Rent Guidelines Board set to vote on possible rent freeze (Albany: appointed, real estate market)
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The rally for low rent occurred Monday during a Rent Guidelines Board meeting. The board is considering the freeze, which would be the first in its 46-year history for stabilized apartments.
They'll be voting on June 23rd, and it looks like the potential increases on the table are anywhere from 0%-3% hikes for 1 year leases, and 0.5%-4.5% for two year leases.
The article also mentions that Mayor de Blasio, who called for a rent freeze during his campaign, appointed five of the nine members of the Rent Guidelines Board. Even if it isn't a total freeze, I wouldn't be surprised if the increase was no more than 1%. There's probably going to be a lot of people opting for the two year lease this go around.
Stabilized apartments and rent freezes in them are not going to help the sky high rent in this city which is a huge problem that affects far more people then just the ones in these types of apartments.
Rent is high because there aren't enough apartments (supply) in the city in relation to what is wanted and needed by this constantly growing city population (demand) along with bad regulations that exist solely to make city politicians and the different groups they appease to happy.
Allow new residential buildings with enough units(if it needs to be high rise to have that then do it) to go up, get rid of stupid building and construction regulations that don't serve any good purpose and watch the rent go down.
Things won't change for the better if NYC politicians are going to do nonsense like the OP's article though. I mean rent is sky high all over the city, so they decide to do something economically stupid like freeze rent on a relatively large group of apartments for a relatively limited group of people which will only make things worst for the majority of people.
The demand for more residential buildings all over the city is only going to get higher so to not tackle the real issues behind the high rent serves no good purpose.
Freezing RS rents when landlord costs rose >5% last year including a deep property tax increase is going to be a recipe for disaster. Unless coupled with some sort of relief from same landlords/property owners are simply not going to eat the difference.
Services and or maintenance could decline. Investment in properties as well. Landlords may become more aggressive in with eviction proceedings to get shot of tenants who obviously cannot afford their rent.
There are also two larger problems created by a rent freeze.
First it can turn developers against participating in 80/20 or other affordable housing schemes for becoming loathe to getting into bed with the City.
Next there is the real question of what happens next year? Unless tenants signed one year leases those affected by last year's increases (one of the highest) will not benefit from any rent freeze this year. This leaves the City/RGB after setting a horrible precedent on the hook for a repeat performance.
So many persons think they are so smart and can somehow force landlords to keep the RS program going forever haven't read the law correctly.
For one thing landlords can claim hardship and remove themselves from the program. It is not easy and not always a sure bet but in order to get around the "taking" of property (which would allow RS laws to be successfully challenged in the courts), the option must be allowed.
Finally RS at least in terms of low to well below market rate apartments in most areas of NYC is dying a slow death. Unless the City can get more units via 80/20 or other schemes as current lease holders die off those apartments will be either warehoused or gut renovated to price them out of RS.
Love the idea of a freeze, but what I really want is for him to lower the damn property taxes that skyrocketed under Bloomberg.
Not going to happen. Best you and others can hope for is no further increases in NYC property taxes.
De Blasio and the City Council are already spending money that does not exist and plans for yet more of such keep coming. Funding has to come from somewhere.....
Not going to happen. Best you and others can hope for is no further increases in NYC property taxes. De Blasio and the City Council are already spending money that does not exist and plans for yet more of such keep coming. Funding has to come from somewhere.....
[quote=BugsyPal;35332958]Freezing RS rents when landlord costs rose >5% last year including a deep property tax increase is going to be a recipe for disaster. Unless coupled with some sort of relief from same landlords/property owners are simply not going to eat the difference.
Services and or maintenance could decline. Investment in properties as well. Landlords may become more aggressive in with eviction proceedings to get shot of tenants who obviously cannot afford their rent.
Homelessness in NYC is at all time highs and wages are down. This isn't the best job market. In what alternative universe do landlords deserve a rent increase? Landlords have had to deal absorb costs? The general public has had to absorb costs from the rising cost of everything. But in this alternative universe, landlords are exempt from suffering hard time and diminished profit. Apparently they are holy priests whose needs must be attended to before all others.
Please. Landlords somehow survived greater rent regulation for decades, until people like Pataki, Giuliani, and Bloomberg rose to power. The Republicans have finally lost control of both City Hall and Albany. There's weeping and wailing as they try to find every justification in the book from touching Bloomberg's sacred cows.
De Blasio and the current city council were elected on an affordable housing mandate. This is an opportunity for him to deliver. Even if the rent freeze were to pass, I seriously doubt any landlord would exit the NYC real estate market. Though if it came to that, you are not guaranteed the right to be a landlord in NYC, and as far as voters go tenants by far outnumber landlords.
I for one am not in favor of a freeze. Why should their rent be frozen? RS tenants for some reason seem to think they are entitled to thier rents staying low forever....
Freezing RS rents when landlord costs rose >5% last year including a deep property tax increase is going to be a recipe for disaster. Unless coupled with some sort of relief from same landlords/property owners are simply not going to eat the difference.
Services and or maintenance could decline. Investment in properties as well. Landlords may become more aggressive in with eviction proceedings to get shot of tenants who obviously cannot afford their rent.
Homelessness in NYC is at all time highs and wages are down. This isn't the best job market. In what alternative universe do landlords deserve a rent increase? Landlords have had to deal absorb costs? The general public has had to absorb costs from the rising cost of everything. But in this alternative universe, landlords are exempt from suffering hard time and diminished profit. Apparently they are holy priests whose needs must be attended to before all others.
Please. Landlords somehow survived greater rent regulation for decades, until people like Pataki, Giuliani, and Bloomberg rose to power. The Republicans have finally lost control of both City Hall and Albany. There's weeping and wailing as they try to find every justification in the book from touching Bloomberg's sacred cows.
De Blasio and the current city council were elected on an affordable housing mandate. This is an opportunity for him to deliver. Even if the rent freeze were to pass, I seriously doubt any landlord would exit the NYC real estate market. Though if it came to that, you are not guaranteed the right to be a landlord in NYC, and as far as voters go tenants by far outnumber landlords.
In my building and elsewhere on our street/block vacated units have not remained empty long. Indeed have noticed persons moving house on say a Monday and within <two weeks new tenants are moving into the unit. Much of the lapse in time is due to painting and other cleaning or repair issues that happen between vacancy and new tenancy.
As for surviving greater rent regulations and or increases historically you want to do some research.
During the 1980's and 1990's there were some very dear RS increases voted into effect by the RSB and that was at a time when NYC/NYS was in recession and or relative high unemployment. Apartments either remained vacant, tenants who couldn't afford increases moved and so forth.
Consider the NYC then is most certainly not what it is today. Landlords in better areas of Manhattan, west Brooklyn or even beyond for that matter have no problems finding tenants.
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