Tenants often challenge rents that reflect increases landlords include after making individual apartment improvements (IAIs). Not only are there complicated rules for calculating how much a landlord can increase the rent for improvements, but the landlord also has the burden of maintaining records that prove those improvements were indeed made and properly paid. Landlords who follow the rules are winning tenant claims of IAI-related rent overcharge and fraud, as this recent case shows.
To keep up with housing payments during the pandemic, renters have had to tap a wide range of financial resources, reports Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) in “Making the Rent: Household Spending Strategies During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The report examines how households have managed their finances and rental payments in response to income loss during the pandemic.
A landlord has been banned from New York real estate after violating an agreement with the state attorney general’s office to end illegal business practices and tenant harassment. The New York Supreme Court issued an order barring the landlord, Raphael Toledano, from engaging in any New York real estate business activity for at least five years, at which point he can petition the court for reentrance.
Governor Kathy Hochul, with Division of the Budget Director Robert F. Mujica Jr., recently outlined her Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Executive Budget. "We have the means to immediately respond to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as embrace this once-in-a-generation opportunity for the future with a historic level of funding that is both socially responsible and fiscally prudent," Governor Hochul said.
When Bill de Blasio campaigned to be mayor eight years ago, he pledged to fix New York City's property tax system. In May 2018, Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson convened the New York City Advisory Commission on Property Tax Reform to recommend reforms to the system to make property taxes more fair, straightforward, and transparent.
Ultimately, the former mayor fell short of his goal to reform the property tax system. With two days left before the end of his second term on Dec. 31, the commission released its final recommendations.
The management agents and owners of four HUD-subsidized apartment complexes in Southern California recently reached a Conciliation/Voluntary Compliance Agreement with HUD, resolving allegations that the property managers refused to rent to or provide adequate language services for applicants with limited English proficiency (LEP).
Don’t send tenants a default notice for nonpayment of rent that doesn’t specifically identify the months. Failing to list the months of nonpayment in the notice may cost you your right to evict the tenant or terminate the lease. An Ohio landlord learned this lesson the hard way...
Among the many amendments made to New York’s rent stabilization laws by the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA) were new provisions making attorney’s fees mandatory for tenants represented by counsel who make successful rent overcharge claims. At the same time, there is no provision in the amended laws for an owner to recover attorney’s fees in the event that it successfully defends against an overcharge claim.
Five small landlords have sued New York Attorney General Letitia James. Attorneys for the group are arguing that the hardship declaration form is “unconstitutional compelled speech,” because it forces landlords to, in effect, voice support for a policy that is “squarely adverse” to their interests. The COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2020 was signed into law by the governor on Dec. 28, 2020.
A tenant who flouts building rules and disregards the city’s mask mandate is likely to spark complaints from neighbors and staff members who are concerned about their health. The eviction moratorium doesn’t mean a landlord can’t take the matter to court. Consider the recent case of a Brooklyn landlord who sought injunctive relief and a temporary restraining order against a tenant based upon nuisance conduct that created health and safety risks affecting other occupants of the building.
As COVID-19 vaccines start to become available to the general public, can employers now order mandatory vaccinations of their employees? The answer is not so simple. Landlords, cooperatives, and condominiums should be aware of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance issued last month on this topic. Whether an employer chooses to enact a mandatory vaccination policy or merely encourages its employees to get inoculated, many complex legal and personnel issues will arise.
Under the new lead legislation, if an apartment is presumed to have lead, but there is no peeling paint and no child living in the apartment, do you have to have it inspected? If lead is found, what do you have to do?
