Well the Rent Guidelines Board met last night down at Cooper Union and raised our rents again. The Board passed a 3% increase on one year leases and 5.75% for two year deals. Ronald S. Languedoc who represents the renters wanted a rent freeze for the coming year, but was rejected in favor of the landlords of over one million apartments throughout the city. Higher rent increase proposals were also rejected, leaving the outcome to be in the middle. In the end, neither group was happy.
From The New York Times:
Tenants, some of whom came expecting a higher increase, were nonetheless unhappy. “They could have come down to about 4 and 2,” said Priscilla Durant, 61, who has lived in a rent-stabilized apartment in Washington Heights for 8 years. “That would have been good.”
Hector Lozano, 61, a landlord in her neighborhood, however, said that he was feeling the crush of high taxes and low rent. Mr. Lozano, who owns a 26-unit building in Washington Heights, said that he did not want to have to raise rents, but would this year have to pay $12,000 more in property taxes. “This is insane,” he said of the rental adjustments. “Some landlords are making a lot of money. But a lot of small landlords are going to hell and back.”
There should be a compromise, but only if the two sides are on an equal footing. The fact is that while tenants who do not pay their monthly rent are evicted, nothing happens to landlords who frequently rack up housing violations. With my own building included, landlords are allowed to get off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist while they get to charge higher and higher rents.
Maybe if the Housing Authority took better action against negligent building owners, tenants would be more willing to pay the extra rent. I know that the City Council passed a bill to target slumlords, but it is up to the Authority to carry out the council's bark with an appropriate bite.
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