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 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 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 Tom Acitelli 5/17/11 3:11pm

Rent Check

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

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

By Eliot Brown 1/13/10 3:21pm

Marvin Markus Resigns as Rent Guidelines Board Chair

Now vacant in the Bloomberg administration: a job that requires being yelled at for hours on end, hosting countless public meetings, making decisions that will leave everyone mad at you. The pay: $125 a day.

Late last year, Marvin Markus sent the city a letter of resignation from his post as chairman Read More

By Staff 11/04/09 2:45am

Four More Years! But for What? Experts Opine on Economic Development Through ’13

Almost indisputably, the mayoral race this year was a desert of big new ideas for New York City. Be it the lack of a competitive Democratic primary, the billions in budget gaps or the challenger’s preference for blanket criticism over policy prescription, the incumbent and-at the time of this writing-presumptive winner, Michael Bloomberg, was never 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