May 9, 2008
Private Equity Firms Become Rent-Regulated Landlords, and Accusations of Harassment Fly
As tenants and landlords await to see what the rent hikes for rent-stabilized apartments will be, the NY Times looks at a new breed landlords: Private equity firms that buy buildings with rent-regulated apartments.
The strategy seems to be for the firms to "recapture" the rent-regulated apartments by somehow increasing the vacancy rate from the more typical 5% to 20-30%. And tenants' advocates indicate equity firms do that by making tenants' lives hell to the point where some residents are suing the firms. One of the plaintiffs lives in a Woodside, Queens building bought by Vantage Properties told the Times he's been sued three times, "twice for nonpayment of rent" he actually did pay and that Vantage received.
The head of Vantage said, "Only in instances where we need to act to protect our own rights do we ever find ourselves in any litigation with a tenant and it is never with the intention to harass them." Which is probably interesting news to the tenants' advocate who found that Vantage has "filed almost a thousand cases in housing court against tenants since October 2006."
Check out Vantage's website: "Vantage Residential is dedicated to proving that a fabulous apartment in a hip neighborhood doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg."
Photograph by RGP on Flickr
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dirty
funny, those of us who pay market rents don't seem to have these kinds of problems.
I love the middle aged woman with the "You Looked Better on MySpace" in the photo in the NYT article. Lulz.
again, I'm thankful Pb is still cheap in America.
God Bless America. Molon Labe.
What #2 said.
After many tenants were evicted from apartments to make room for the original WTC in downtown NY- there had been placed a huge graffiti across the temporary blue site fence facing the then- West Side Highway.
It read: 'While landlords may be the lords of the land- they are the scum of the earth'.
Than having been said- facing a tenant's reality- 'renting' should NEVER be viewed as a permanent solution to one's living situation- it MUST ALWAYS be considered as a temporary circumstance yet to be overcome in one's longer term financial plan- and further, rich or poor- one MUST ALWAYS have a financial plan in consideration to live even somewhat successfully in modern day American society.
Jesse Califano
Just another example of responsible development. This community doesn't need policing or oversight, nosiree.
The head of Vantage said, "Only in instances where we need to act to protect our own rights do we ever find ourselves in any litigation with a tenant and it is never with the intention to harass them." Which is probably interesting news to the tenants' advocate who found that Vantage has "filed almost a thousand cases in housing court against tenants since October 2006."
What's with the liberal hard on for the scum that occupy these buildings without paying their already ridiculously low rents? If these people cannot afford to live in NYC they should go someone where they can afford the rent. So what if Vantage has filed almost a thousand cases against tenants in the past two years? Maybe they have 10,000 tenants. Maybe the tenants don't pay rent.
I am a lawyer who interned for a legal services office in Manhattan while still a law student and I used to reresent these tenants. 99% of the time the tenant was the one who I think was wrong, and somehow the landlord gets to be called the asshole. I can't tell you how many times I got calls that went something like this:
T: "Yeah, so my landlord is a huge asshole, he's so crooked, he's trying to evict me, he just wants me out of the building so that he can charge $2000 for my apartment. He's so wrong, he has no basis to evict me."
ME: "Well, if he's trying to evict you he has to give grounds for eviction. What did he say?"
T: "He says I didn't pay my rent."
ME: "Have you not paid your rent?"
T: "Well, no. I haven't paid in 6 months. Well... maybe it's more like 10 months. But he doesn't understand, I need that money for other things. The government only gives me $1200 a month. You know how hard that is to live on $1200 a month? That's another thing, the government is such a greedy crook too. They really should give us more money per month."
ME: "If you don't pay your rent then you will be evicted. It's not optional."
And I always wanted to say: "You fucking idiot, you think the landlord is greedy because you refuse to pay your rent? And then you bitch that your apartment building isn't like the Four Seasons? And how can you bitch about the amount of handouts that the government gives you and my tax dollars fund? If you're going to be a leach at least you should try to be thankful for what you get."
ME: "So can you pay the back rent you owe? Because if you do, you cure the default and the landlord can no longer evict you?"
T: "No. I need that money for other things." (most of my clients were drug users by the way, and would admit it to me)
ME: "Could you get a job and maybe we could work out a deal with your landlord where you could pay down the rent owed over time?"
T: "No, I'm disabled." (at 35 years old)
ME: "Oh? What is your disability?"
T: "I'm depressed."
ME wanting to say: "You fucking fool, maybe if you got off your ass and worked once in your life you wouldn't be so depressed."
Anyway, you get the point. This happens all the time. We had a client once that broke his own windows on purpose (he was upset) and then sued the landlord because the landlord wanted the rent regulated tenant to pay to have them fixed. The office attorneys thought the landlord was a scumbag too, saying stuff like "Oh, he's rich, it's not like it's a big deal for him to fix them." When are people going to start taking responsibilty for their own actions? Maybe these people are rich because they act smart and work hard? I certainly didn't get where I am today by getting handouts and expecting someone else to give me a good life...
There are a few bad landlords and there are a vast amount of bad tennants. even if you can't pay all your rent, you make that good faith effort and you talk to your landlord. If there's no other way out, you just have to get out.Too many solid people want a decent place to live and too many scumbags are keeping them for themselves. Abolish rent controls!