Ruling Could Mean Lower Rents for 300,000!

The New York Times
1-26-10
By CARA BUCKLEY
 
To most renters in New York City, it sounds like a modest, even enviable, rent increase: Pay an additional $45 if your monthly rent happened to be less than $1,000 and you had been living in the same apartment for more than six years.
 
But to the City Council, and advocates for New York’s lower-paying tenants, the increase issued by the city’s Rent Guidelines Board in 2008 amounted to what they called a “poor tax.” And in a ruling last week, Justice Emily Jane Goodman of State Supreme Court in Manhattan agreed. Should the ruling stand — the city plans to appeal it — some 300,000 rent-stabilized tenants could receive rebates and small reductions in their rent.
The ruling stemmed from the rent increases approved by the city’s Rent Guidelines Board in 2008. The board allowed landlords of rent-subsidized apartments to raise rents by 4.5 percent for one-year leases, and 8.5 percent for two-year leases.
The board also passed a minimum increase for anyone who had been living in an apartment for more than six years: They would have to pay at least $45 and $85 for one- and two-year leases, respectively. This meant that any long-term tenant paying less than $1,000 a month would be faced with a higher percentage increase than other rent-stabilized tenants. The rule was called Order No. 40. 
 
Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/nyregion/26rent.html?ref=todayspaper

Tenants Win Lawsuit Against RGB!

The tenant movement won a major victory on Friday when the New York State Supreme Court ruled that the New York City Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) exceeded their authority when they determined that tenants who have lived in their apartments for six years or longer and whose rent is under $1,000 a month should pay higher rent increases than all other rent stabilized tenants. Tenants & Neighbors was a plaintiff in the lawsuits filed against the RGB in 2008 and 2009 by Legal Aid Society and South Brooklyn Legal Services.

The tenant attorneys who filed the lawsuit relied on a successful lawsuit Tenants & Neighbors previously filed against the Nassau County RGB, in which the courts ruled that the RGB did not have the authority to create a separate rate adjustment guidelines based on factors related to the tenants, not to the type of housing accommodation.  Read more at:  http://tandn.org/

NYC/NYS HOUSING AGENCIES

DHCR- NYS Division of Housing & Community Renewal  

      The Division of Housing and Community Renewal is responsible for the supervision, maintenance and development of affordable low-and moderate income housing in New York State.  The division performs a number of activities in fulfillment of this mission, including:

• Community Development – Administration of housing development and community preservation programs, including State and Federal grants and loans to housing developers to partially finance construction or renovation of affordable housing; and
• Housing Operations – Oversite and regulation of the State’s public and publicly assisted rental housing;
• Rent Administration – Administration of the rent regulation process for more than one million rent-regulated apartments in both New York City, and those localities in the counties of Albany, Erie, Nassau, Rockland, Schenectady, Rensselaer and Westchester subject to rent laws.
• Policy Research and Development – Study the long-term housing needs of the State and help develop appropriate policies.

 

HPD – NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is the largest municipal developer of affordable housing in the nation. Since 1987, HPD has provided over $6.3 billion to support the repair, rehabilitation and new construction of hundreds of thousands of units of housing. This administration’s housing agenda, The New Housing Marketplace: Creating Housing for the Next Generation, is the largest investment in the City’s housing stock in 20 years. It is a $7.5 billion plan to create and preserve more than 165,000 homes and apartments in neighborhoods over ten years
 
HPD protects the existing housing stock and expands housing options for New Yorkers as it strives to improve the availability, affordability, and quality of housing in New York City. HPD has made a decisive shift away from City ownership of properties and has developed innovative community revitalization initiatives that promote private investment and productive public-private partnerships. HPD works with its governmental, community, non-profit and for-profit partners to strengthen neighborhoods, increase the availability of well-maintained, affordable housing and enable more New Yorkers to become homeowners.

Today, in great part due to the work of HPD, the vacant and boarded-up buildings that were once a blight on many of the City’s neighborhoods have been transformed into safe, affordable homes for families. Once-abandoned lots now contain new townhouses, parks and open space. Communities that were devastated not long ago are now vibrant, as commercial activity has returned and public safety initiatives have encouraged parents to allow their children to play outside. HPD’s housing programs have helped to restore and rebuild housing as well as to improve the quality of life in New York City’s richly diverse communities. 

RGB – NYC Rent Guidelines Board

The NYC Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) is mandated to establish rent adjustments for the approximately one million dwelling units subject to the Rent Stabilization Law in New York City. The Board holds an annual series of public meetings and hearings to consider research from staff, and testimony from owners, tenants, advocacy groups and industry experts.

The RGB staff is responsible for providing administrative support to the Board and prepares research regarding the economic condition of the stabilized residential real estate industry including operating and maintenance costs, the cost of financing, housing supply and cost of living indices. The RGB staff engages in year-round research efforts, publishes its reports for use by the public, other governmental agencies and private organizations, and provides information to the public on housing questions. 

RGB Rent Stabilization Apartment Increases 2009-2010

2009 Apartment & Loft Order #41

June 23, 2009

Order Number 41 – Apartments and Lofts, rent levels for leases commencing October 1, 2009 through September 30, 2010.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY VESTED IN THE NEW YORK CITY RENT GUIDELINES BOARD BY THE RENT STABILIZATION LAW OF 1969, as amended, and the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974, as amended, implemented by Resolution No 276 of 1974 of the New York City Council and extended by Chapter 82 of the Laws of 2003, and in accordance with the requirements of Section 1043 of the New York City Charter, that the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) hereby adopts the following levels of fair rent increases over lawful rents charged and paid on September 30, 2009. These rent adjustments will apply to rent stabilized apartments with leases commencing on or after October 1, 2009 and through September 30, 2010. Rent guidelines for loft units subject to Section 286 subdivision 7 of the Multiple Dwelling Law are also included in this order.

ADJUSTMENT FOR RENEWAL LEASES  (APARTMENTS)

Together with such further adjustments as may be authorized by law, the annual adjustment for renewal leases for apartments shall be:

Where heat is provided or required to be provided to a dwelling unit by an owner from a central or individual system at no charge to the tenant, the adjustments are as follows:

• For a one-year renewal lease commencing on or after October 1, 2009 and on or before September 30, 2010:  3%
• For a two-year renewal lease commencing on or after October 1, 2009 and on or before September 30, 2010: 6%

Provided, however, that where the most recent vacancy lease was executed six years or more prior to the date of the renewal lease under this Order, the following shall instead apply:

• For a one-year renewal lease commencing on or after October 1, 2009 and on or before September 30, 2010:  3% or $30, whichever is greater.
• For a two-year renewal lease commencing on or after October 1, 2009 and on or before September 30, 2010:  6% or $60, whichever is greater.

Where heat is neither provided nor required to be provided to a dwelling unit by an owner from a central or individual system, the adjustments are as follows:

• For a one-year renewal lease commencing on or after October 1, 2009 and on or before September 30, 2010:   2.5%
• For a two-year renewal lease commencing on or after October 1, 2009 and on or before September 30, 2010:   5%

Provided, however, that where the most recent vacancy lease was executed six years or more prior to the date of the renewal lease under this Order, the following shall instead apply:

• For a one-year renewal lease commencing on or after October 1, 2009 and on or before September 30, 2010:    2.5% or $25, whichever is greater.
• For a two-year renewal lease commencing on or after October 1, 2009 and on or before September 30, 2010:    5% or $50, whichever is greater.

These adjustments shall also apply to dwelling units in a structure subject to the partial tax exemption program under Section 421a of the Real Property Tax Law, or in a structure subject to Section 423 of the Real Property Tax Law as a Redevelopment Project.

VACANCY ALLOWANCE FOR APARTMENTS

No vacancy allowance is permitted except as provided by sections 19 and 20 of the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1997.

ADDITIONAL ADJUSTMENT FOR RENT STABILIZED APARTMENTS SUBLET UNDER SECTION 2525.6 OF THE RENT STABILIZATION CODE

In the event of a sublease governed by subdivision (e) of section 2525.6 of the Rent Stabilization Code, the allowance authorized by such subdivision shall be 10%.

ADJUSTMENTS FOR LOFTS (UNITS IN THE CATEGORY OF BUILDINGS COVERED BY ARTICLE 7-C OF THE MULTIPLE DWELLING LAW)

The Rent Guidelines Board adopts the following levels of rent increase above the “base rent”, as defined in Section 286, subdivision 4, of the Multiple Dwelling Law, for units to which these guidelines are applicable in accordance with Article 7-C of the Multiple Dwelling Law:

For one-year increase periods commencing on or after October 1, 2009 and on or before September 30, 2010:    3%

For two-year increase periods commencing on or after October 1, 2009 and on or before September 30, 2010:   6%

Source: Actors Equity Fund.  Affordable Housing Information. 13^th Edition