Council Gunning for Oversight of Rent Regulation
A bill seeking to give the City Council more control over rent regulation is expected to be introduced to the state legislature within the next couple of weeks, according to an article in this morning’s Sun. The bill would mean that the City Council gets to vote on who sits on the Rent Guidelines Board,…
A bill seeking to give the City Council more control over rent regulation is expected to be introduced to the state legislature within the next couple of weeks, according to an article in this morning’s Sun. The bill would mean that the City Council gets to vote on who sits on the Rent Guidelines Board, a nine-person body currently appointed by the mayor. In addition, the bill would significantly revamp how the board determines rent hikes because landlords’ net incomes would be considered. Perhaps most significantly, the bill would mean that tenants won’t have to renew their leases as long as they pay rent. Councilmember Letitia James (right) says she plans to introduce a resolution asking the legislature to pass the bill, which has the support of tenants’ rights groups. Frank Ricci, president of the landlord-interest group the Rent Stabilization Association, says his organization opposes the bill. “This legislation ignores the reality of rising taxes, rising fuel prices, and rising water rates, to make this a more political process than it already is,” he says.
Bill Would Give Council More Control of Rent Regulation [NY Sun]
Photo of Councilmember James by threecee.
11:30 pm,
It’s quite obvious you NEVER owned rent stabilized housing. I will never defend slumlords, but I know for a fact that anyone under, say, 45 that lives in a rent stabilized apartment, lives better than the landlord. Especially after the last few years of hikes of all utilities, taxes and insurance.
The big misconception is that because stabilized housing exists, the people who need it are getting it.
I agree with the poster(s) who wrote that rent stabilization should be phased out [for all but anyone that is retired and/or on a fixed income] and pegged to a percentage of market rate rents like Section 8.
8:06–it’s great to cast aspersions on some of your tenants who have resources, giving the impression that everyone in the building you own is richer than you, but, like 99.99% of the landlords in the city, you’re happy to supply income details about your tenants without supplying any details about your own income. what choice do you have as a landlord? you could sell the building if it’s so much of a headache…but i assume you’re making a profit, AS ARE 99.9% OF THE OWNERS OF RENT STABILIZED HOUSING.
let me interpret this comment by 5:41 correctly:
original comment – “we must keep rent-stabalization alive. it keeps working class people in this city. if it dissapears nyc will be full of obnoxious yuppies.
Posted by: guest at April 28, 2008 5:41 PM
what this really means- ” we must keep rent-stabalization alive. It keeps dysfunctional mooch alcoholics from ever having to get a real job and pay real bills. if it dissapears, nyc will be full of ambitious, hard-working go-getters who try and make a better life for themselves, all without taking a handout from anyone.
Come on Sam, she is a big girl…
“My belief is that an income/net worth formula should be put into place so that only folks who really can’t afford higher rents are allowed to remain in their stabilized apartments.”
That’s what welfare and section 8 are for. No need to create a whole separate nonworking system for NYC. Rent stabilization laws are not for the poor. They are for those who held a property long ago. They are the ultimate disinsentive for the nonworking poor.
overweight?
are you all twenty-year old gay guys?
I’m a landlord in Manhattan.
An older tenant called me today and asked how much I’d pay him to vacate his rent stabilized apartment. He pays about 1/4th the market rent.
I know for a fact that this guy has a stock portfolio worth well over a million bucks because he showed me his brokerage statement a few years ago at a lease signing while we were talking about the stock market.
I have several other tenants like this guy with excellent incomes, large savings, and no need for price controlled apartments.
My belief is that an income/net worth formula should be put into place so that only folks who really can’t afford higher rents are allowed to remain in their stabilized apartments.
It’s a joke that I spend my life taking care of apartment buildings while half the tenants barely pay enough to cover the expense of maintaining the building. . . not to mention that Bloomberg raised property taxes 18%. . . .
That said, I’ll probably end up paying this guy big bucks to be rid of him once and for all. It’s legal extortion, but what other choice do I have? I don’t want to be this guys slave for the rest of my life.
I know she is overweight, roots showing and all, but for some reason I am strangely aroused by her picture right now – Jungle fever maybe?
TISH RULES!!!