By Kim Velsey 3/22 5:33pm

After Sandy

Sandy is still causing headaches. Bureaucratic ones.

Tenants In Sandy-Damaged Buildings Protest Landlord-Friendly Rent Reduction Policy

After Hurricane Sandy, rent-stabilized tenants living in damaged buildings with diminished services were told—and believed—that they would be able to get rent reductions for the entire time they were without services.

The Rent Stabilization Code stipulates that reductions are given from the time the service is lost. But, as rent-stabilized residents at Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town have discovered, they might only be eligible for reductions starting in March—a four-month discrepancy that could be worth thousands of dollars per tenant. Read More

By Kim Velsey 11/29/12 6:30pm

Housing Developments

Overcharged.

Stuyvesant Town Tenants Settle Rent Degregulation Lawsuit, Winning $68.7 M.

The tenants of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village have finally settled their class action suit, winning $68.7 million in damages that will be awarded to tenants who were overcharged on their rent between January 2003 and December 2011 as a result of illegal rent deregulation.

The settlement means an end to the lengthy Roberts v. Tishman Speyer legal battle. Tishman Speyer defaulted on its loans in 2010 and the property is now owned by CW Capital Asset Management LLC. The damages, to be paid by CWCapital (on behalf of the
bondholders’ trust) and former owner MetLife Inc, will be divided among 21,250 tenants in 4,300 units. Read More

By Matt Chaban 11/19/12 10:55am

Stuy-mieing News

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In Spite of Hurricane Sandy Struggles, Stuy Town Will Still Get Its Despised Ice Rink This Winter

Hurricane Sandy turned Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village into hell in Manhattan for almost a week after the power went out. Sure, much of downtown was a disaster zone, to say nothing of the devastation in the outer boroughs, but Stuy Town had some particular, peculiar problems. Most notably, all the hallways are interior, with no windows, so it was impossible to get around. What’s worse, the locks on all the doors are electronic, so anyone could have been lurking in the darkness.

Fortunately, Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village have returned to a sense of normalcy now that the power is back, as the management has been detailing in a serious of lengthy email updates to residents. Unfortunately, one of the things tenants might have hoped Superstorm Sandy would have washed away is still coming: the ice rink. Read More