At last night's wild meeting in Cooper Union's Great Hall, the Rent Guidelines Board decided to raise rent stabilized rents 4.5% for one-year leases and 8% for two-year leases. These are the biggest rent hikes in recent years: Last year, rents hikes were approved for 3% on 1-year leases and 5.75% on 2-year leases (in 2006, the hikes were 4.25% and 7.25%). The last time there were higher hikes was in 1989. The meeting......

Governor David Paterson never ceases to surprise us. It turns out his two-bedroom apartment in Harlem is rent-stabilized, so he and his wife only pay $1,250/month for their home. Paterson and his wife Michelle, who made $270,000 last year, live in the Lenox Terrace apartment complex, where the market rate for a two-bedroom go for $2,600. When asked by the Sun, Paterson said the rent was appropriate, given the city's rent regulations. "It is within......

Last night, the Rent Guidelines Board recommended to increase rents for rent-stabilized apartments by 3.5-7% for one-year leases and 5.5-9.5% for two-year leases. This figure was deemed too high by tenants and not high enough by landlords. This proposed increase is higher than last year's (3% for 1-year, 5.75% for 2-year leases), reflecting the rising costs landlords face. The Post noted the meeting last night followed "a well-worn script" with tenants asking for a rent......

Spring is when the days are longer, cherry blossoms are in bloom, and the Rent Guidelines Board discusses this year's round of rent hikes for rent-regulated apartments. And this year's talks should be another doozy, as the RGB found landlord operating costs have risen 7.8% over the past year. This year, landlords will be asking for 10% hikes for 1-year leases and 15% increases for 2-year leases. Last year, rents hikes were approved for 3%......

Last night was the annual meeting of the Rent Guidelines Board to decide on rent increases for the city's rent stabilized apartments. Amidst the usual chaos (the crowd yelled "Blah, blah blah!", "Free rent!", "Shame on you" and "Liar" while board members spoke), the board approved moderate hikes: 3% for 1-year leases, 5.75% for 2-year leases. These hike were less than last year's 4.25% and 7.25% increases, falling into a "middle range," given that tenants......

It's the countdown to the final meeting determining increases for rent stabilized apartments coming next week. City Comptroller William Thompson issued a letter asking the Rent Guidelines Board to either raise stabilized rents by the minimum or not to raise them at all, given last week's announced homeowner tax rebates and property tax cuts. Thompson's letter (here's a PDF) notes that the city has not kept up stock for low- and moderate-income housing and......

No one likes giving up a rent-stabilized apartment - except landlords. The family of an 84-year-old woman who has a two-bedroom apartment in Windsor Terrace that costs $587.96 a month claims that the landlord tricked her out of her apartment - by going to her nursing home and making her sign a surrender letter. The Post reports that Catherine Burke's stepson is leveling the charge against landlord Philip Meoli. Meoli has a signed letter from......

Last night, the Rent Guidelines Board voted 5-4 to propose rent hikes for rent-stabilized apartments on the order of 2-4.5% for one-year leases and 4-7.5% for two-years leases. Loft rent increases would be 2-4% for one-year leases, 4-7% for two-year leases. The NY Times says these proposed increases "could mean smaller increases than last year’s," and the Post says the increases could fall in the "middle range" of about 3.25% and 5.75%. Last year, the......

It's time for to break out the "Con Ed Sucks" signs! The utility has requested to raise electricity rates 17%; the Post reports, "typical residential cusomer paying $70 a month would pay an extra $12 per month starting April 1, 2008." (The increase for businesses is slightly smaller, 10.7%.) Well, we guess those livery cab drivers have to be paid somehow! And fixing the Long Island City network, which Con Ed should have been doing......

Not a good week for renters. Then again, when has it been a good one? Yesterday, data showed that the Manhattan vacancy rate is below 1%. Today, we find out that Mitchell-Lama tenants don't get "first dibs" to buy their apartments if their building owners decide opt out of the programs. The Daily News says that the ruling "voids the city's Tenant Empowerment Act," which had been passed in 2005 by the City Council. And......

I'm writing on behalf of a special friend I met who is wanting to become a photographer in NYC. Well I have worked with her much and have landed her a few jobs, but how in the heck do you find a decent place to live on a "starving artist budget?" What if any links, resources, and/or advice would you be willing to share to help us find some low budget housing that is safe......

The Rent Guidelines Board approved 5-4 to raise rent-stabilized rents by the biggest increases since 2003 last night. And the hundreds of tenants on hand were going so wild, with their noisemakers and yelling, the RGB Chairman Marvin Markus had to recess the hearing for hours. Landlords and tenants disagreed about the chaotic scene (a board member called tenants efforts to shut down the meeting "undemocratic" while a tenants' protest organizer told the Times,......

The second of five Rent Guidelines Board meetings took place at Cooper Union last night. We walked over to check out the action. The RGB sets the allowable rent increases for the city's one million plus rent-stabilized apartments (that's about half of the rentable apartment inventory in NYC, according to the 2005 Housing and Vacancy Survey.) The increases each year are supposed to be based on the supply of available apartments, the cost of......

Rent stabilized tenants are bracing themselves for tonight's Rent Guidelines Board meeting where the board will most likely vote for a hike. Expect things to get incredibly noisy tonight! Actually, we imagine the basement of Cooper Union might implode from the feelings of self-pity, anger, and entitlement from both sides. The rent increases owners are asking for is 8%, because of higher gas prices and real estate taxes. And not only that, owners may also......

If you live in a rent-stabilized apartment maybe bend the rules a little (sublet while you stay at your significant others's?), beware: A man found a camera focused on his apartment door. Bryan Lurie lives in a $360 a month studio in the West Village, which basically means his landlord has at least, oh, 600 reasons to find a way to get him out. The Post says Lurie found the spy-cam in the electrical box......

The Rent Guidelines Board released its price index of operating costs yesterday, and it reveals that costs for rent-stabilized building costs grew almost 8%. Which makes it likely that the RGB will approve another rent hike, as the RGB had expected a 6.7% increase. The main cause of the increase seems to be rising fuel costs, but critics say the operating costs do not take into account owners' incomes - thus it's not a true......

The Rent Stabilization Association has sued the Rent Guidelines Board to raise the rents of tenants in rent-regulatd apartments. This year's rent increases, already much maligned by tenants, are 2.75% for one-year leases and 5.5% for two-year leases, which is http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/nyc-rent1026,0,5821013.story?coll=nyc-homepage-breaking2">too low for the RSA, which says that heating costs and taxes have outpaced that increase. Tenants rights group, the Metropolitan Council on Housing, tells Newsday, "It's outrageous the landlords are suing for even more......

The Rent Guidelines Board voted on rent-stabilized apartment increases of 2.5% for one year leases and 5.5% for two year leases. Owners had been lobbying for higher increases (4%, 7%) because of increased costs of maintaining buildings, while tenants had been hoping for lower ones. The hearings have been rollicking; the Daily News reported that at last week's meeting, tenants demanded rents to be frozen, leading a board member to say, "Let's freeze real estate......

Today and Thursday are Rent Guidelines Board's hearings for the public to weigh in on the proposed increases to rent stabilized apartments. The board is looking at a 2-4.5% increase for one-year leases, and a 4-7% increase for two-year leases, and you can expect the tenants to argue for lower increases and the landlords to argue for higher ones, with some clever signs and passionate discourse. Today's hearing is in Brooklyn, at the NYC City......

Last night, the Rent Guidelines Board decided to aloow landlords to raise rents in the city's rent-stabilized apartments. The Mayor Bloomberg-appointed board's vote was 5-4, after rejecting one proposed hike that was too high (6% for one-year leases, 9% for two-year), given the wages of many people in affected apartments have eroded; the RGB is now looking at 2-4.5% increase for one-year leaves and 4-7% for two year leases. Both landlords and tenants in attendance......

It's that time of year again: Landlords are tryin to increase the rents for stabilized apartments, of which there are about 1 million in the city. Tonight, the Rent Guidelines Board is set to hear the landlords' arguments, who claim that oil costs necessitate increases of 6.5% for one-year leases and 10.5% for two-year leases; to put that in perspective, last year the hikes were 3.5% and 6.5% for one- and two-year leases respectively. Gothamist......

I am the only name on the lease and after 8 years my roommate situation is ending up VERY ugly. What right do I have to ask my roommate to move out? Do I need to give him 30 days to move out? He is making things very difficult and being extremely difficult. He is being very rude and argumentative! What are my legal rights? I HATE that it is ending this way! But my......

Shortly after I moved into my apartment a year ago, I learned that my apartment building is listed on the city housing department's website as rent stabilized. I was never told this by my landlord and was given a regular market-rate lease. It was at a really good rate, though -- $1000 for a fairly spacious one-bedroom in a good location. My landlord also refused to clean or paint the apartment before I moved in,......

Help me out please. I looove my apartment. The price is right, the location is stellar, but the landlord company leaves much to be desired. It is now January and they are finally notifying me that my lease is expired, as of October. They are pressuring me to come in and resign the lease from October, at which time they are going to raise the rent and make me pay back rent (back rent =......

I've just purchased an apartment and broken a lease, as of October 31 on a rent-stabilized apartment. The lease would have expired on December 31, 2004 and I notified the landlord of my intent to move in mid-September. There hasn't been anything said about paying until the apt is re-rented and I haven't received my security deposit back to date (of course it's only Nov 1), but I'm wondering if I can count on receiving......

We just moved to a new apt. and have been here for 15 days and absolutely hate the place. Is there any way to get out of the lease considering that it has only been two weeks? When we were looking for apts. this place looked great but there are many things that are wrong with this apt. We were told by the agent that showed us the place internet access was available and called......

I recently and unexpectedly switched jobs and took a sizable pay cut. Not long before that I signed a 2-year lease on my studio apartment in Manhattan, which I can no longer afford. What are the rules on breaking a lease, and how much would it cost? Are there any ways to reduce the cost? Thanks, Gina It's likely that if you signed a two-year lease, the landlord hoped to prevent this sort of thing......