Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm sure there's some exception somewhere of a LL or two who actually is nice or doesn't care about all the extra income he could be making from his investments and agrees to rent the apartment at a preferential rent that is much lower than market value. But that would be the exception and not the rule.
Everything you say is 100% true. I also happen to know one or two of those exception landlords. One is a little old greek lady who paid off her building a long time ago and is happy to have nice tenants, she hasn't raised the rent in 8 years since they moved in. Her kids have moved on and are successful business people who drive BMWs and Porsches, and her view is that she doesn't need the money as long as the rental income can cover property taxes and maintenance. Very rare!
Everything you say is 100% true. I also happen to know one or two of those exception landlords. One is a little old greek lady who paid off her building a long time ago and is happy to have nice tenants, she hasn't raised the rent in 8 years since they moved in. Her kids have moved on and are successful business people who drive BMWs and Porsches, and her view is that she doesn't need the money as long as the rental income can cover property taxes and maintenance. Very rare!
So I guess the moral of the story is that if you think you have one of those landlords and you think your rent is below market and going to stay that way, don't go to check the rent history at DCHR.
No the legal rent has nothing to do with paperwork or any sort of research.
Nobody could be this uninformed and actually live here.
Unless you moved here not so long ago - my guess.
Now we can all understand. Legal rents were mandated with the creation of the sun, the moon, and the planets, and they are therefore absolute. Guess who did it.
For everyone else. Know your legal rent, which you check by obtaining a rental history, which will include all "arguments" for increases. The latter are important because no city agency checks and you should examine these claims carefully. For example: Did s/he claim a "gut-rehab" ? Well ... has your apartment been renovated, in fact ? and so on. Keep in mind that the landlords just submit paperwork. It's an "honor" system, and the intention is that tenants will create a system of checks by making complaints and demanding inspections.
If anything looks amiss launch an inquiry with DHCR (not great) or in housing court (far better). If the rental history includes a claim of "renovated bathroom" and there are violations or repair issues in your bathroom, call 311 and HPD will investigate. Keep the violations because you need these for the rent investigation. The aim is to collect evidence that the claims of renovation were false, and you must do this because - believe it or not - even launching an investigation will not necessarily mean that anyone will investigate. The city is not taking care of anyone but themselves.
Do not listen to the desperate and self-interested landlords posting here. And do not think that all wealthy people are fine with their ways of doing things - not true.
Think what the poster meant was often the legal rent on a RS lease is open to challenge because it isn't any such thing. This is because either willfully or out of ignorance some landlords pull fast a fast one and someone singing a new lease may never know.
It wasn't until recently that NYS began requiring LLs to register RS apartments. Previously IIRC it was more on a voluntary system. If you cannot research previous rent history how can you determine if the current rent being offered is correct?
Landlords have taken vacancy increases that they shouldn't. Rounded off increases to vacancy and renewal leases, padded renewal leases with charges they shouldn't and on it goes. Thus the "legal" rent being charged at renewal can be inflated.
I mean ... this is not rocket science. Is it ?
Unless you buy into the simultaneity of the creation of the world AND all "legal" rents, which I discuss - not fully, I admit - above.
And if there are so many honest landlords, who cares if tenants check ?
Harlem resident, you keep dodging the question. How is the tenant going to prove "harassment" when the LL raises the snooping tenant's rent to the higher legal rent that the LL is entitled to get? Please answer that.
Harlem resident, you keep dodging the question. How is the tenant going to prove "harassment" when the LL raises the snooping tenant's rent to the higher legal rent that the LL is entitled to get? Please answer that.
He can't for obvious reasons (there's no harassment involved)
Fortunately I think anyone reading this will understand your "points." It's quite evident. This is a good thing.
I am not necessarily anti-landlord - having encountered many equally bad tenants - but the stupidity rather pushes a person in this direction.
I just realized - that's all we need, yet another troll.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.