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NYC board freezes rents for stabilized apartments 2020-2021

Rent stabilzed lease renewals and how to apply Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) percentage increases

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NYC board freezes rents for stabilized apartments 2020-2021

Postby TenantNet » Wed Jun 17, 2020 10:25 pm

June 17, 2020, the NYC Rent Guidelines Board had its final vote for percentage increases for leases commencing from October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021. Below is the first of various print reports we expect to see in the next day or two.

View the final vote on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CgSurrK3R4

https://therealdeal.com/2020/06/17/city ... partments/
City board freezes rents for stabilized apartments
For two-year leases, a 1 percent increase is allowed during the second year
TRD New York /
June 17, 2020 07:55 PM
By Kathryn Brenzel

For the next year, landlords cannot automatically increase rents on stabilized apartments.

The Rent Guidelines Board voted 6-3 Wednesday night to freeze rents for one-year leases and for the first year of two-year leases. During the second year of two-year agreements, landlords can bump rent up by 1 percent. The board approved a freeze on stabilized hotel units as well.

The board’s two landlord representatives asked for an increase of 2 percent on one-year leases and 5 percent on two-year agreements. The tenant representatives supported freezing rent increases on all leases. Neither of these proposals failed to get the necessary five votes.

Leah Goodridge, a supervising attorney with the Housing Project at Mobilization for Justice and one of the board’s tenant representatives, said while she doesn’t doubt that landlords are hurting from the pandemic, “one person’s business venture” shouldn’t be compared to tenants’ “literal survival.” She said that as the only African American member of the board, she was concerned about the silence around the pain expressed through protests across the country, while the board put too much emphasis on the “pain of landlords losing money” and not on hardships faced by minority tenants.

Prior to the final vote, tenant advocates had called for the rollback of rents by 2 and 3 percent on one-year and two-year agreements, respectively. In its 50-year history, the board has never decreased rents in this way.

The freeze is the third during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s six and a half years in office; the first two were in 2015 and 2016 for one-year leases. Wednesday marked the first time the board approved a freeze for any portion of two-year leases.

The decision was in line with the board’s preliminary vote last month. But even before that, a freeze seemed likely. De Blasio had repeatedly called on the board to forgo increases, and even one of the board’s landlord representatives acknowledged the logic of freezing rents on one-year leases, though she bristled at the idea of doing so for two-year leases.

Ahead of the final vote, Scott Walsh, a project director at Lendlease and one of two landlord representatives on the board, criticized the voting process as “little more than a theater” that was manipulated by the mayor. He said the RGB’s public members didn’t adequately understand the issues surrounding rental housing nor their duty to property owners.

“Public members must understand: Owners are members of the public, and you have an obligation to them through your service on this board,” he said. He went on to call on property owners to “continue the dialogue with public members and to write and communicate with them often to tell their stories.”

“When you are wondering how you are going to pay your increased property tax bill on July 1 this year and avoid an 18 percent penalty for any late payment, call the public members,” he said. “When tenants with jobs elect to not pay rent or assert false claims against you, call the public members. When your insurance carrier won’t renew your policy … Call the public members often, make yourselves heard at their workplaces.”

Tenant representative Sheila Garcia called Walsh’s comments “tone deaf” and rejected the idea that the board is made up of “puppets,” noting that some public members voted against her and Goodridge’s rent-rollback proposal. (The mayor did not call for a rollback, however.)

Although the board’s landlord representatives ultimately proposed increases, the industry had shown little hope that the quasi-legislative body would approve anything other than a freeze. In fact, the Rent Stabilization Association sent over its statement in reaction to the vote nine hours before it occurred.

In the statement, Joseph Strasburg, the landlord group’s president, called Rent Guidelines Board members the mayor’s “puppets” for authorizing an “unjustifiable rent freeze under the guise of pandemic relief.”

“Typical de Blasio pandemic politics, denying owners of small buildings, mostly immigrants and people of color, the rent revenue needed to operate their buildings, finance capital improvements, infuse jobs and revenue into their neighborhoods, and pay property taxes that he raises every year,” his statement said. “They ignored the fact that New Yorkers received government stimulus and enhanced unemployment benefits, and that hundreds of thousands of households are either already back to work or returning in the weeks ahead.”

He also said City Hall should freeze property taxes. The City Council is considering two bills that would defer tax payments.

Over the last three months, the rent board held its meetings and hearings remotely, a process that some criticized for potentially excluding tenants who lacked access to the technology necessary to participate.

In its own reports, the board projected that increases of 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent for one-year leases and 3.3 percent to 6.75 percent for two-year leases would be needed to maintain net operating income for landlords of rent-stabilized buildings. According to one of the board’s reports, net operating income declined by 0.6 percent from 2017 to 2018, to $535 monthly per apartment — the first drop since 2003. The board’s reports are considered a starting point for the members’ deliberations on allowable rent increases.

The stakes this year — amid a crisis that killed thousands of New Yorkers — were considerably higher for board members, all of whom are de Blasio appointees. They were voting not only during a period of mass unemployment, but just one year after the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 shook the rent-regulation landscape.

Before the pandemic, many in the industry thought the board would feel additional pressure to increase rents, given the rent law’s elimination of other mechanisms used by landlords to do so, including vacancy bonuses and high-rent decontrol. The law also curtailed owners’ ability to increase rents after completing apartment and building-wide renovations. Chair David Reiss noted that it was still too early to fully understand the financial impact of the pandemic and rent law on the city’s rental market, but the board would study the issue over the next year.

The law, along with guidance issued by the state’s housing regulator last year, created confusion over whether increases approved by the rent board could be applied to vacancy leases. The board didn’t explicitly address the issue Wednesday night, though Reiss said at the beginning of the hearing that guidelines applied to leases that commenced or were renewed on or after Oct.1.

Deborah Riegel, an attorney at Rosenberg & Estis, said she had no expectation that the rent freeze would lead the board to compensate landlords with larger increases after the pandemic. She pointed to the fact that the board approved freezes twice in recent years without a pandemic taking hold of the city.

“I’d like to hope it will be taken up next year, when presumably we will be in a different place in terms of the crisis, but I don’t know,” she said. “The problem is, it’s not a single occurrence.”
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Re: NYC board freezes rents for stabilized apartments 2020-2

Postby sr77 » Thu Jun 18, 2020 12:17 am

What are tenant.net's thoughts (instincts?) on taking a 1-yr. v. 2-yr. lease?

1% increase is nothing to sniff at.

But with the current RGB members, is there a good likelihood that rents will be frozen again next year (for a 1-yr. lease)?
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Re: NYC board freezes rents for stabilized apartments 2020-2

Postby TenantNet » Thu Jun 18, 2020 6:28 am

Watching the hearing, consideration of the various proposals played out as expected. The tenant proposal failed, then the LL proposal failed. The so-called "compromise" proposal was accepted.

So we get 0% from either a 1 or 2-year choice. If we take a 2-year lease, then we get a 1% increase in the second year. I agree 1% should not be ignored. But of course, it could have been better.

Every year when this comes up, the general consensus seems to be that a 2-year lease is better in the long run (with a few exceptions). Indeed, if one calculates various possible scenarios over the last 50 years, taking 2-year options results in a lower overall rent.

The problem always is that we don't know what will happen in the next year. We can't predict the future or if the increases for next year will be zero, or 5%. We don't know the long-term impact of COVID-19, or the HSTPA of 2019, or how those impacts will play in an increasingly hostile and lazy press. So as with any year, you take a chance.

Consider that next year will be a Mayoral election year, so there will be pressure from that (although the pressure will be on those running for Mayor -- mostly pro-landlord/developer people despite what they say, and not pressure on the current Mayor).

I suspect I would opt for the 2-year, that is if the LL even offers me a lease.
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Re: NYC board freezes rents for stabilized apartments 2020-2

Postby asthu2003 » Thu Jun 18, 2020 12:39 pm

My lease renewal was sent on June 1 and starts Sep 1 2020. It states a 1.5% increase for 1 year renewal and 2.5% increase for 2 year renewal.

A couple of thoughts come to mind and would appreciate any feedback here.
- Will this freeze not apply in this instance since it’s valid for leases starting Oct 1 2020?
- If so, are there any options to get around it or am I stuck with the increase?

Thanks
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Re: NYC board freezes rents for stabilized apartments 2020-2

Postby TenantNet » Thu Jun 18, 2020 1:16 pm

If your renewal lease starts on 9/1/2020, then this is for the current RGB order (order #51). The vote taken last night is for next year's order (order #52), for leases commencing on or after 10/1/20.

You can see Order #51 at https://rentguidelinesboard.cityofnewyo ... -order-51/

For a one year renewal, the increase is 1.5%
For a two year renewal, the increase is 2.5%

So the numbers you indicated appear to be correct. If you take a one-year renewal now, then your lease would come up again for renewal next year and you can then opt for the percentages from Order #52. So it could apply to you, just not for another year.

Separate and apart from the RGB increases are various COVID-related relief measures. There are so many proposed or adopted, it's hard to keep them all strait ... and most are just politicians trying to pander for your vote.

Also understand as far as we know, none of these measure get you off the hook; they only delay the inevitable, that you will be liable for any missed rent eventually.

Seems Gov. Cuomo did sign the so-called "rent relief" bill yesterday. See https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politi ... story.html
Also see https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?bn=A10522&term=2019

This provides for some rent relief for those whose income has been impacted by Coronavirus.

There is also some degree of eviction moratorium ongoing. The original one ends this week, and the new one starts on 6/22/20 (through August), but it has problems as it requires a tenant to prove they have been financially impacted by the virus. And apparently it only applies to non-pay cases, not holdovers. There is growing pressure on Cuomo to fix that.

That whole situation is murky as in order to bring a non-pay suit, landlords must file papers that they have made good faith efforts to determine the tenant's financial situation. But there's no requirement that you tell the LL that information, and tenant lawyers are advising tenants to not pass along that information. That is your private information, so don't tell the LL anything about your finances unless and until you get legal advice from a tenant attorney.
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Re: NYC board freezes rents for stabilized apartments 2020-2

Postby sr77 » Sun Jun 21, 2020 8:12 pm

TenantNet wrote:I suspect I would opt for the 2-year, that is if the LL even offers me a lease.

Agree, though, noting the post by asthu2003, tenants renewing between now and 9/30/20 are probably better off taking a 1-year lease.

They then have a built-in option for a zero increase next year (for a 1-year lease), as well as the option to see whether the following year's (2021-2022) increases favor taking a 2-year lease instead (in 2021), even at the sacrifice of the zero increase (i.e., with a 1% increase rather than no increase).
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Re: NYC board freezes rents for stabilized apartments 2020-2

Postby asthu2003 » Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:27 pm

Thanks both TenantNet admin and sr77. I'm trying to move internally to a smaller unit and have asked management company since there are plenty of available units. I have to sign the lease renewal before Jul 31st and the leasing manager asked me to contact after Aug 1st to check their inventory. In case they don't have anything what will my options be? Are they allowed to increase rent on current place or move me somewhere it's higher than what I can pay. Any thoughts?
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Re: NYC board freezes rents for stabilized apartments 2020-2

Postby TenantNet » Mon Jul 13, 2020 1:09 pm

They can't force you to do anything. Does your current lease actually end on 7/31, or is that the end of the 60-day period in which you are supposed to sign and return the lease? If the latter, those dates are usually flexible. I've never seen a court (even when they are in session) evict anyone for being late in returning the lease renewal. The LL might get testy, but as you say they have plenty of open units, and they will want a dependable tenant. I wouldn't worry about that. I've been late many times, and when they have taken me to court, it's not for that.

I would hold off on that and contact them on 8/1 as they recommended.

LL's can no longer "deem" a lease as renewed if the tenant doesn't sign an return it. So they can't increase your rent automatically. If you do end up not returning it, then that would be seen as an expired lease and they can commence a holdover proceeding.
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Re: NYC board freezes rents for stabilized apartments 2020-2

Postby asthu2003 » Mon Jul 13, 2020 4:47 pm

Sorry, you are right. 7/31 is the end of 60 day period by which I need to return the lease. Actual lease ends Aug 31st. Appreciate the input. I haven't been late on renewal so felt nervous.

I will do so and wait until Aug 1st. Thank you again for the prompt response!
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Re: NYC board freezes rents for stabilized apartments 2020-2

Postby TenantNet » Mon Jul 13, 2020 6:22 pm

About 20 years ago my LL was coming after me, basically retaliation. He claimed I hadn't returned the lease. He was charging an illegal rent and DHCR had issued a decision to that effect.

At the time I had concerns about the 60-day window, so I started to research the issue. There were many cases where courts said missing the deadline was no cause for concern. Even if the tenant was late in other things like after the lease had actually expired, the courts found reason to excuse the tenant's lack of action. The over-riding public policy is to keep tenants in place.
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