Removing Rent Stabilization?
Hello, I purchased a Brownstone a few years ago that has ten units including my own. I rent the nine (Class B) on the upper floors while living in the only Class A, but it is an absolute nightmare. They are all SROs and the building is Rent Stabilized. I finally acquired a Certificate of…
Hello, I purchased a Brownstone a few years ago that has ten units including my own. I rent the nine (Class B) on the upper floors while living in the only Class A, but it is an absolute nightmare. They are all SROs and the building is Rent Stabilized. I finally acquired a Certificate of Non Harassment a while ago after an epic battle with HPD. However, ever since the beginning it has been a constant war with my tenants who are impossible to evict with the regulations, and I am tired of the struggle. What I am looking for desperately is someone who can tell me how to remove Rent Stabilization. I see from the definition that it applies to buildings built between 1947 and 1974 and that have “six units or more”, and I was wondering if I were to convert the nine units that I rent down to five or less, would that remove the Rent Stabilization? If not, is there another way? Someone please help! Thank you.
I would like to buy your building from you. You can reach me at n_w_v_h@yahoo.com.
Cheers
Thanks for the fuller story. No more scorn from me (if anything, my scorn was for your lawyer). You’ve got enough on your plate. “What was I thinking?” is a pretty common refrain in these parts, but every story is unique and hindsight is always 20/20 with infrared glasses.
If you are not looking to end stabilization on the seven units with good tenants, and are only looking for creative avenues to get rid of the two bad ones, perhaps the way to go about this, if feasible, is to look for ways to combine one or both of those units with whatever unit you plan to live in, so you can get them out on grounds that you will be using the space as your residence. Check with an attorney — a good one with your interests diligently at heart in accordance with accepted practice standards and the ethical rules (hint hint cough leverage in divorce proceedings cough) — about whether and how best to do this. I don’t know your building configuration, but you really need to strategize with an attorney about this.
Well well. I must say that when I put up this post I never dreamed I would elicit the reactions that I have. However, thank you all for the comments and input, both helpful and insulting alike!
To answer a few of your comments, YES, I was woefully unaware of what I was getting myself into by purchasing this property. I had no idea how restrictive Rent Stabilization was, I was previously married to an attorney who handled the sale and who I naively trusted (and am now divorcing), and I stupidly did not do any research into it myself. So there’s the short answer to those of you wondering “where the hell was my attorney!” I make no excuses for myself. This is my own fault and my own mess and I will take full responsibility and losses for it if that is what it takes.
HOWEVER. To those of who seem to think that I am attempting to “ruin people’s lives” by removing the Rent Stabilization, I assure you that that is the LAST thing on earth that I am doing. In fact, quite the opposite. Of the nine units (yes all are still occupied), only two are nasty, troublesome tenants. These two tenants have been there from the beginning and have repeatedly made life miserable for myself and the rest of tenants. I do NOT consider myself a bad landlord and neither do the other SEVEN tenants that live here who constantly commend me for my patience and timely, effective approach when dealing with the property despite the problems caused by these two difficult tenants. In addition, I also own a second property that is NOT Rent Stabilized and have rented to numerous tenants there for years with no problems of any kind. Plus, if I had been a bad landlord and harassed these tenants there is NO WAY that HPD would have granted me the Certificate of Non-Harassment to those of you who know how difficult that process is. It cost me over 20,000 dollars in renovations to qualify for it and I had to wait more than two years to acquire it after being given the runaround and bounced back and forth between HPD, DOB, and DOF for a loooong time.
Furthermore, those of you dishing out sympathy and concern for these two tenants can save yourself the trouble. Every tenant that I have had living in the other seven units has repeatedly come to me with complaints of harassment and nuisance from these two tenants. However, the tenants are not stupid – they always stop just short of giving me sufficient evidence to justify their eviction in Housing Court (as so many of you must know how difficult it is to evict a Rent Stabilized tenant). That does NOT mean though that I am a bad person for wanting to remove tenants that make life miserable for myself and my good, hard working, considerate tenants in the other units. Especially when these two tenants are constantly contriving various infractions that myself or the other tenants have committed against them and calling HPD like a fifteen year old girl calls her best friends.
Finally, apparently my property is unique in the natural turnaround that I have, because the other seven units I have been renting have been almost entirely to college/university students who only stay six months to a year at a time, and thus emptying some of these units long enought to renovate them will not be nearly as difficult as many of you would lead me to believe.
I am however, still interested in any tips that anyone could give me (although I have no doubt most of you will write back with more scorn and ridicule) on how I should proceed next. As I understand it if I undertake significant enough renovations on the property then I can apply for a Change of the Certifcate of Occupancy in the building. However, I cannot do that without permits for which I would need the Certificate of Non-Harassment (which fortunately I already have), but I am not entirely certain that that is the order of steps that I should take. I do intend to speak to an attorney well versed in these matters, but their absurd cost led me to first think (foolishly perhaps) that I would find empathetic souls in this community who might help me with a difficult situation that I thought many of you may have undergone as well, because I know that I am not the only one to deal with a situation like this, just look at the article I have included below! Thanks for all of the help.
http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/nightmare-in-harlem/27686/
Get the building condemned and then brick up and leave vacant for 15 years.
Find a “partner” who needs to launder a large amount of money in exchange for 9 empty apartments… You can keep yours.
In my past experience from my clients the certificate of no harrasement has nothing to do if there are tenants or not and is only a pre-condition before getting an approval from the DOB.
The eviction part is a nightmare and you must have deep pockets these days and a buyout is usually the best.
If you are filing for combination of apartments currently there is one little line on the DOB application that indicates if it is vacant or not so you will have fun with that as well
Reducing the number of units in the building does not remove it from rent stabilized. Also, buildings are not rent stabilized, only apartment units. That’s why in some cases, some apartments are market rate and some rent stabilized in the same building.
You need to do lots of homework on the subject. Buyouts sometimes work, but you will need a lot of money to do that, much more than you can imagine. Also, if you have any senior citizens or disabled tenants, they have special protections.
ML, we went to court after shareholder in 90 day default. Shareholder ignored notice to cure and all subsequent mailings. Corporation was then able to secure eviction notice.
denton,
the marshall only comes by court order. How could you possibly have had a marshall come in 90 days?
It is obvious that NYC housing code should be
scrapped and started anew.
Much like the Fed Tax code.
Here’s an idea:
a new state law that speeds up the eviction process
and at the same time addresses landlord abuses.
sort of like a “loser pays” law for housing court.
If you evict a tenant with no good reason, you must
give them free rent for a year.
If a tenant is truly a bad tenant they get 8 weeks tops to pack up.