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#1 Read your lease and make sure landlord is following it
#2 If you can't afford the increase, either try to negotiate, or make plans to move.
I am not sure where you live, but in Manhattan it's a common practice for landlords in large non-stabilized buildings to offer the rent at a "reasonable" price (say, $2200 for a studio) and then after a year jack it up to $2700. They know renters are between a rock and a hard place because it's very expensive to move.
When Ms. Barrocas, 26, first found her one-bedroom apartment with views of the East River on the 19th floor of a Murray Hill apartment building in 2010, it cost $2,550 a month. She and her boyfriend quickly signed up for a two-year lease.
With the lease set to expire in June, she recently received word that her landlord wanted to raise the rent by more than $500 a month. “I started freaking out,” Ms. Barrocas said. “It is a huge increase.”
She was not ready to buy, but she could not afford to stay in her current apartment. The landlord would not negotiate. But moving, even if she found a cheaper place, would most likely force her to shell out around $5,000 for broker fees, security deposit and moving costs.
Fortunately, a cheaper apartment was available in her building. It was smaller, had little natural light and lacked river views. But at $2,745 a month it was in her price range, and there was no broker’s fee. She made the move.
Ms. Barrocas says many of her neighbors feel similarly trapped. “People just want to leave,” she said. “I would have preferred to leave.”
#1 Read your lease and make sure landlord is following it
#2 If you can't afford the increase, either try to negotiate, or make plans to move.
I am not sure where you live, but in Manhattan it's a common practice for landlords in large non-stabilized buildings to offer the rent at a "reasonable" price (say, $2200 for a studio) and then after a year jack it up to $2700. They know renters are between a rock and a hard place because it's very expensive to move.
When Ms. Barrocas, 26, first found her one-bedroom apartment with views of the East River on the 19th floor of a Murray Hill apartment building in 2010, it cost $2,550 a month. She and her boyfriend quickly signed up for a two-year lease.
With the lease set to expire in June, she recently received word that her landlord wanted to raise the rent by more than $500 a month. “I started freaking out,” Ms. Barrocas said. “It is a huge increase.”
She was not ready to buy, but she could not afford to stay in her current apartment. The landlord would not negotiate. But moving, even if she found a cheaper place, would most likely force her to shell out around $5,000 for broker fees, security deposit and moving costs.
Fortunately, a cheaper apartment was available in her building. It was smaller, had little natural light and lacked river views. But at $2,745 a month it was in her price range, and there was no broker’s fee. She made the move.
Ms. Barrocas says many of her neighbors feel similarly trapped. “People just want to leave,” she said. “I would have preferred to leave.”
That's because there is a high demand for housing in Manhattan. More than supply.
I was shocked this week to see that a sponsor owned 1 br apt in my co op building is listed for rent at 1,525/mo.And it's a small 1 br at that....only about 725 sq ft.This means that in the 4 years I've been in the building,the rent on the sponsors 1 br apts has gone from about 1,100/mo to 1,500/mo ! The apartments are not stabilized of course so there is nothing illegal about it,just kind of shocking that the rents have gone up so much.
Also,up until a year or so ago,whenever sponsor units came vacant they were immediately put on the market and sold,even during the crash.They had all been forever occupied by holdover rent controlled and rent stabilized tenants who never bought.Now when the apartments come vacant they don't even try to sell,they rent them out at market rates..Not sure exactly what this means except that maybe the rents have come up so much that it's too tempting for them to rent for now.The maintenance to the co op on the unit now for rent is just a little over 500/mo so I guess the sponsor will have a 1,000/mo profit on this one unit ! Nice.
I was shocked this week to see that a sponsor owned 1 br apt in my co op building is listed for rent at 1,525/mo.And it's a small 1 br at that....only about 725 sq ft.This means that in the 4 years I've been in the building,the rent on the sponsors 1 br apts has gone from about 1,100/mo to 1,500/mo ! The apartments are not stabilized of course so there is nothing illegal about it,just kind of shocking that the rents have gone up so much.
Also,up until a year or so ago,whenever sponsor units came vacant they were immediately put on the market and sold,even during the crash.They had all been forever occupied by holdover rent controlled and rent stabilized tenants who never bought.Now when the apartments come vacant they don't even try to sell,they rent them out at market rates..Not sure exactly what this means except that maybe the rents have come up so much that it's too tempting for them to rent for now.The maintenance to the co op on the unit now for rent is just a little over 500/mo so I guess the sponsor will have a 1,000/mo profit on this one unit ! Nice.
Market rents in NYC are kept high because the government suppresses the supply of apartments. How? Well, there are hundreds of thousands of low-rent stabilized apartments which are, essentially, permanently occupied. That is, they are not part of the supply because the rents are artificially kept so low that the occupants sit on them for decades or for life.
Low supply and high demand create high market rents, except of course for the privileged few. It's called the "Rent Stabilization System".
Just received a 20% increase myself. Try negotiating with the landlord. I was able to buy myself 3 more months at the old rent price. I plan on moving out after that.
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