When a rental is destroyed - NY Times

When a Rental is Destroyed (read the whole article! in the NY Times)

Excerpt: 

“In cases where the building is destroyed, it does raise an issue as to whether the tenants have the right to return” to a rent-stabilized apartment, said Ronald S. Languedoc, a Manhattan lawyer who represents tenants. Rent-stabilization law does not cover this exact scenario, and the courts have not addressed the matter in much detail. A judge could rule that tenancy rights terminated when the building was destroyed, and the landlord is not obligated to rebuild and provide rent-stabilized tenants with apartments. But if the landlord’s actions played any role in the disaster, a tenant’s case would be stronger.

April 13 meeting: Alliance for Tenant Power and Real Rent Reform Campaign

Monday, April 13th 

6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

at the 1199 SEIU MLK Labor Center

310 W. 43rd St. between 8th and 9th Ave. in the auditorium. 

Joint Meeting of the Alliance for Tenant Power (ATP) and the Real Rent Reform (R3) Campaign

Many of you were a part of the campaign in 2011 when we got some minimal improvements to the rent laws - and you will also remember the massive amount of mobilization it took to get those strengthening amendments. 

This year we need to band together more than ever, as it is frighteningly clear that if we don't close some of the gaping loopholes in the rent laws in June, we will continue to bleed so much rent regulated housing that we may have nothing left to fight for before very long.

The Alliance for Tenant Power (ATP) along with Real Rent Reform campaign (R3) is calling a field meeting for your organizations and ALL organizations affiliated with housing and tenant issues, tenant associations and faith leaders to come together and talk about how best to execute our strategy as well as outline benchmark dates between now and June as we look towards success on June 15th.

RSVP to Delsenia Glover, ATP Campaign Manager.

Has your Assembly Member co-sponsored the bill to repeal vacancy decontrol and re-regulate market apartments?

Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal's bill , 1865A, to repeal vacancy deregulation would 

• end landlords' incentive to oust rent regulated tenants and
• re-regulate many market rate in many buildings     

if it passes.

Section 6 of the bill says that an apartment that has been taken out of rent stabilization or rent control because the rent was too high, will be re-regulated - as long as the rent never reached $5,000. Once back in regulation, the new base rent will be either what the tenant was paying on December 31, 2014, or - if the apartment was vacant, what the last rent was just before that date. 

If your Assembly Member hasn't signed on as a sponsor, ask him or her to sign on!  Those MISSING from the sponsorship list are listed at the bottom of this email.

AND ask your neighbors to sign a petition (take the one here and adapt it for your building or group!) and bring  them to your Assembly and Senate members and then send the petitions to Governor Cuomo.  

Why just renewing the rent laws is not enough - Marina Metalios

Marina Metalios: Why renewal of rent laws is not enough (Town & Village blog)

EXCERPT:

By Marina Metalios

Our rent laws expire on June 15, 2015. At the last Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village Building Leader meeting in February, we discussed what is at stake. Guest speaker Michael McKee (treasurer, Tenants PAC) explained that if we cannot reduce the phase-out of protections this year it may be too late to do so at the next renewal. The real estate lobby is quite content on a “straight extender” this June because the rent laws as currently written are doing exactly what the real estate lobby scripted.

Rent Guidelines Board meetings for 2015

The NYC Rent Guidelines Board sets rents for rent stabilized and rent controlled apartments every June - for leases that are renewed any time during the period from the next Oct. 1 through following September 30th.  

The RGB has many meetings open to the public, some of which include public comment.  Click on "read more" below for the full schedule.

How to help tenants displaced by Lower East Side explosion

State Senator Brad Hoylman has suggestions for helping in recovery efforts for those harmed by the huge gas explosion that blew up a couple of buildings on 2nd Avenue and 7th Street in Manhattan on March 26, 2015.  

Lakeview Mitchell-Lama struggling to stay affordable

City and State has a terrific article on Mitchell-Lamas - focusing on the Lakeview development on 5th Avenue near East Harlem.  

IN RISING MARKET, VITAL MITCHELL-LAMA PROGRAM AT CROSSROADS

Excerpt: "[Th]e city must prepare for the return of the market conditions that caused the last wave of Mitchell-Lama losses by creating and funding incentives for owners to maintain their commitment to affordability,” as well as help with repairs in buildings remaining in the program, Waters and Bach wrote in the [Community Service Society] report."