Since there was only a single candidate for the opening on our tenant association's executive committee, we acclaimed Andrew Dubin a new member.
Building issues:
Food waste collection: If you leave your food waste in a plastic bag (except for compostable bags that you buy), it can't be easily composted. So please dump the contents of your plastic bag into the brown compost bin, and put the empty plastic bag in the small (non-compost) bin next to it. Then close both bins to prevent bugs.
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The elevators continue to be a mess. Please report all problems on a requisition slip at the front desk so there's a written record.
The garage has been filled to way over its legal 114-car capacity. The NYC Depart of Consumer Affairs issued a violation, and the tenant association contacted ICON. As a result, the situation has improved. If you see overcrowding again, file a 311 complaint and send the complaint number to CPGTenAssoc@gmail.com.
Tenant movement issues:
- The Right to Counsel NYC is holding a "People's Tribunal on Evictions" to highlight those most affected - and who benefit most from the right to free legal counsel in housing court. Stellar apparently is the largest evicter in Manhattan. Tenants under certain incomes in certain zip codes are eligible for free legal counsel, and the organization wants to expand both the zip codes and the income levels.
- Housing Justice for All (the coalition that brought us the new rent laws, with the help of the "No IDC NYC" group that changed the State Senate), is launching its 2020 campaign on Wed., Oct. 16 at 6 PM at Washington Irving High School, 60 Irving Place (near Union Square). We're a member, so you are invited. If you'd like to participate in HJ4A's weekly phone calls, contact CPGTenAssoc@gmail.com.
The New Rent Law - Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) of 2019.
Talk about knowing what there is to know! Legal Aid Attorney Ellen Davidson gave a wonderfully clear presentation based on these slides that she printed out and distributed.
Some things are answerable. (Click on "read more" for the well-presented Park West Village Tenant Association summary of the new law and more.) Ellen was recently awarded the NY County Lawyers Association’s Public Service Award for her work on this new tenant bill.
Thanks to Assembly Member Danny O’Donnell, who said he’ll
support HJ4A tenant bills. He told us that the Assembly and Senate took a
calculated risk, negotiating the new rent bill without Gov. Cuomo. So they had
to make sure he would sign it. He
pointed out that more pro-tenant changes can be made in future sessions.
She explained that while the State Legislature passed the
statute that the governor signed into law, there are two other sources
of law: the administrative agency (NYS
Homes and Community Renewal) that enacts regulations to interpret the
statute, and court decisions, all yet to come. Tenants in Housing Justice for All (HJ4A) are
working with DHCR (part of NYS HCR) to draft the regulations.
The new law gets rid of incentives for landlords to drive
out rent regulated tenants:
§ Apartments
can’t be taken out rent stabilization. (No more vacancy decontrol, no more
high-income decontrol.)
§ No
more 20% rent hike just because an apartment is vacant.
§ An
owner can’t add more than $83 over 15 years for improvements to the apartment.
That increase ends after 30 years.
§ It’s
easier to get apartments back into rent stabilization.
The law reduces major capital improvement (MCI) increases
from 6% to 2% of your current rent each year until you hit the full MCI improvement.
MCIs end after 30 years.
All tenants get
more protections, such as:
§ If
you break your lease, the landlord must try to rent the apartment out instead
of charging you for the full lease term.
§ Tenants
get more notice of non-payment and court proceedings, and more time to find
another apartment if they’re forced out.
§ If
a tenant complains of a breach of the warranty of habitability or a duty to
repair, the landlord can’t retaliate with eviction.
Because she was not in the room with the legislators,
Ellen couldn’t answer why some tenant demands were granted in full
while MCI increases were only modestly improved. Also, it’s not clear whether
joining two vacant apartments together will result in a stabilized or
unregulated apartment. (If Stellar’s agent asks you to move so they can join
your apartment with the vacant one next door, tell them to call your lawyer! Or
just say no.) Some State Senators are working to close that and other possible loopholes.
Thanks to Assembly Member Danny O’Donnell, who said he’ll
support HJ4A tenant bills. He told us that the Assembly and Senate took a
calculated risk, negotiating the new rent bill without Gov. Cuomo. So they had
to make sure he would sign it. He
pointed out that more pro-tenant changes can be made in future sessions.
Click here for an Overview
of the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 by NYS
Homes and Community Renewal, and click here for a list of all the new
NYS HCR Fact Sheets that reflect the new law.
CHANGES IN THE NEW 2019
RENT REGULATIONS
Before June 14, 2019 After June 14, 2019
The
Rent Regulation Laws had to be renewed every four years by the legislature.
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Effective
Immediately. The Rent Regulation Laws are permanent so they cannot be
changed without an act of the legislature.
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REPEALS HIGH RENT
VACANCY DECONTROL AND
HIGH-INCOME DEREGULATION
Before
June 14, 2019 After June 14, 2019
There were 2 types of
deregulation:
High Rent Vacancy Deregulation: If a vacant apartment’s last rent stabilized
rent was $2,774.76 or more, the landlord could take the apartment out of rent
stabilization
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Effective
immediately: All deregulated is repealed.
But the law does not re-regulate apartments
previously de-regulated. (Tenants who
believe their apartments were improperly deregulated can challenge that
deregulation.)
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High Income
High Rent Deregulation – If the rent was $2774.76 and the
combined household income was at least $200,000 for each of the previous 2
years, the landlord could apply to DHCR to take the apartment out of rent
stabilization.
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Repeals Vacancy Bonus &
Longevity Bonus
Before June 14, 2019 After June 14, 2019
Landlords
got an automatic 20% rent bonus when an apartment was vacated and rented to a
new tenant. And if there had been no vacancy
increase
in 8 years, the landlord could take an additional .6 percent for each year
since the last vacancy increase.
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Effective
Immediately. The vacancy bonus and longevity
increase
are repealed. Additionally, the Rent Guidelines Board can no longer issue
increases for vacancy leases.
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Reforms Rent Increases for
Individual Apartment
Improvements (IAIs)
Before June 14, 2019 After June 14, 2019
Rents
could be increased in apartments for substantial improvements to the
apartment such
as
new floors, cabinets and appliances.
1/60th
of cost could be added in buildings of 35 apts. or more.
1/40th
of the cost could be added in smaller buildings.
Landlord
could spend any amount and add the costs to the rent permanently.
Example:
Landlord
spends $50,000 in empty apartment.
Building
is 30 units
$50,000/40
= $1250
Landlord
can permanently raise the rent by $1250.
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Effective
Immediately: The new law limits IAI increases:
For
buildings with more than 35 units, the landlord may
take
1/180th of the cost of the improvement.
For
buildings with 35 or fewer units, the landlord may take
1/168th
of the cost of the improvement.
IAIs
expire after 30 years.
DHCR
must establish a schedule of reasonable costs
Example:
Landlord
spends $15,000 in empty apartment
Building
is 30 units
$15,000/168
= $89
Landlord
can raise the rent $89, but the increase ends after 30 years.
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In
vacant apartments, no approval or oversight was needed.
In
occupied apartments, the tenant’s signature was needed.
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Costs must be ‘reasonable and
verifiable’ and work must be done by unaffiliated licensed contractor.
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If
there are B or C violations, the landlord may not add any money to the rent
for an IAI.
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Makes Preferential Rents the
Base Rent for Lease Renewal
Increases
Before June 14, 2019 After
June 14, 2019
A
preferential rent is a rent that is lower than the legal maximum rent.
However,
upon renewal the base rent for any allowable increase could be raised by
hundreds of dollars.
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Effective
Immediately. A tenant can keep the preferential rent for as long as the
tenant lives in the apartment. The preferential rent becomes the legal rent
upon which renewal increases will be based. This applies to a renewal lease
that starts June 14, 2019, even if your landlord sent you a renewal lease
prior to June 14, 2019 that took away your preferential rent, your rent will
be based on the
preferential
rent you were paying prior to the lease renewal.
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Owner
Use Exception to
Rent
Regulation
Before June 14, 3029 After June 14, 2019
Landlords could recover an apartment in buildings they owned for
the personal use of the landlord or an immediate family member of the
landlord. If the landlord sought the apartment of a tenant who was 62 years
or older, had lived in the apartment for twenty years or more or was disabled,
the landlord had to offer a comparable apartment.
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Effective Immediately. A landlord
may seek to recover one unit in a building they owned for the use of
the landlord or an immediate family member as their primary residence. The
landlord must show an “immediate and compelling” need for the apartment. The
landlord is barred from seeking the apartment of a tenant who is 62 years or
older, has lived in the apartment for fifteen years or more or is disabled.
A new cause of action for wrongful eviction can be created against a landlord
who causes a tenant to surrender an apartment due to fraudulent statements.
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Extends
Rent Overcharge
Four
Year Look-Back Period to
Six
Years
Before June 14, 2019 After June 14, 2019
Previously the statute of limitations for tenants to file for rent
overcharges was four years and did not allow looking at the rental
history prior to the four-year period from the base date. The base date was
four years before the overcharge complaint.
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Effective Immediately and applies to pending proceedings: Extends statute of limitations to six
years from the current four years. Allows collection of six years of
damages, including six years of trebles rather than the current two.
Eliminates DHCR’s ‘safe harbor’ policy that allowed landlords to refund the
overcharges when they got caught and then avoid treble damages.
Courts and DHCR may consider ALL rent history that is
‘reasonably necessary’ for a determination.
Allow the tenant to choose their forum.
Owners don’t have to keep old records BUT they destroy them at
their own peril.
Four-year rule exceptions – current RSC exceptions are now
written into the RSL, plus: A new ‘reliability’ exception which
includes whether ‘an unexplained rent increase’ renders a registration
‘unreliable.”
RSC= Rent Stabilization Code
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Reforms
Rent Increases for
Major
Capital Improvements
(MCIs)
Before June 14, 2019 After June 14, 2019
An MCI:
Had to be for
the operation, preservation and maintenance of the structure.
Had to be
depreciable under the Internal Revenue Code.
Had to be
building wide and for the benefit of all tenants.
Replacing all kitchens and bathrooms would have qualified.
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Effective Immediately. An MCI must be “essential for the preservation,
energy efficiency, functionality or infrastructure of the entire building,
including heating, windows, plumbing and roofing, but shall not be for
operational costs or unnecessary cosmetic improvements.” Maintenance is
excluded.
Limits spending to a DHCR “schedule of reasonable costs” that
“shall set a ceiling for what can be recovered.”
Costs must be actual, reasonable and verifiable.
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Reforms
Rent Increases
for
Major Capital Improvements
(MCIs)
Before June 14, 2019 After June 14, 2019
Costs claimed for a “major capital improvement” in a building
such as a new roof, boiler or elevator could be added to the base rent of
every regulated tenant.
Pay Back Period:
Buildings with thirty-five units or fewer = 8 years.
Buildings with more than 35 units = 9 years.
Increases were limited to no more than either 6% or 15% per
year.
The landlord could take a percentage increase annually until the
aggregate rent increase reached 1/96th or 1/108th of the cost of
the improvement.
The increase was permanent.
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Pay Back Period:
Buildings with thirty-five units or less = 12 years
Buildings with more than 35 units = 12.5 years
Annual cap is 2% but landlord may add full balance of MCI to
rent upon vacancy.
There are no more retroactive lump charges.
Building must be clear of both B and C violations (hazardous
violations).
The landlord can take a percentage increase annually until the
aggregate rent increase reaches 1/144 or
1/150 of the cost of the improvement
Makes all MCI
increase temporary and eliminates the increase after 30 years.
Work inside
individual apartments is no longer eligible (e.g., kitchen/bathroom
replacement).
The landlord must
deduct any government grants and insurance payments.
If a building has less than 35% rent regulated tenants, no MCIs.
Tenants get 60 days to respond to an owner’s application.
Increases go into effect the first of the month after the date
of mailing + 60 days.
DHCR must audit
and inspect 25% of MCIs annually and generate a report of its findings.
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New
Provisions That Help All
Tenants
–Even Market Rate Tenants
Retaliatory Eviction: The
landlord is prohibited from engaging in retaliatory eviction against a tenant
who makes a good faith complaint of a breach of warranty of habitability or a
complaint of duty to repair under the Multiple Dwelling Law. The landlord must prove that the eviction
is not retaliatory if it occurs within one year rather than six months of the
tenant making a good faith complaint. The tenant can recover legal fees if
successful.
Notice of Non-Renewal or Rent Increase To
Market Rate Apartments: Effective in 120 days. Landlord must give written notice to
market rate tenants if the landlord intends to renew the lease for more
than 5% of the prior rent or if the landlord does not intend to renew the
lease. Failure to provide this notice will allow the tenant to remain in
legal occupancy until legal notice has been given.
If a tenant has occupied the apartment for less than one year
and has a lease of less than one year, 30 days’ notice of non-renewal is
required.
If a tenant has occupied the apartment for more than one year
but less than two but has a lease of one–two years, 60 days’ notice of
nonrenewal is required.
If a tenant has occupied the apartment for more than two years
or has a lease of at least two years, 90 days’ notice is required.
Duty To Mitigate. When a tenant breaks a lease, the landlord
must take reasonable and customary actions to re-rent or mitigate by renting
at the fair market rent or the tenant’s last rent whichever is lower.
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New
Provisions That Help
All Tenants – Even Market Rate Tenants
Unlawful Evictions. The penalty for
illegally evicting or harassing a tenant from an apartment exposes the
landlord to prosecution for a Class A Misdemeanor and fines of $1,000 to
$10,000.
Holdover Proceedings (staying in the apartment without a lease). The
time to place a holdover on the court calendar is extended from 5 to 12 days
to 10 to 12 days. The tenant no longer must answer three days before the
first court date. If the landlord wins, the tenant’s time to cure (fix the
problem) is increased from ten days to thirty days.
Rent Demands must be
in writing and landlords must give 14 days’ notice.
Multiple court deadlines are longer allowed.
Notices of Evictions are now
14 calendar days not 5 business days.
Courts May Give Tenants More Time to Find Another
Apartment, in certain cases. The court can give up to one year and must
consider ill health, exacerbation of an ongoing condition, child’s enrollment
in a local school, or any other extenuating life circumstance affecting the
ability of the tenant or tenant family to relocate and maintain quality of
life.
Tenants in breach of lease cases have 30
days instead of 10 days to fix the breach (get rid of washing machine for
example).
Non-Payment of Rent: The
landlord, not the landlord’s counsel, must provide the tenant with a five-day
notice via certified mail that the tenant’s rent has not been received. While
the landlord can issue the rent demand immediately after the mailing of the
notice, the landlord’s failure to serve the five-day notice as an affirmative
defense to any subsequent non-payment proceedings. The landlord can
subsequently issue a rent demand, but it must be in writing, must only be for
rent and no other additional charges (air conditioner) and must give a 14
-day notice. Oral rent demands are
prohibited. The time for the tenant to answer a non-payment petition is
increased from five days to ten days.
Cooperative and Condominium Conversion:
Effective Immediately: Eliminates eviction plans. A non-eviction
plan must obtain written purchase agreements from at least 51% of bona fide
tenants who reside in the building. Eviction against seniors and disabled
tenants in market rate rentals in coops and condos retain rights to rent
increases and non-renewal regulations.
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Adapted from The Legal Aid
Society, Tenants & Neighbors
Housing
Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, June 28, 2019
Kbllp.com, Summary of The 2019
Amendments to the NY Rent Laws
Click here for an Overview of the Housing Stability and
Tenant
Protection Act of 2019 by NYS Homes and Community
Renewal,
and click here for a list
of all the new NYS HCR Fact
2019 – 2020 RENEWAL INCREASES
FOR RENT
STABILIZED APARTMENTS
The Rent
Guidelines Board (RGB) which annually
sets the rates for rent increases for rent stabilized
apartments voted to
increase rents for the nearly
one million rent-stabilized units. The rent hikes
which applies to
renewal leases starting on or
after October 1, 2019 and on or before September
30, 2020 are:
One Year Renewal Lease = 1.5% increase
Two Year Renewal Lease = 2.5% increase
Tenants whose leases expire by December 31, 2019
should have begun
to receive their renewal leases.
Examine the leases carefully to confirm that
the
correct percentages and corresponding dollar
amounts have been calculated
and applied correctly.
Returning your lease by certified mail, return
receipt requested, together
with the corresponding
additional security deposit. Make a copy of the
entire
lease before you mail it.
The
NYC Lease Rider For
All Rent Stabilized Tenants
Tenants report that they have been confused by a
rider that has
been attached to renewal leases.
This
rider is from The State of New York Division
of Housing and Community Renewal
and must be
completed by the tenant and returned together with
the
renewal lease. Of note, this rider, already in effect f
or a few years, is being revised effective Oct. 24, 2019
to reflect the changes made by the Housing Stability
and Tenant Protection Act
of 2019. Any lease being
offered on
or after October 24, 2019 must have these
updated documents attached. Any lease
offered prior
to October 24, 2019 may be offered with the updated
documents or
those previously in use. Regardless of
which rider you get, the
requirements of the new law,
the HSTPA, apply.
The only section that must be completed by rent
stabilized tenants
with renewal leases is Section 2
on Page 3.
See below:
Section
2 – This section needs to be completed
for vacancy and renewal leases
Lease Rider for the housing accommodation:
(Print Housing Accommodation’s Address and
Apartment Number)
Lease Start Date: _________________________
Lease Start Date: _________________________
Lease End Date: ________________________________
Lease Dated: ___________________________________
The tenant named in the lease hereby acknowledges the
contemporaneous receipt of the above lease rider for the
housing accommodation
stated above.______________
Print Name of Tenant(s)__________________________
Signature(s) and Date ___________________________
Subject to penalties provided by law, the owner of the
housing accommodation hereby certifies that the above rider is hereby
contemporaneously
provided to the tenant with the signing of
the lease and the information
provided by the owner herein is
true and accurate based on its records.
Print Name of Owner or Owner’s Agent___________
Signature and Date
