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Rent Check

Rent Check

Who Cares if the Rent Guidelines Board Doesn’t Meet in the Outer Boroughs?

By Stephen Jacob Smith 6/14 5:41pm
Apartment buildings on the Grand Concourse are typical of New York City's rent-stabilized housing stock—not actually all that rent-stabilized.

Public Advocate and mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio is not happy that the Rent Guidelines Board, which decides rules on allowable rent hikes for stabilized apartments each year, has, citing poor attendance, stopped holding meetings outside of Manhattan.

“This arrangement all but assures the working people most affected by the board’s decision will be unable to participate, and their voices will have no bearing on the final rent increase decision,” Mr. de Blasio told The New York Times last week. “This is not a mere inconvenience—it is a downright failure of the democratic process.”

Mr. de Blasio’s complaint taps into two very powerful forces in New York City politics—outer borough resentment at being left out of Manhattan-centric decision making, and the pervasive feeling that the rent is too damn high. But is it justified? Read More

Rent Check

Manhattan’s Leasé-Faire Apartment Market

By Pamela Engel 6/21/11 3:41pm
apartmentdoorflickr

The rental market is up and the rental market is down, according to the newly released Manhattan Rental Market Report.

Although the report, released monthly, shows that rents were up by 1.82 percent overall from May to June, a closer look reveals that rents are rising in some areas and falling in others. Also, the survey doesn’t include every apartment on the market—understandable, given how freaky Manhattan housing arrangements can get—but instead gives just a rough idea of pricing trends.

For example, rents are up for non-doorman studios on the Upper West Side but down for non-doorman one-bedrooms. Many neighborhoods are listed under both the “where prices decreased” and “where prices increased” categories with prices varying depending on the type of apartment, making it a little difficult to ID a trend for one neighborhood across-the-board. Read More

Rent Check

A Very Big Deal: Cuomo Comes Out for Strengthening Rent Regs

By Tom Acitelli 5/17/11 3:11pm

In a move sure to give landlords and brokers serious agita, Governor Cuomo has come out in favor of strengthening existing rent regulations for New York City’s approximately 1 million stabilized apartments. David Freedlander over at PolitickerNY has all the initial details:

Leaning on his time as HUD secretary during the Clinton administration, Cuomo called affordable housing Read More

Rent Check

Tenants Group: Some Senate Dems Betrayed Us

By Eliot Brown 8/13/10 4:00pm

The pro-rent regulation folks are upset.

Last night, Tenants PAC, a group devoted to expanding rent regulations in New York, sent out a press release announcing that it was rescinding endorsements for three Senate Democrats from outside the city: David Valesky, Brian Foley, and Darrel Aubertine. The group had pushed to get all three elected over Read More