Rent stabilized help
Hello all, My friend owns a building in a rapidly developing area of crown heights(near eastern parkway and franklin). He is in danger of losing the building due to some neglect on his brothers part when he was in control. Here are some bullet points: – The building has 8 units and is rent stabilized – tenants currently pay between $600 and $900 for large 2bdr units – The income from the four occupied units isn’t bringing in enough revenue to cover the cost of repairs to two vacant units. Two units house contributing family members. – Tenants have no updated leases. The last lease was used when his father was in control during the early 90’s(now deceased) – Apparently they are having a hard time accessing grant money because the deed is still in his grandmothers name(deceased since the 60/70s) The rent desperately needs to be raised to cover necessary cost as the building has fell into severe disrepair. The tenants are very aware of the leniency of my friend and they use it to their advantage such as: – making illegal additions – Using washing machines in their units – Playing ridiculously loud music at all hours I would really like to help them get things back on track. Any advice on maneuvering around getting the rent increased and getting non compliant tenants out would be very helpful. I would also like to know if these tenants are entitled to “lifetime leases” because most have been there since the early 90s aside from one tenant residing there from the 60’s.
lovebrooklyn24
in Landlord 10 years and 8 months ago
10
Please log in, in order to post replies!
10 replies
no-permits | 10 years and 8 months ago
if you want to chat some more, e-mail me at c11217 at yahoo dot com.
no-permits | 10 years and 8 months ago
it takes a lot of money to turn a building like this around. if they don’t have it, they should sell. otherwise it will continue to be a burden. it will cost upwards of $50k in legal fees or a buy-out per unit to get rid of the tenants. the MCI’s alone will not bring the rent up a whole lot.
lovebrooklyn24 | 10 years and 8 months ago
I advised them not to sell as it stands to make a great deal of money going forward. It’s in a prime location where slightly updated units nearby are snatching upwards of $2500\. I will def pass on the info Accquired here. @resident2 there’s only two siblings that are entitled to the building so that should help somewhat.
no-permits | 10 years and 8 months ago
lovebrooklyn24, what’s your e-mail address?
landlord | 10 years and 8 months ago
I would do what daveinbedstuy recommended.
resident2 | 10 years and 8 months ago
If you do not take the renewal increases when they are due; you loose them. The tenant that has been there since the 1960’s is probably rent controlled. The family members that are occupying two units are obviously not paying market rents?! But the first thing you need to do is the probate since the Grandmothers passing. And that is where most families give up when they realize that unless wills are written and properly processed on the time; the proceeds get divided between every niece and nephew and descendent ever since and as generations go on, the split gets so small, that no one wants to bother..! It gets to the point that dealing with the tenants is the least of your worries and the families are so dysfunctional it is a shame. But until the family sort the family business out, no one can get clear title, so selling it is not that simple either. That said a friend of mine recently bought a similarly neglected building through Kathryn Lilly @ Realty on the Greene who had apparently worked with the selling family for the better part of a year to get it to the point that they could all sell it without killing each other and get the title clear. The best thing is for all the family members that are entitled to the proceeds; to all contribute to the fund to get it to a point of functioning. The ones that are living in the building, should pay market rent or move out as well.
mozeeatupu | 10 years and 8 months ago
You have to give the tenants updated leases. If they are paying rent, not much you can do about vacating them. Unless they are elderly, disabled, or RC, then claim owner occupancy and then not renew the lease but that won’t be for a year or 2. Now fix unoccupied units, get rid of any violations, do massive MCI and IAI, raise rents.
daveinbedstuy | 10 years and 8 months ago
get the deed and title updated and sell it.
brokelin | 10 years and 8 months ago
Yes, rent stabilized tenants can stay forever … learn the law or get out of the business.
Augustiner | 10 years and 8 months ago
sell it to me, and you´ll have no more problems 🙂