Ridgewood landlords capitalize on obscure city law to raise rents

THE CITY 

The number of rent-stabilized apartments registered in Ridgewood, Queens, has plummeted — and a loophole in New York’s rent regulations may help explain why.

An analysis by THE CITY shows that the number of rent-stabilized units registered in the increasingly trendy neighborhood plunged from 6,228 in 2019 to just 2,149 in 2021 — a decline of more than 65%, compared to a roughly 10% decline citywide.

The sharp drop happened even though a June 2019 law prohibited moving apartments out of the state’s rent regulation system, with few exceptions.

One of those exceptions is called “substantial rehabilitation,” and tenant advocates say they see signs that landlords are angling to use it to remove entire buildings in Ridgewood from regulation and sharply hike up rents — by claiming the buildings were dilapidated and then undertaking extensive reconstruction.

“Just by walking around Ridgewood, you’ll go from block to block, and on every block, there’s a…building that has a new façade and it’s totally renovated,” said Raquel Namuche, a volunteer tenant organizer with the Ridgewood Tenants Union.

A three-story, six-unit walk-up building at 1819 Grove St. is one area property that appears to have undergone a rehab inside and out, with a group of new tenants who moved in earlier this year. As recently as 2019, its owner reported six regulated apartments in the building. Now it reports none — and a refurbished apartment in the 93-year-old-building is now being offered on Streeteasy for $3,300 a month.

In Ridgewood, just north of Bushwick, the median sale price for residential real estate — which includes condos, co-ops and one- to three-family buildings —  has almost tripled in the last decade, going from $390,000 in 2012 to $1.09 million in 2022, according to Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of real estate appraisal and consulting firm Miller Samuel Inc. 

That’s benefitted property sellers and landlords, Miller said, as rents in Queens have hit an all-time high thanks in part to what he called “the global phenomenon of Brooklyn spillover into Queens.”

The stabilized rent is too damn higher

 

 

NY Post

A vote by the city’s Rent Guidelines Board on Thursday set the stage for what could be the biggest rent hikes in a decade for the Big Apple’s nearly 1 million rent-controlled apartments.

In a preliminary 5-4 vote, the board approved rent increases in the range of 2 to 4 percent for one-year leases and 4 to 6 percent for two-year leases.

If the board’s final vote falls within those ranges, they’d account for the largest hikes since 2013, when the board under then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg approved 4 percent increases for one-year leases and 7.75 percent for two-year leases.

The range set was not as large as some tenant advocates feared or landlord groups were hoping for — after a board report estimated owners would need increases of up to 9 percent on two-year leases to make costs.

But the Legal Aid Society is still pushing for a “wholesale freeze” when the board makes its final vote next month, the group said in a statement.

“We condemn the Board for voting to increase rents on some of our most vulnerable neighbors, people from low-income communities of color, especially when New Yorkers are still reeling financially from the pandemic and the local unemployment rate remains one of the highest in the country,” said Adriene Holder, attorney-in-charge of the civil practice.

 

The rent just got too damn higher

 

NY Daily News

Rent reform advocates may have notched a big win in Albany this month, but they couldn’t stop the Rent Guidelines Board from raising the rent on stabilized apartments for the third year in a row.

The nine-member board voted 5-4 Tuesday to increase rents by 1.5 % for one-year leases and 2.5 % for two-year leases during a raucous meeting at Cooper Union where protesters often drowned out statements from the panel.

The hike comes days after the state legislature passed a sweeping rent reform package that included lowering the cap on monthly rent increases for major capital improvements to 2% a year from 6%.

“Small building owners are struggling due to high operating costs,” said David Riess, the board’s chair, who introduced the rent hike.

The hike was comparable to 2018′s increase, which saw a 1.5 % hike for one-year leases and a 2.4 % hike for two-year leases.

 Rent advocates and the Legal Aid Society blasted the vote Tuesday night.

“People making minimum wage and with big families can’t take rent increases and pay bills. All this money is going in the landlords’ pockets," said Randy Dillard, 63, a member of Community Action for Safe Apartments.

Legal Aid’s Adriene Holder, who once sat on the board, said the “panel chose to heed the fear-mongering of landlords.”

Forest Hills tenants get a million dollars worth of rent restitutions following class action lawsuit

 

NY Daily News 

The mammoth private equity firm that bought a rent-stabilized Queens housing complex last year has agreed to pay $1.1 million in refunds to tenants after it found they were entitled to rent reductions, the Housing Rights Initiative revealed Friday.

The Blackstone Group, which acquired the 1,327-unit Parker Towers in Forest Hills last November, conceded that 110 units there should have been getting reductions, according to the non-profit housing watchdog, which is embroiled in a lawsuit with the Manhattan-based, multinational company.

The Housing Rights Initiative, being represented by the Newman Ferrara law firm, said the average rent reduction will come out to $230 a month.

It filed a class-action lawsuit over rent stabilization practices against the complex’s former owner, the Jack Parker Corporation, alleging the company illegally deregulated apartments despite getting tax breaks under the J-51 exemption and abatement program, which requires owners maintain rent-stabilization.

When Blackstone took control of the property, it assumed responsibility. Blackstone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Housing Rights Initiative lauded the victory Friday, but said more needs to be done to rectify the situation.

“The goal here is not to get back some of what was stolen, but to get back all of what was stolen,” said Aaron Carr, executive director of the non-profit HRI, which did the research leading to the lawsuit. “Stay tuned.”

Congratulations to the tenants of Parker Towers and great job by HRI and the persistent Aaron Carr. And even to Blackstone, as is wont of these equity firms to continue frivolous and tormenting court battles to squeeze every penny and crush every soul trying to hold on to their residences, that saw the criminal machinations of the last company and paid up. Very rare good news regarding the housing crisis still festering in the five boroughs.