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The Rent

By Kim Velsey 10/05/12 6:34pm

The Rent

Financial District

Financial District Residents Couldn’t Care Less About Rent Breaks

Are you sick and tired of people complaining about the crippling rents they pay? And the fact that said rents will only become more crippling in the future and most likely not be accompanied by commensurate pay raises? Downers, right? You should go hang out in the Financial District, where no one is even bothering to file some paperwork that would make their market rate apartments rent stabilized, reports The Wall Street Journal. Read More

By Kim Velsey 9/13/12 7:15pm

The Rent

Tribeca is beautiful, but like so many beautiful things, you probably can't afford it.

August Is a Disgusting Month To Move In And Other Truths Found In Manhattan Rental Reports

Who wants to move in August?  No one even wants to be in the muggy cesspool of the city, let alone between two separate apartments. Indeed, August rental reports reflect the general malaise one is apt to feel when clutching a box damp with sweat at the bottom of a five floor walk-up. Or maybe Manhattan is now obeying the schedules of the Hamptons as the middle class flees?

Manhattan vacancy rates remained relatively flat in August. At 1.19 percent, they are basically unchanged from the 1.2 percent vacancy rate of July and slightly up from August 2011, when they were at just one percent, according to a report from Citi Habitats. Cause for celebration? Read More

By Kim Velsey 7/12/12 10:00am

The Rent

Cover your eyes! (WalkerSister, flickr)

Manhattan Renters Beware! You’re In For A Scare

Watching the Manhattan rental market is like watching Saw. It’s fascinating and terrible and nauseating all at the same time.

Well, get ready torture porn fans, because the second quarter market rental reports are here. Our protagonist has just stepped into a car with a stranger to find that the inside door handle has been removed from the passenger side. Let the carnage begin! Read More

By Kim Velsey 5/09/12 10:21am

The Rent

You probably can't afford it (pietroizzo, flickr)

The Rent May Be Too Damn High, But it’s Getting Higher

Guess what? The rental market is even more crazy expensive than it was before.

Rents increased across all apartment categories, the vacancy rate dropped and concessions were just about impossible to come by last month, according to Citi Habitats monthly rental market report. Given that March was already a month of record-setting highs, and that the rental market often heats up as spring shifts into summer, it’s not a great time to be apartment hunting in the city.

It’s going to be a rough summer for renters, especially since the rush of college grads should be starting any minute now. Read More

By Kim Velsey 4/16/12 3:50pm

The Rent

No one's happy about New York City rent

Nobody Likes The Rent Guidelines Board—Quinn, Squadron, Williams Rally, Take to Name Calling

Every year, for the past 41 years, the nine members of the Rent Guidelines Board have gathered to reach a secretive consensus that sets the annual rent increases on rent-regulated apartments at somewhere around 3 percent, a move that without fail earns the ire of tenants and property owners alike.

It is unlikely that the Rent Guidelines Board harbors any illusions about its popularity at this point, but this year looks to bring unprecedented animosity. It’s only April and insults are flying,  months before the board inevitably makes its rage-inducing decision.

“We need to move away from the days of a kangaroo court,” shouted City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who took to the steps of City Hall Monday morning to call for reforms to the hated board. “Regardless of the data… the rents go up!” Read More

By Matt Chaban 4/16/12 10:40am

The Rent

The place that could pull down the rent regs house of cards. (Property Shark)

Where’s the Rent? Supreme Court Witholds Decision on Whether or Not to Hear Rent Control Case

That’s pretty much the full story at this point. “The court has not granted or denied that case yet,” a Supreme Court public information officer just informed The Observer. Such announcements are made every Monday, and so New York will be on the edge of its rent-regulated seats for another seven days. Check back then to see if landlords citywide will finally have their day in court. The Supreme Court has until June to decide whether or not it will hear the case—a waiting game worse than the TKTS booth.

By Kim Velsey 4/16/12 9:45am

The Rent

Decision time. Will the Supreme Court hear the rent control case? (IslesPunkFan, flickr)

Does the End of Rent Control Start Today? Supreme Court Will Decide Whether or Not to Hear UWS Suit

Forget sweet nothings and exclusive party invitations. The two words most New Yorkers long to hear are “rent controlled.” But like so many (impossible?) dreams, this, too, may soon be dead.

The Supreme Court could decide today whether or not to hear a case brought by former federal prosecutor James D. Harmon Jr., the owner of a five-story townhouse on West 76th Street. Mr. Harmon, who grew up in the brownstone and now lives there with his wife Jeanne, inherited the building and its three rent-controlled tenants from his grandfather. He argues that New York City’s rent laws violate the Constitution by taking his property without just compensation.

The three tenants with rent control pay approximately $1,000 a month for one-bedroom apartments, about 59 percent below market rate, according to court documents. Three other tenants in the building pay market rents.

“For 50 years my family has been subsidizing the lifestyles of tenants,” Mr. Harmon, who is 68, told the Observer on Friday.  He and his wife were both getting older, Mr. Harmon said, and cannot afford to do it anymore. “If there is a problem here, then society as a whole should bear the burden.” Read More

By Kim Velsey 3/27/12 3:18pm

The Rent

Raising the (rent regs) roof. (rnguyen01/Flickr)

Rental Relief! Mayor Bloomberg Renews NYC Rent Regulation Law

Even with a Supreme Court battle looming in the background, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg didn’t hesitate to sign a City Council bill extending New York’s Rent Stabilization Law through April 2015.

“In order to extend the Rent Stabilization Law, the City must determine that a housing emergency exists to merit the need for rent stabilization,” Bloomberg said in a release about the bill’s passage, citing the city’s vacancy rate of 3.12 percent to declare the requisite emergency. Read More

By Michael Ewing 4:02pm

The Rent

Fifty-five bucks to live here? Hot damn! (PropertyShark)

At $55 a Month, This May Be the Cheapest Apartment in New York, Let Alone Soho

Rent control might be running out by the decade’s end, but some rent-controlled tenants gladly pay their double digit rent and plan to pass it on to future generations, much to their landlords (and lawyers’) dismay.

Consider the case of two elders in Soho–Thomas Lombardi and Robert Cohen—who have been paying $55.01 and $71.23, respectively, for their apartments, according to the Post. Read More

By Michael Ewing 3/15/12 2:35pm

The Rent

Affordable housing? (Turduckern/Flickr)

Five Borough Living Actually Kinda Cheap (By Certain Measures)

The National Low Income Housing Coalition published their “Out of Reach 2012: America’s Forgotten Housing Crisis” report this week. The report, in short, calculates the required hourly wages (at 40 hours a week and 52 weeks a year) to sustain a two bedroom apartment. The report surveyed hundreds of counties, metropolitian areas, and cities across the United States, and then our buen vecino Puerto Rico.

Keep in mind that the report also stipulated that an affordable two bedroom apartment is 30 percent of your monthly income. Here are some interesting breakdowns (in hourly wages at 2080 hours a year). Read More