chock-a-block with landlords, but the reality is that in NYC, a gigantic percentage of landlords are anywhere from total crooks to simply constantly trying to get over. I lived in a stabilized apartment for 11 years before being harassed out by the cheap-ass family that owned the building — they were seeing dollar signs in Williamsburg. I finally moved, and sure enough, my apartment was on Craigslist in three days with a $1000 rent increase. Three days. Only good part of this story is that I got my security back early, then refused to pay my last two months’ rent. They sued, I went to my court date, spoke for myself and WON. As a bonus, I still think about sending a letter to the current tenant to appraise them of the appropriate rent.
If you don’t like the city’s rent laws, go ahead and organize to get them changed. Until then, the poster should have the DHCR run an investigation.
“NSR’s post is positively Orwellian.”
I’m pretty familiar with Orwel’s works.
I’d be curious to hear how my statement that someone who knowingly enters into a deal and agrees to the terms is not being taken advantage of strikes you as Orwellian.
I don’t see it myself.
I’m sure it was cool and all to get a free place to live because you caught someone breaking a rule, and I appreciate that you enjoyed that and hope others can share your joy.
That said, it does not change my opinion that if you knowingly agree to pay a certain rent, then you are not being taken advantage of when you pay that rent (since you had the free will to NOT agree to pay that rent).
I realize the law is a bit more complicated than this, but law and ethics are two different things.
How is it freakin’ immoral to insist that a landlord play by the rules?
1) You are bitching about a rent that you AGREED to?
Aside from the obvious immorality of this, you’d better _LOVE_ your current apartment, because your landlord reference is going to suck.
2) Vacancy increases are rather complex. Typically, it is 1/40 th of ALL capital improvements prorated to the apartment, plus all MCIs in progress but not collected + 20% + a historic adjustment for long-time tenants.
As a practical matter: If the previous rent was $1000 and the tenant had been there for 30 years, the LL did $10k of work (which isn’t a low-estimate), and had $200 in MCIs, that would get you a $800 increase.
Bear in mind that the landlord isn’t obliged to use the lowest-cost contractor, nor is obliged to buy cheap fixtures or do any of the work himself. As long as there isn’t outright fraud (e.g. the LL getting a kickback from the contractor to pad the bill), the DHCR generally allows these increases to go through.
So to win on this, you have to prove one of:
a) The LL didn’t pay the amount specified
b) The work paid for wasn’t done.
c) The LL got a payoff from the contractor.
These are very very hard to prove, and it costs a lot to fight them.
3) If, god forbid, you do somehow win, guess which apartment your landlord is going to owner-occupy next? (Hint: the lowest cost one — probably yours)
4) If you sue and lose, you pay court costs, and your landlord will view you as a troublemaker.
So ask yourself if possibly saving a few bucks is worth acting immorally and risking your relationship with your LL.
I won two over-charge complaints and never spoke with a lawyer. The year-and-a-half of rent-free living while my wife was in grad’ school was a great financial boon. NSR’s post is positively Orwellian.
Jumping off of what surly says, this is basically a math problem, and not that complicated of one. You should be able to do enough of a calculation on your own to figure out whether or not to file an overcharge complaint with DHCR. Treble damages baby!
“Legalities aside — is the rent what you agreed to when you moved in?
If so, then while there may be some legal issues that could affect the rent, it doesn’t seem to me that you are being taken advantage of or anything.
Posted by: northsloperenter at November 25, 2009 11:14 AM”
Spot on and well said.
It’s not a hard process, I’m actually in the middle of an Rent Overcharge case right now. Find a good tenants only lawyer and have them look over your rent history and lease and then advise you of your options.
Collins, Dobkin Miller in NYC is a wonderful tenants law firm.
Legalities aside — is the rent what you agreed to when you moved in?
If so, then while there may be some legal issues that could affect the rent, it doesn’t seem to me that you are being taken advantage of or anything.