2% Hike Proposal Angers Renters, Landlords
Daily News, May 14, 1999
By MICHAEL FINNEGAN

The city Rent Guidelines Board yesterday proposed that tenants in 1 million rent-stabilized apartments pay 2% rent hikes this year — angering both tenants and landlords.

"This is really an outrage," said Michael McKee of the New York State Tenants & Neighbors Coalition.

Landlord advocate Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, said: "We would have preferred a higher number."

Starting Oct. 1, the rent-hike cap would be 2% for one-year lease renewals and 4% for two years. For tenants paying $450 a month or less, landlords could jack up the rent an extra $15. The plan will be up for a final board vote June 24.

The 2% cap would match the record low that has been set in four of the last five years.

But tenant groups had been pushing for a rent freeze after recent board research found landlords' maintenance costs essentially flat and their net income surging more than 11%.

McKee accused the board of caving in to pressure from Mayor Giuliani to "reward his landlord friends" for their donations to his potential U.S. Senate campaign.

"McKee suffers from delusions," responded Deputy Mayor Joseph Lhota.

Many in the crowd of several dozen at the Manhattan hearing shouted at the board, and some tenants carried signs saying, "Rudy Giuliani Loves Landlord$."

"This is a travesty," one tenant screamed.

"People, if you continue, you'll be escorted out," a cop warned the audience.

Landlords pushed for a 4% hike on one-year leases and 8% for two years, but the board rejected the proposal. The board also nixed a tenant plan for a rent freeze on one-year leases and a 1% hike for two years.

Landlords said they needed a bigger rent hike to compensate for years when their costs rise at higher rates than their rents.

"Why should owners accept the vagaries of the market on the down side when they are not permitted to participate on the up side?" asked Vincent Castellano, a board member who represents landlords.

Original Publication Date: 05/14/1999