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.
When a block of old buildings is razed, do the displaced Rent Stabilized tenants have any rights?
Yes and no and depends.
Most of the demolitions in Harlem have been vacant buildings, which means no displacement. Proclamations that insinuate otherwise - that "tear-downs" are contributing to pushing people out - are sheer ignorance for that reason.
Any displacement is far more oblique, in the sense that creating a new building that is luxury or market rate by implication pushes local people out. But if the housing was not there in the first place ...
More people are being pushed out by vacancy decontrol, which I could see coming under scrutiny in the coming months. That has become quite a scam in practical use by landlords.
I've known about this for awhile. This block is a eyesore with all the businesses being priced out. There was beauty salon and a barber shop on the corner of 119th. A laundromat too. Across the street there's a modern mid rise tower about to be constructed. Either way you slice it, sh** is getting real for east harlem
More people are being pushed out by vacancy decontrol, which I could see coming under scrutiny in the coming months. That has become quite a scam in practical use by landlords.
That I don't understand. How can a landlord legally decontrol some Fifth floor walkup with rent at $500 that he is going to demolish. Is he going to put $80,000 into granite countertops and hardwood flooring?
(Or is he just going to TELL DHCR that is what he did and they take him at his word?)
Even assuming he can pull it off, with a block of apartment buildings he will have to wait decades to empty the place legally before he can even begin the make-believe vacancy renovations.
IIRC somewhere in Spanish Harlem around Mount Sinai IIRC there is an entire block of empty low rise buildings. Remember reading about it in the NYT years ago. Reporter and others were wondering how an entire block of RS apartments could be empty.
Can a landlord refuse to renew stabilized leases simply by saying "This building is scheduled for demolition?"
They seem to be doing the same on Second Avenue on half the block between 92nd and 93rd. The block already has ONE 40+ story tower.
If zoning were to make some sense the very least should be a restriction to one tower per street block.
If they go down the block and drive Balucci's out of business, I will go bananas. Their half priced on everything, BYOB lunches are the best Indian deal in town.
Last edited by Kefir King; 12-05-2015 at 09:08 AM..
Is warehousing of empty apartments legal? Back in Jersey City, it was NOT.
No. But New York landlords do it all of the time and with a variety of creative methods. Different buildings have different stories. There are just so many loopholes in the laws, which is why statements about "tenant friendly New York" are outright ridiculous. Most people know this is entirely wrong but want to spread propaganda. After all, there are $$$$$$$ at stake and that's all that matters.
Many units are deregulated in the smoke surrounding some scheme - could be, filling a building with rehab people, collecting huge sums from taxpayers for each head, withdrawing from the program once a neighborhood picks up and then just offering units at a "new" rent. If tenants do not make complaints, nobody checks. This is the most crucial aspect of the whole thing. Original tenants would have left long ago, not wanting to live in a building with ex-cons. Landlords open units by offering in-place tenants small buy-outs and explaining that they will be living with dangerous criminals.
The rents are set on the honor system. Landlords submit paperwork to DHCR and nobody checks - until tenants launch inquiries about the rent, that is. This is thought to be the "check" on the system.
Tenants need education and then support to follow through. It is the only way things can change. Every move any landlord makes should be scrutinized down to the last detail.
Bear in mind that curbed is very pro-development, pro-landlord. If they featured these it must be really bad.
Solution to "flouting" ? Tenant follow through. Stop circulating baloney about "blacklisting." If you are blacklisted for bringing a responsible action, sue the company that puts together the list for everything they have.
No. But New York landlords do it all of the time and with a variety of creative methods. Different buildings have different stories. There are just so many loopholes in the laws, which is why statements about "tenant friendly New York" are outright ridiculous. Most people know this is entirely wrong but want to spread propaganda. After all, there are $$$$$$$ at stake and that's all that matters.
Many units are deregulated in the smoke surrounding some scheme - could be, filling a building with rehab people, collecting huge sums from taxpayers for each head, withdrawing from the program once a neighborhood picks up and then just offering units at a "new" rent. If tenants do not make complaints, nobody checks. This is the most crucial aspect of the whole thing. Original tenants would have left long ago, not wanting to live in a building with ex-cons. Landlords open units by offering in-place tenants small buy-outs and explaining that they will be living with dangerous criminals.
The rents are set on the honor system. Landlords submit paperwork to DHCR and nobody checks - until tenants launch inquiries about the rent, that is. This is thought to be the "check" on the system.
Tenants need education and then support to follow through. It is the only way things can change. Every move any landlord makes should be scrutinized down to the last detail.
No law says any LL RS, RC or not *MUST* rent out a vacant apartment. Just as no law says a property owner must build on a vacant lot.
Even when a LL has taken tax money to renovate his properties (421a or whatever) in theory he could leave vacant apartments empty long as he continues to pay whatever taxes. In such a situation they only thing a LL is forbidden from is renting units that should be RS as free market.
Can a landlord refuse to renew stabilized leases simply by saying "This building is scheduled for demolition?"
They seem to be doing the same on Second Avenue on half the block between 92nd and 93rd. The block already has ONE 40+ story tower.
If zoning were to make some sense the very least should be a restriction to one tower per street block.
If they go down the block and drive Balucci's out of business, I will go bananas. Their half priced on everything, BYOB lunches are the best Indian deal in town.
In a majority of instances today landlords have/are offering RS tenants money to vacate and they are taking it. That is how they emptied out Second Avenue between 81st and 80th, 94 and 95th on Third and many other buildings. Heck some gay couple got 25 *MILLION* to vacate an apartment so Related can move along with their Hudson Yards project. They are now living in a uber-luxury building in Hell's Kitchen. Two Stubborn Tenants Score $25 Million Windfall To Make Way For Hudson Yards: Gothamist
Much depends upon if the properties in question are going to be torn down or merely redeveloped. An entire set of building on East 78th between Second and Third was emptied out of tenants (most RS) and is being gut renovated into upscale housing.
Many have opted to live in buildings that are being gut renovated and remain in their RS apartments. If they can deal with the construction headaches that can go on for months or years when things are done they will have a RS apartment in a luxury building. Such tenants may be treated like red-headed step children at a family BBQ by the LL and new residents, but what of it? A woman remained on Fifth Avenue in the high 90's or low hundreds (cannot recall) while the building literally came down around her. She lived with rats, cold, noise, and God only knows what else.
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.
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.
