So, a little background. I live in a small studio that as far as I know is rent stabilized (it fits all the criteria). My rent is pretty low for the neighborhood. I've been in the apt for 7 years, and my original lease was never renewed (so I guess I am "month to month" and the terms of the original lease still apply). A couple years ago my landlord had me come over to sign a new lease, but he never sent me a copy of it despite me asking for it on multiple occasions. However, I believed this to be OK since my original lease was still valid if the worst came to the worst, and I have rent receipts saved for the full 7 years.
Anyway now the landlord has told me that he is selling the building, and things will be moving fast (he said within 48hrs). He said that the new owners will be looking to buy out existing tenants with a view to renovating the building, and asked me if I had a figure in mind. Given that I'm not doing so well financially at the minute and can't afford to pay what will probably turn out to be double the rent for a new place, I know they probably won't agree to the amount of money that will persuade me to uproot my life and security and move.
So I'm thinking of staying put. He also told me that the new owners will be undertaking major MCI's. I understand that they can only increase my rent by 6% per year to pay for these. My landlord tried to scaremonger me by suggesting that my rent could go up 30-40% - I'm presuming he's BS'ing. Anyway I'm instantly suspicious of the whole MCI area and the propensity for scamming.
In particular, is his claim that the building needs a brand new roof. A new roof was installed around 5-6 years ago. However, he claims that he was ripped off by the contractor with shoddy materials and was given a fake warranty. He also says that a couple of apartments on the top floor have seen leaks recently, and is using this to justify a new roof. He's generally a nice guy but I'm not so naive as to discount the idea that when potentially $100's of $1000's are at stake, even nice guys are susceptible to shady dealings. It occurred to me that perhaps a building that "needs a new roof" would be worth more to a buyer because of the whole MCI rent increase thing, and especially since most of the units are currently under market rate.
Over the past few weeks I've heard people up on the roof at odd hours of the night crashing and banging around (it's alarmed, so it's not tenants) and the idea has gotten into my head that maybe even some kind of deliberate sabotage was afoot in order to create leaks and justify the new work. Maybe I'm being paranoid? Who knows. But I'm instantly suspicious of his "forged warranty/shoddy materials" claim.
Anyway, sorry for the long background, I guess what I want to know is - is there any way I can make absolutely sure that his story about the roof checks out before I accept an MCI increase on its behalf? I figure that 5-6 years does not qualify for a new roof in normal circumstances, but the new owners could use this "fake warranty" stuff to somehow get around the rules and justify installing a new one. How thoroughly would the authorities check out this story and make sure that the old roof is, in fact, substandard? I read everywhere that it's so easy for landlords to pull the wool over the eyes of city officials in this respect. Can a building owner even get an MCI to pay for the replacement of recent shoddy workmanship?
Thanks for any advice.