Results tagged “landlords”

Painfully aware that they no longer have the upper hand in the bargaining process with renters, more and more landlords are taking the inevitable step to keep the tenants they have from looking for unbelievable Craigslist deals and simply cutting their rent—sometimes voluntarily. The Times talks to landlords who admit that they've been sending out new leases at renewal time with unexpected discounts since they've seen so many tenants eager to jump ship to test a buyer's market. After a big spike in new rentals this spring after a tremendously slow first quarter of the year, one president of an appraisal firm tells the Times, “There’s a confusion between more activity and rents rising. I think the spring saw more activity.” Making things worse is the fact that 14,000 new units are expected to come online in 2010 alone. While some renters are getting unsolicited price cuts, one Williamsburg resident had to make an offer he had his doubts about. Not only was it accepted, he didn't even have to renew his lease. He tells the paper, “After I got my rent lowered here, I started negotiating with everyone. I got my cable bill lowered!”

That new law enabling tenants to sue their landlords for harassment could be overturned. A lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court by the misleadingly-named Rent Stabilization Association and the poetically-named Prometheus Realty Corp. (because the corporation is chained to the rock of onerous regulation while tenants peck at their livers) argues that while the NYPD is free to intervene in cases of tenant harassment, it is not within the city’s power to regulate housing issues, Gotham Gazette reports. According to the Sun, the suit also maintains that it’s simply impossible for a city inspector to objectively evaluate whether "harassment" has taken place. City Council speaker Christine Quinn (pictured), a champion of the Tenant Protection Act, says that “instead of forcing us to waste taxpayer money in court, landlords should use their resources to ensure full compliance with the law.”

Property owners are not holding their breath for a citywide ban on domestic smoking, like the ones barring lighting up in bars or restaurants, but non-smoking is increasingly becoming a requirement for renters in New York City.

Pet-owning tenants of eight buildings in the Bronx are distressed over letters recently sent out by the South Bronx Management Company, who took over the buildings that were once owned by the city. The letters point out that leases prevent the keeping of pets in the building and threaten that if tenants don't get rid of their animals, they will be evicted. This sounds like a case for the pet lawyers!

Yesterday Mayor Bloomberg signed off on the city’s first law enabling tenants to sue landlords in Housing Court for systemic harassment. Previously, tenants had to take landlords to court for each and every violation, such as failure to provide hot water or letting so much water leak that floors collapse. The so-called Tenant Protection Act is primarily aimed at landlords who are trying to force tenants out of rent-regulated apartments in order to bump the rent up to obscene market rates.