By Kim Velsey 5/02/12 10:35am

Rent wars

Almost as good entertainment as the Rent Guidelines Board (_rockinfree, flickr)

Renters Outraged: RGB Votes To Raise Rents Again

Surprise! The rent is going up again next year.

In a move that surprised no one, the Rent Guidelines Board cast a preliminary vote to allow rent increases between 1.75 and 4 percent for one-year leases and 3.5 to 6.75 percent for two-year leases, reports The New York Times.

The ranges will be narrowed to a single percent increase when the board takes its final vote on June 21. Last year the board approved a 3.75 percent increase for a one-year lease and a 7.25 percent increase for a two-year lease. Read More

By Elise Knutsen 10/31/11 11:47am

Harlem Shuffle

A boarded apartment building in Harlem (photo from Harlem Bespoke)

Harlem Landlords Like Their Buildings Empty, Actually

While some say Harlem is the city’s new housing hotspot, hundreds of empty residential buildings bespeak serious issues still affecting the community, The New York Times reports. While storefronts in the neighborhood are generally bustling, an unsettling number of residences above are boarded up, and have been for decades. Business may be good on the ground floor, but landlords, often times wealthy real estate firms, have forsaken the residential apartments, leaving blighted buildings dotting the neighborhood. Read More

By Robert Knakal 9/29/09 6:52pm

Landlord Myths

Ask most apartment tenants or tenant advocacy organizers to describe the typical New York City landlord and they would likely describe Mr. Potter, the mean-spirited, grumpy old man played by Lionel Barrymore in Frank Capra’s 1946 holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life. In the movie, Mr. Potter is the perfect villain and counterpoint to the Read More