Get on the Bus! Join Us in Albany; Tuesday, May 23rd

New York City’s Rent Laws will expire on a state-wide level in 2003. The real estate industry will again push the State Legislature to eliminate rent regulation altogether (as they did with limited sucess in 1997). The effort to preserve our tenant protections has begun.

Buses will leave New York City around 7 a.m. and return around 7 p.m. (departure points T.B.A.). Tickets are only $10 roundtrip.

Issues for Albany...

Tenants will travel to Albany on May 23rd to lobby the state legislature on key issues. The trip will serve two functions: 1) To let the Senate and Assembly know that tenants are already mobilizing around the renewal of the rent laws for 2003. 2) To push for the passage of pro-tenant legislation. A partial listing of specific bills is listed below. A full listing can be obtained from Met Council.

If you can’t make it to Albany, you can still contact your Assembly Member and Senator on these issues. Ask them to make a commitment to these bills that support and expand tenant’s rights. Remind them that the rent laws expire in 2003 and that further weakening of these laws is unacceptable. For the phone number and address of your Assembly Member and Senator (and/or to find out who those people are) call the League of Women Voters at (212) 674-8484.

Make sure you contact these elected officials before end of the current legislative session: June 15th!

The Bills

Major Capital Improvements (“MCIs”) S. 4988 (Goodman), A 4508 (Sanders) would make all Major Capital Improvements separate temporary surcharges (rather than permanent additions to the base rent). This means that when a rent renewal is calculated, the MCI would not count as part of the base rent. It also means the surcharge would be dropped once the MCI is “paid off.” Insiders say this bill has the best chance of passing of the bunch. S. 4684 (Padavan), A. 7360 (Sanders) would exempt senior citizens from paying MCI increases.

Expanding S.C.R.I.E. S. 484 (Onorato), A. 4835 (D. Butler) would expand the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption Program (S.C.R.I.E.) to include disabled rent regulated and Mitchell-Lama tenants, who are not seniors.

Eviction Protections S. 1844 (Padavan), A. 3164 (Lafayette) would prohibit landlords from evicting disabled tenants in rent-regulated buildings for “personal use.”

S. 49 (Oppenheimer), A 3634 (Weinstein) would give protections to victims of dome stic violence, who must temporarily leave their primary residence and are then sued for eviction in a “non-primary residence” case. The bill would disallow the counting of those days “in flight” against the 183 days a tenant must spend in an regulated apartment annually, in order to assert primary residency.

Mitchell-Lama S. 3460 (Goodman) would prevent landlords from opting out of the Mitchell-Lama program for 50 years from the date the building was first occupied (current law allows an opt-out after only 20 years). This measure has already passed in the Assembly, A.1989 (Lopez).

Rent Control S. 666 (Goodman), A. 8211 (Lopez) would change the 7.5% increases paid by rent-controlled apartments to the lesser (one-year renewal) increases paid by rent-stabilized tenants.

Section 8 A. 8210 (Lopez) would place former project-based Section 8 buildings under rent stabilization.

Repeal of “Urstadt” S. 7486 (Padavan), A 6957 (Lopez) would repeal the “Urstadt” amendment. This amendment prohibits the City Council from strengthening our rent laws beyond the limits set by the State Legislature.

Join us in Albany. To reserve your seat on the bus or for more information, call Met Council at (212) 693-0553 (ext. #6) today.