Maximum Base Rent Program?
Could anyone explain to me how the MBR program actually works? I looked through DHCR’s application and it was extremely confusing. My general understanding is that a landlord can increase a rent control tenant’s rent by a marginal amount and this amount is determined by the maximum base rent program. If someone could shed some…
Could anyone explain to me how the MBR program actually works? I looked through DHCR’s application and it was extremely confusing.
My general understanding is that a landlord can increase a rent control tenant’s rent by a marginal amount and this amount is determined by the maximum base rent program. If someone could shed some light on this, that’ll be great. Thanks.
There should be a means test for anyone who wants to live in a rent regulated apartment or else vouchers paid by our tax dollars for lower income NYC residents. That a high income person can live in a cheap rent regulated apartment is wrong.
It’s all about politics. Very little in life in fair.
One could be born into a family of millionaires in NYC or tent dwellers in Haiti. What’s “fair” about that?
bohuma, I think you hit the nail on the head. If someone can’t afford to buy food, is the corner grocer forced to sell him food at half-price? No, the govt provides food stamps or whatever to allow him to buy food at market price. And the govt certainly does not give food aid to the wealthy.
Of course the system makes no sense, but politicians do what they need to do to get elected.
Starfish, I absolutely agree that the system is broken. I think that there should be consumer protections for tenants, but controlling the level of the rent and giving guaranteed lease renewal are not among the protections I favor. I think that if a person of limited means needs financial assistance to get housing, then we as a community either provide public housing or a welfare benefit to enable them to rent in the private market (which is what section 8 is). I don’t think landlords should have to be the providers of housing benefits. I’ve met people with rent stabilized apartments that own beach houses, but make sure they keep their lawful residence in NYC. I see no reason why their landlord should be subsidizing their lifestyle.
“It is quite easy to deregulate a vacant apartment…”
The key word is VACANT. There are many very low rent apartments where the tenant has been there for decades and will probably be there for life. The LL may well be dead before the apartment is vacated.
And as pointed out, they could be quite wealthy. It’s a sick system.
To destabilize an occupied apartment the legal rent must be above $2000 per month, and the household’s federal adjusted gross income as reported to NYS Department of Taxation and Finance must be greater than $175k. So if the household consists of two taxpayers, and the landlord believes that their combined income for the previous two years has exceeded $175k and the legal rent is above $2000, the landlord can petition the Division of Housing and Community Renewal to have the apartment destabilized (the tenants would become market rate tenants). The DHCR will confirm with DTF whether the combined household income exceeded the $175k.
Rent controlled apartments are only decontrolled through vacancy, at which time many become stabilized apartments.
It is quite easy to deregulate a vacant apartment by renovating it and adding one fortieth of the cost to the monthly rent to take the legal rent over $2000, at which point a vacant apartment can be deregulated.
Well those people couldn’t be evicted even if their income is in the millions. Because another requirement is that the rent must be at least $2000!
thanks starfish.
yeah i barfed last weekend when i read the article about the couple who lives in a gigantic loft on the corner of broadway and layfayette paying 1291 a month in rent :-/
*rob*
hmmm..
maybe it’s rent stabalized apartments, not rent controlled apartments. the person on the lease’s income cannot exceed 175,000. can anyone verify this?
*rob*