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 Laura Kusisto 3/24/11 9:46pm

Rent Regulation

For a Change: A Landlord-Friendly Ruling

Rent-stabilized tenants have fought for nearly two years to prevent landlords from raising their rents by $45. But today the state’s highest court has ruled against them, in a decision that will affect more than 300,000 apartments in the city with rents under $1,000.

Splitting 5-2, the New York State Court of Appeals overturned lower Read More

By Eliot Brown 7/13/09 4:01pm

Joseph Strasburg, Landlords’ Super in Albany

Location: You deal mostly with Albany, right?

Mr. Strasburg: The City Council has other responsibilities in terms of their policies, but clearly, in terms of what’s more important, it is Albany.

 

How’s that been going this past session?

There is a level of dysfunctionality in Albany. At least at the Read More

By Eliot Brown 6/09/09 10:50pm

After the Coup: Landlords Get a ‘Reprieve’

Mike McKee was in the State Capitol Monday afternoon, eagerly awaiting Tuesday. For the past three years, the white-haired, bearded activist had devoted his efforts almost exclusively to passing sweeping new rent regulations in the State Senate that favor the city’s one million–plus stabilized tenants.
As of early afternoon Monday, the chamber’s housing committee Read More

By Eliot Brown 6/09/09 8:28pm

After the Coup: Landlords Get a ‘Reprieve’

Mike McKee was in the State Capitol Monday afternoon, eagerly awaiting Tuesday. For the past three years, the white-haired, bearded activist had devoted his efforts almost exclusively to passing sweeping new rent regulations in the State Senate that favor the city’s one million–plus stabilized tenants.

As of early afternoon Monday, the chamber’s housing committee Read More