As expected, the Rent Guidelines Board approved rent increases for rent-stabilized apartments in New York City. The board, in a 5-4 vote, okayed moving forward with 1.75 to 4 percent hikes for one-year leases and between 3.5 to 6.75 percent increases for two-year leases. more ›

Rep. Charlie Rangel is getting ready for a potential re-election challenge this fall, so getting fined $23,000 for using one of his infamous rent-stabilized apartments as a campaign office probably isn't ideal. Then again, it's a cakewalk next to being censured by his colleagues in the House! more ›

Faye Dunaway said last week that while her landlord is suing her for not living in her one-bedroom rent-stabilized walk-up on the Upper East Side, he couldn't evict her since she moved out. Well, now the Oscar-winning actress has decided to fight to keep the approximately $1,000/month apartment—her lawyer said in housing court, "She’s not voluntarily leaving the apartment. She says New York is her home." more ›

Yesterday, the NY Times reported that an Upper East Side landlord was suing to evict Faye Dunaway, claiming that the Oscar-winning actress was not living in her rent-stabilized, one-bedroom walkup. Now, Dunaway has left three voicemail messages with the NY Times, explaining that her landlord can't sue to evict her...'cause she's not even living there anymore. more ›

Owners of rent-stabilized buildings are always trying to investigate which tenants don't live there, hiring private detectives and taking them to court. But have any of the tenants been Oscar winners? The NY Times reports that Faye Dunaway, whose films include Bonnie & Clyde, Chinatown, and Network, is being sued by her landlord who "claims that Ms. Dunaway, who pays $1,048.72 a month for a one-bedroom walk-up apartment in a century-old tenement building on East 78th Street, does not actually live there, but rather lives in California." more ›

After a House Ethics panel found him guilty of 11 ethics violations yesterday, Rep. Charles Rangel issued a statement calling the process, which was two years in the making, "unfair," noting, "How can anyone have confidence in the decision of the ethics subcommittee when I was deprived of due process rights, right to counsel and was not even in the room? I can only hope that the full committee will treat me more fairly, and take into account my entire 40 years of service to the Congress before making any decisions on sanctions." more ›

After years of questions about his four (!) rent-stabilized apartments, not reporting income and/or taxes on various properties and sales, using House letterhead to solicit donations for a CUNY graduate school named after him, and more, the House of Representatives will be taking Rep. Charles Rangel (D), the longtime Congressman from Harlem, to trial over alleged ethics violations. more ›

As expected, the Rent Guidelines Board voted 5-4 in favor of increases for rent-stabilized apartments. The preliminary vote suggested 2-4% increases for 1-year leases and 4-6% increases for 2-year leases. Tenants begged, "I'm a senior citizen. I'm living on a fixed income. Please don't raise my rent,” and "To keep affordable housing for middle class, they need to keep the rents as low as possible,” while landlords and building owners argued that their fixed costs have been going up and they need an increase to just break even. The RGB will hold meetings leading up to its June final vote. more ›

Yes, it's that time again, when the Rent Guidelines Board will decide by how much they will raise rents for rent-stabilized apartments in the city. The board held its final meeting at Cooper Union yesterday (they are usually noisy), and the Daily News reports it "has adopted preliminary guidelines of hiking rents 2% to 4.5% for one-year renewals and 4% to 7.5% for two-year renewals that start on or after Oct. 1." more ›

Bianca Jagger's attempt to get her $4,600/month rent-stabilized Upper East Side apartment back failed at the Court of Appeals today. The court upheld her eviction from 530 Park Avenue, citing her status as a tourist with a B-2 visa and the fact that residents of rent-stabilized apartments must use them as their primary residences. more ›

The House Ethics Committee voted to begin an inquiry on Representative Charles Rangel's actions. Rangel's use of Congressional letterhead to solicit donations for a center being built in his honor, multiple rent-stabilized apartments, unreported income from a second home, and other unreported income from property sales have put the powerful Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee under the microscope (in many of the cases, Rangel has pleaded ignorance). Rangel's lawyer said, "We look forward to fully cooperating with the ethics committee, which we had previously asked to look into these matters. We hope and trust that the ethics committee will find that Mr. Rangel has done nothing intentionally wrong, which we firmly believe.” more ›

The Post suggests that Representative Charles Rangel's income may now be above $200,000, which is more than the $175,000-ceiling to qualify for rent-stabilized apartments. Rangel up until very recently occupied four rent-stabilized units at Lenox Terrace, three for living and one as an office (he gave up the office after the disclosure). Previously, Rangel claimed his income was around $175,000, but there are recent revelations about unreported income from a vacation villa, unreported property sales, and a free parking space for an old car. Of course, the Post points out his landlord doen't have to deregulate his apartments. But the building has tried to kick out rent-stabilized tenants for things like their children sending in rent checks for them (because the tenant was going blind). more ›

Representative Charles Rangel isn't so happy with the New York Times: The Gray Lady revealed the high-ranking Congressman has four rent-stabilized apartments at Lenox Terrace, the Harlem development where Governor David Paterson also lives (Paterson only has one rent-stabilized apartment, though). more ›

The long-running dispute between the owners of 47 East 3rd Street and their rent-stabilized tenants seems over, as the Court of the Appeals ruled the owners can evict tenants from the 60-room building in order to create a single super-duper residence. more ›