From the Daily News:TENANTS OF a rowhouse-style affordable housing complex in Hollis protested outside the Buildings Department yesterday, demanding the reversal of a construction permit that allows the landlord to kick them out.
Chanting "Stop the Sale of Hollis Court!" about two dozen people rallied outside the lower Manhattan offices before trying to deliver a letter to Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri.
They said the agency should not have allowed Hollis Court, a 54-unit complex on 202nd St. and Hollis Ave., to be subdivided into 27 individual two-family homes.
After buying the complex in 2005, owner Joseph Kohn got an approval from the city to divide the complex into two-family homes - allowing him to take advantage of a loophole that takes the housing out of rent regulation, tenants said.
In recent years, he has put several buildings on the market for as much as $400,000.
Once the buildings are sold, the new owners are allowed to evict the tenants. Many of them have Section 8 vouchers to help pay for the rent-stabilized units.
More from NY1.
13 comments:
More power to private property owner Joseph Kohn.
We just witnessed the political use of "outrage" to massively violate the U.S. constitution to punish people who were given a bonus.
Bill of Attainder, Ex Post Facto law, use of taxes as punishment (something nobody even pretended to hide).
We in NYC witness the Commissar seizing private property for the profit for himself and very wealthy cronies.
All the rent control laws are continuing applications of private property seizure - eminent domain in disguise.
Will you be able to pass your home and whatever money on to your children?
Ignore this issue at your and your children's peril.
Fine to complain when rent control hurts the original owner, but plenty of people are buying these properties at artificially-depressed prices with the idea of tearing up existing contracts.
After all, these laws have only been around since 1947. How could anyone know they exist?
Since my landlord bought my 1912 tenement building I have endured: collapsing ceilings, no heat, heat of over 100 degrees, no hot water, only hot water, no cooking gas, rats, holes in the floor, illegal alterations removing the beams from under my feet, no working intercom, attempts to remove my phone lines, electrical outages, gasoline painted on banisters, removal of steps,removal of both front entrance doors in the middle of winter with wind and snow driving in for days,
False police and mental health reports have been called in on several tenants, police have tried to arrest tenants for being in the common areas of their own building (rent fully paid up by all, I might add).
All of the constitutional rights arguments fail in the face of this simple fact:
A bunch of grafters and chancers have taken over our government and financial systems. Expect some real dirty pool and ugly battles.
Be ready to fight like H@ll and kick those MotherF*ck#rs up the @ss.
Here is an idea for those in 'affordable housing.'
Call up ACRORN. Demand the same attention that they give people of color and massive resettlement projects that (funny isn't it) benefit developers.
You know, give 'affordable rents' on one hand, then takes away that money for 'taxes for infrastructure projects' to support development on the other.
If they blow you off, let Crappie know.
(I understand they recieved a big, very big, loan from Ratner to stay in business to plump for more massive projects. If anyone knows about that let the webmaster know.)
acorn can kiss my ass
100% free market will solve all housing problems. housing sucks because of too much govt intervention and artificial price fixing
100% free market will solve all housing problems.
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Yea no rules. There are many examples of this - its called 3rd world urban slums. Kinda dangerous considering who the clubhouse is bringing in, don't you think?
"100% free market will solve all housing problems"
I doubt that because the "free market" never has. Believing it will is the mark of someone very young who has not read any history. I suggest as a start: Jacob Riis, "How the Other Half Lives," Asbury's, "Gangs of New York," any biography of Al Smith, any account of Typhoid Mary, The Slocumn disaster, or Triangle Shirtwaist.
Only by familiarizing yourself with how these laws evolved and why they were necessary can you really understand why we have this "socialist" mentality rather than Ayan Rand's glorious free market.
Since my landlord bought my 1912 tenement building I have endured: collapsing ceilings, no heat, heat of over 100 degrees, no hot water, only hot water, no cooking gas, rats, holes in the floor, illegal alterations removing the beams from under my feet, no working intercom, attempts to remove my phone lines, electrical outages, gasoline painted on banisters, removal of steps,removal of both front entrance doors in the middle of winter with wind and snow driving in for days,
How much is your rent?
Only by familiarizing yourself with how these laws evolved and why they were necessary can you really understand why we have this "socialist" mentality rather than Ayan Rand's glorious free market.
To ensure that the soldiers returning from WWII had places to come home to. Since they're almost all dead now, can we eliminate rent control?
My rent is close to $700.00. I am a clerk who makes under $30,000.00 per year. This man is my third landlord. The other two managed to keep the building going without hurting anyone.
Contrary to folklore about wonderful rent controlled or rent stabilized rents, tenants who have been here for decades pay about $700.00 a month for rent for a very tiny studio-sized 1 bedroom without an elevator, doorman or any amenities other than the bare minimum required by law, and as I described even those have not been provided.
I have spent $3000 dollars of my own money trying to buy a foreclosed property that did not go through due to a flawed title.
Please note that I am on lists for low income housing. Market rate is not an option due to my low income. Income verfication is mandatory, costs $$$ and is not refundable when the apartment is not obtained.
In the case of the foreclosure that had unremovable liens I was out: lawyer's fees, a fee to check whether I was a criminal, a fee to check whether I was employed, a fee to meet with the co-op Board, a fee to an engineer to determine what repairs would be necessary, a fee check for liens, a fee to check my credit...
Six months and over $3,000 dollars later, with a close date already scheduled for the next day, I got a call that a lien that was probably paid could not be removed from my mortgage so I had to let the property and my money go.
In addition to the cost of moving, the cost of replacing property damaged in the move and all the inconveniences of uprooting from a neighborhood where I have lived for 50 years, you can see why I have put up with this nonsense.
Plenty of honest people who work for a living need help.
If you make under $30K per year you have no business buying foreclosed property or any other kind of house. But if rent controls were eliminated you would be able to better bargain a decent rent.
My foreclosure was a studio in the Bronx in need of repair. It was 52,000. Maintence, and the mortgage would have come to under $1,000.00 month. A similar property in good repair would have been $100,000. You can get very creative when moving may save you from death.
I once lived in a very large community (3 cities) in another state, with no rent control. I was young and needed no house, so I rented in a building that, if transplanted to NYC, would be luxury. 3 BR, 2 Baths, balcony, 2 swimming pools, 5 tennis, 3 BBall courts, playground, massively large lawn, on-property parking for tenants and guests. All sorts of convenience stores in premise: 7-11, dry cleaners, party room, storage.
$133 per month. I married and started a family until I had the money to buy a house.
Today, when I visit, all the apartment complexes COMPETE vigorously for tenants: Secretary, phone, fax, dry cleaning pick-up/drop off, 24 hour concierge, maid, sheets, yada, yada. Rents? lower than mortgage payments.
Rent control is private property seizure, without compensation.
The predators are the tenants who expect free living space.
The victims are all who want living space. Decent living is a rare commodity, thus, very high priced. The word "affordable" is political horseshit.
Do people treasure a rented car? Why would they treasure a rented apartment?
Taxpayer, it wasn't lack of rent control that created this situation, but lack of demand for the housing. New York has always had vicious demand for housing.
I earlier recommended several books that would give you an accurate picture of the New York housing market 100 years before rent control was ever enacted. Another source of information would be the tenement museum in Downtown Manhattan.
I certainly don't live for free and if I tried I would be out on my ear. Some tenants, of course, are maniacs and are properly treated as such.
The evil landlord that I have been castigating has also threatened nearby property owners because of his negligent and foolish practices including violation of fire codes and lack of protection of adjacent properties while he was building.
Perhaps you have a building near such a person. When bricks rain down on your roof, when tenants leave your building because he has illegally bricked up your windows or when his building goes up in flames and burns your home as well, talk to me about the evils of rent control. For such people it's not a "free market" but a "free for all" market where brutality dominates.
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