Results tagged “rentstabilized”

Last night, the Rent Guidelines Board met to discuss rent hikes for rent-stabilized apartments. As expected, people protesting the hikes were also present. NY1 reports, "For one-year leases, the board is now looking at a hike of two percent to 4.5 percent. For two-year leases, the range is four percent to 7.5 percent." Last year, the board agreed on hikes of 4.5% for one-year leases and 8.5% for two-year leases. Landlords and building owners say that while those hikes seem big, they barely offset costs for heating oil and water. Still, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn says she would ask the board to freeze rents; one tenant organizer said, "This would be an appropriate year to do that. This is the worst recession we’ve seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s."

building into a home--with a gym, nanny suite, etc.--for his family. The tenants questioned whether Economakis would really live in the building, suspecting he would rent it out at market rates or flip it for millions, and the situation raised questions about rent laws for years. In the summer, the Court of Appeals ruled that Economakis could evict them; the Post says the tenants "gave in because they weren't confident they would beat" their landlord in Manhattan Supreme Court. A tenant added, "I don't think we can afford Manhattan anymore."

The House Ethics Committee voted to begin an inquiry on Representative Charles Rangel's actions. Rangel's use of Congressional letterhead to solicit donations for a center being built in his honor, multiple rent-stabilized apartments, unreported income from a second home, and other unreported income from property sales have put the powerful Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee under the microscope (in many of the cases, Rangel has pleaded ignorance). Rangel's lawyer said, "We look forward to fully cooperating with the ethics committee, which we had previously asked to look into these matters. We hope and trust that the ethics committee will find that Mr. Rangel has done nothing intentionally wrong, which we firmly believe.”

The Post suggests that Representative Charles Rangel's income may now be above $200,000, which is more than the $175,000-ceiling to qualify for rent-stabilized apartments. Rangel up until very recently occupied four rent-stabilized units at Lenox Terrace, three for living and one as an office (he gave up the office after the disclosure). Previously, Rangel claimed his income was around $175,000, but there are recent revelations about unreported income from a vacation villa, unreported property sales, and a free parking space for an old car. Of course, the Post points out his landlord doen't have to deregulate his apartments. But the building has tried to kick out rent-stabilized tenants for things like their children sending in rent checks for them (because the tenant was going blind).

Today, the NY Sun had an editorial questioning why City Council Speaker Christine Quinn remains in a $1,600/month rent-stabilized apartment, when she makes $141,000/year from the City Council, owns half a $500,000 house in NJ, and her partner is a corporate lawyer enough for their combined income to probably be at least $300,000. The editorial then looks at Governor Paterson's and Representative Charles Rangel's rent-stabilized living situations (Paterson also has a home upstate, and Rangel has a villa in the Dominican Republic). The Sun writes, "The effect is that a measure originally designed to keep the lower and middle classes from being forced out of the city has become a program that effectively subsidizes country homes outside the city for the upper middle class."

The House of Representatives tabled a resolution to censure Representative Charles Rangel over his four rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem. Put forward by Republican minority leader Representative John A. Boehner (just after Republican Senator Ted Stevens pleaded not guilty to taking $250,000 in gifts), the House voted 254-138 to table the resolution, which said Rangel was a "discredit to the Congress." Rangel, who had asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate his living/renting situation, said it was all politics, "I'm just surprised they feel it's so important that they bring down an officer of the Congress in order to get some attention toward the election. It's really sad that they would feel that insecure.

After breaking the story that Representative Charles Rangel had four rent-stabilized apartments at Lenox Terrace, the NY Times continues to look at the Congressman's relationship with real estate, finding that developers are some of his biggest donors. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks donations, Rangel "has collected more money from real estate interests than all but two other members of Congress this election cycle," with many coming from developers who are reshaping Rangel's district with new developments--here's a graphic. The article also suggests developers are supporting Rangel due position as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and there are also examples of Rangel helping tenants in certain situations.

Yesterday, Representative Charles Rangel sent a letter to the House Ethics Committee, asking for an investigation into whether his four rent-stabilized apartments at Lenox Terrace constitute an improper gift. Thought he's emphasized he's paying the highest legal rent possible, the fact that the building has attempted to evict other rent-stabilized tenants without political clout and the city's overall lack of affordable housing has made the matter controversial enough for Rangel to give up an apartment being used as a re-election campaign office. Rangel pointedly referred to the NY Times (which broke story) in his letter, "Some in the press have repeatedly - and erroneously - insinuated wrongdoing in my dealings with the landlord at Lenox Terrace. There has been no wrongdoing."

While Representative Charles Rangel has defended his multiple rent stabilized apartments--one of which he is giving up--as legal and aboveboard, today the NY Times details how his landlord has attempted to evict other longtime rent-stabilized tenants(ones without political juice), sometimes using aggressive tactics.

Representative Charles Rangel discussed his decision to give up one of his 3-4 rent-stabilized apartments by saying his re-election campaign-- which used a one-bedroom apartment with a monthly rent of $630 at Lenox Terrace in Harlem--"had decided they were going to move anyway" since the lease is up in October. Last week, the NY Times revealed that Rangel rented four apartments at rent-stabilized rates (one apartment is made up of two units) raising questions about whether Rangel was implicitly receiving a gift from the landlord, a large real estate developer.

After the revelation that he rents at least three rent-stabilized apartments (one unit is made up of two previously combined units) and ensuing uproar, Representative Charles Rangel will give up a 10th floor one-bedroom unit at Harlem's Lenox Terrace that he used as an office.

Representative Charles Rangel gave a press conference defending his four rent-stabilized apartment at Lenox Terrace. The NY Times had reported on Rangel's unusual rent-stabilized "riches" in an article today (which was online last night), and the paper has three reporters on the scene at the press conference. The Observer observer this exchange between the 78-year-old Congressman and a Times reporter:

"Paying the legal rent is not a gift. Are you doing this deliberately or are you just stupid? Listen -- if you are paying a legal rent and without the law the rent would be higher, just what school did you go to that could misinterpret that as a gift?”

Continue reading "Rangel Says His Rent is Fine, Blasts the NY Times"

Representative Charles Rangel isn't so happy with the New York Times: The Gray Lady revealed the high-ranking Congressman has four rent-stabilized apartments at Lenox Terrace, the Harlem development where Governor David Paterson also lives (Paterson only has one rent-stabilized apartment, though).

The Daily News scored an exclusive account of life inside the Economakis building on East 3rd Street-- their intern Barry Paddock happens to be one of the tenants getting evicted: "In eviction papers, they laid out a plan to combine our cramped but beloved rent-stabilized apartments into a suburban-style mansion. Apartments on my floor would be demolished and replaced by a hanging walkway overlooking their new two-story living room." Bonus fact: the Economakis family paid less than $1M for the building in 2003-- about the cost of a one bedroom apartment in Manhattan today.

Last night, the Rent Guidelines Board recommended to increase rents for rent-stabilized apartments by 3.5-7% for one-year leases and 5.5-9.5% for two-year leases. This figure was deemed too high by tenants and not high enough by landlords.

Spring is when the days are longer, cherry blossoms are in bloom, and the Rent Guidelines Board discusses this year's round of rent hikes for rent-regulated apartments. And this year's talks should be another doozy, as the RGB found landlord operating costs have risen 7.8% over the past year.