א פוליצער ארטיקל
- טאפ קוואליטי אינפארמעישאן
- הערליך מסביר געווען בטוב טעם ודעת
- צוטיילט די פאקטן און אנאליז-קאליר
- נוגע פאר "יעדן איינעם," נישט נאר די "רייכע"
פארוואס קענען היימישע צייטונגען נישט דעקן די רענט קאנטראל קריזיס "אזוי"?
אמאל געווען האט געשריבן:בס"ד
As a manager of a huge RS building in the Bronx, I see so many people here who don’t even understand the situation, therefore I’ve decided to write this article to clarify some points.
In the past 6 months NYC & NYS passed many new rules and regulations on the RE industry, here is a synopsis of the 50 most noteworthy laws. I’ve comment on that in Blue.
To simplify this, in the end I’m comparing it to a different industry i.e. Diamond’s, so you should understand the effect.
New NYS Rent law
Rent Stabilization:
1. There is no more vacancy decontrol of $2700.
This will mainly affect the high-income neighborhoods, no one spent this amount just to deregulate Apt’s in low income areas, since you cannot even rent a 5Br. In the Bronx for $2700, (typically goes for $2600) Are we obligated to provide affordable housing for the rich?
2. Tenants who received preferential rents can only be charged the preferential rent plus the applicable guidelines increase on the preferential rent on subsequent lease renewals. This remains for the remainder of the tenancy.
3. The look back period for rent overcharge complaints goes to six years from four years.
MCI & IAI
[/color]5. No more vacancy increases of 19%
6. Both Major Capital Improvements (MCI's) and Individual Apartment Improvements (IAI's) are temporary and expire after 30 years,
7. Tenant must consent in writing (if no tenant occupying, no consent required);
8. the landlord is permitted to recover 1/168th of the cost of the improvement in buildings with 35 or fewer units- and 1/180th the cost of the improvement in buildings with more than 35 units:
9. only $15,000 worth of cost may be recovered under this formula every 15 years.
10. No more than 3 increases over 15 years.
11. licensed contractors must be used. and records must be kept.
12. the collection of any increase will not exceed 2% in any year over the rent.
13. DHCR will set allowance for each item, regardless how much you spent.
• This eliminates the ability for proper renovation at vacancies, and will drastic lower the housing quality.
Typical turnover rehab cost at high-end units are $1-3000. While at the low-end units its $10-25,000. After not getting rent for 3 years, you need to invest 1 year of income to provide someone with free housing for another 3 years…
• This is, להלכה ולא למעשה even you can increase up to 1/168 it is capped by 2% of the rent which is $20 for each $1000. You can only recoup the full amount if tenant is paying $4200. (Until now RS apt were max $2700, so max increase is approx. $50) This is especially so, since you must use licensed contractor’s… Who is paying for licensed contractors to connect a stove, replace kitchen, painting, or to install a toilet? You can also not use any Corp related to the building if charging IAI I.e. a third-party management.
• They are setting amounts??? What if it’s a walkup or any unusual situation where labor is double?
• Bottom line you need to pay top dollar for this installation and getting back just $20-40 a month… what we used to get for a stove replacement, we cannot get for entire apt improvement.
• While the previous low allowed 1/40 which is $375. This $20-40 is in sum a decrease of 80-90%...
Market rental units
14. if the landlord intends to increase the rent more than 5% or to not renew the lease, the landlord must send notice of this intention:
if tenant has lived there for less than one year and does not have a lease term of at
least one year 30 days' notice;
if the tenant has lived there between one and two years or has a lease for one year but less than two 60 days' notice; o if the tenant has lived there
more than two years or has a lease term of at least two years 90 days' notice.
Rent Receipts:
15. If a tenant pays in cash, or any payment form other than personal check, Landlord/Agent authorized to receive rent must give a receipt:
16. If a tenant requests, in writing, a receipt for payment made by check, this will be considered an ongoing request and a receipt must be given for all payments made during the tenancy.
17. If the payment is made in person, a receipt must be given immediately, if not, within 15 Days of your receiving the payment.
• Why aren’t their employer’s (who paying them the cash) required to document that?
• Another expense why not.
New 5-day Notice:
18. If you fail to receive rent by the 5 th day after it is due under the lease, you must send the tenant a written notice by certified mail stating you failed to receive such rent payment. Failure to send this notice may be used as an affirmative defense in a non-payment proceeding.
• Why are we required to send 5day notice, while we are not even required to send rent bills by law?
• Why aren’t the banks or the DOF required to do so if mortgage or tax are late, in order to foreclose a property?
• Pity groceries are not regulated like this… after all food are very important for the poor. No????
• From the $15 increase you can get a year you must spend $4 a month to send this notice...
• Most rent assistance programs are not paying in the first 5 days (LINC is paying several checks by the end of the month)
• This is completely unprecedented, should this be the standard in all industries no would pay their bills… I cannot believe that all law makers knew about it, nobody talks about it. Simply rude...
Nonpayment Proceedings:
19. Rent demands must be in writing.
Lucky no need to write with blood...
20. Tenants must be provided 14 days’ notice on a rent demand instead of 3 or 5 days’ notice.
21. Tenant's must answer a petition within 10 days instead of 5 days.
22. No other charges, including legal fees, may be sought in a non-payment proceeding.
23. Every adult in the apartment must be named in the petition.
• This added 14 days makes no difference with the new eviction guidelines.
• What if tenant brings a friend to the apt, do we need to put in a camera?
Holdover Proceedings:
24. The return date must now be between 10 and 17 days after filing.
25. Courts have the authority to grant up to one-year to vacate as opposed to six-months for a tenant to vacate, if you cannot find a new school for your kids, or cannot find similar apt.
Again, after 24. 25 makes no difference.
I heard someone on KM explaining the benefit of this that the tenant most pay the entire balance to get this extension. He is misinformed for 2 reasons,
1. Under current law every tenant must pay the balance at first adjournment, in fact; now one is getting it, I’m asking for it every time, judges ignoring this law.
2. At a nonpayment proceeding, how can you still evict if tenant pay the balance? So its only at holdovers.
Adjournments:
26. If the first adjournment request by a tenant/occupant is to seek counsel, then we are no longer allowed to request a payment of use & occupancy on the second adjournment request.
27. Any requests for use & occupancy must be made by motion
Warrants:
28. Evictions will only remove people named in the warrant. All occupants must be named in the petition (holdover or non-pay).
29. Marshals must provide a marshal notice with 14 days’ notice instead of 6 days’ notice.
30. You cannot evict if there is any open HPD violation in the unit or in common areas.
• Basically, a tenant can avoid eviction by bringing a friend over at the time of eviction… makes evictions impossible. (But the bad landlords, ha?)
• They can just remove the smoke detector and call 311 to issue a violation, and refuse access for landlord to correct (you can spend $2000 for an Access holdover if you want)
Late Fees:
31. Late fee cannot be charged unless rent is more than 5 days late.
32. Late fee can only be 5% of the rent or $50.00, whichever is less.
Security Deposits
33. Limited to 1 month rent.
Typical alternative for people with low score to get approved was to pay another month, now no one will accept them…
34. Tenant entitled to pre-move in inspection.
35. If either party notifies the other of the intention to terminate the tenancy, landlord to notify the tenant in writing of the tenant's right to a move out inspection no earlier than two weeks and no later than one week before the end of the tenancy.
36. If condition exists, tenant may cure prior to end of tenancy.
37. Within 14 days of tenant vacating, landlord shall provide an itemized statement indicating basis for the amount of security deposit retained.
Credit/Background checks:
38. You can only charge a prospective tenant the cost of the credit/background check or $20.00, whichever is less.
39. You cannot use prospect tenants L&T history to reject them.
40. A copy of the credit/background check with a copy of the invoice must be provided to the potential tenant in order to collect the fee.
41. The fee will be waived if the potential tenant provides a copy of a background/credit check conducted in the last 30 days.
• Why is the credit bureau authorized to collect L&T data, if not to use it?
• Basically, even you know that this tenant didn’t pay rent for the last 20 years, you must accept them… you cannot even reject a person who derived you in court for 3 years.
NYC Rules
Buyouts
42. Required disclosures by persons making buyout offers.
In relation to the disclosure of information regarding buyout agreements [requires that owner disclose to tenant, as part of buyout offer: 1) the median market rate rent of a comparable unit in the neighborhood as determined by HPD, and 2) the number of months of such rent that the proposed buyout sum would cover].
43. Filing information regarding buyout agreements.
This bill would require that, where owners of apartments enter into "buyout agreements" with their tenants, the owners must electronically submit certain information about the terms of the agreement to HPD within 90 days of execution.
Building permits
44. Denying residential building permits with excessive violations.
This bill would require the DOB to deny a building permit when a building of fewer than 35 units has an average of at least three open, immediately hazardous or hazardous housing maintenance code violations or immediately hazardous or major construction code violations per unit, or, when a building has 35 units or more, it has an average of at least two open, immediately hazardous or hazardous housing maintenance code violations or immediately hazardous or major construction code violations per unit.
45. Providing residents with copies of notices of violations.
This bill would require owners of residential buildings to provide copies of any notice of violation issued against a property to the residents of that property. For a violation in a common area or that affects all residents, the owner would be required to post a copy of the notice of violation conspicuously in the lobby. For a violation in an occupied unit, the owner would be required to distribute a copy of the notice of violation to residents of each adjacent unit.
46. Denying permits for occupied buildings.
This bill would deny permits for 1 year for a building following a determination that a false statement about the occupancy status was made on a construction application for that building. The bill would also deny permits for 1 year for a building following a determination that work was conducted without a permit while such building was occupied.
47. Landlords must provide tenants with four years rent history.
This bill would require owners of multiple dwellings to obtain the previous four years rent history from the DHCR for each dwelling unit, if available, and provide such information to the current tenant of each such dwelling unit.
Certificate of no harassment
48. This is still a pilot program on selected buildings, but will be fully implemented in 2 years. Requires building owners to get a certificate of non-harassment in order to obtain building permits.
• This will backfire in my opinion. I personally know an 8-unit building which had a gas explosion, HPD ordered everyone to vacate, the owner wants to file Alt 1 to convert it into 23 units, he cannot even get a permit to demolish the building because he cannot get a non-harassment. (go find the tenants from 3 years ago) ...ירעה עד שיסתאב
• There is no way to protect from harassment claim, I had a tenant once who claimed harassment in court because I sent her certified letters for access (she said its blackmailing) while this is the only way to start access holdover legally, but when a HPD regulator calls up a tenant they can claim harassment for non-sense
49. IPM (integrative pest management)
Property owners are required to annually inspect units for visible mold, mice, cockroaches, and rats
(indoor allergen hazards) and to correct these conditions using the safe work practices as specified in Local Law 55
While inspecting the units I notice many self-made holes in the walls, but we are required to clean after them.
50. Mold
Requires the use of two independent licensed professionals (mold remediators and mold assessors) when a property owner of a building with 10 or more units is addressing mold over 10 square feet (whether or not the work is done pursuant to a violation). In addition, the person holding a mold remediation license is required to file the Mold Remediation Work Plan with the NYC Department of Environmental Protection. The person holding a mold assessment license is required to file a Post-Remediation Assessment Form and Mold Post-Remediation Certification with DEP as well. The mold contractors should provide you with these filing receipts and you are required to submit them when certifying an HPD violation correction.
Ever knew that mold is more harmful in a more than 10 dwelling building? Say it clear, because you are earning more money, give it to me….
51. Bedbugs
Owners of multiple dwellings are required to electronically file a Bedbug Annual Report for all dwelling units on an annual basis with HPD. The filing receipt must either be posted in a common area, or be provided to tenants upon lease renewal or commencement of a new lease.
52. Stove Knob Covers
Owner of a multiple dwelling or a tenant-occupied co-op or condo must provide stove knob covers for gas powered stoves where the owner knows or reasonably should know that a child under six years of age resides. In addition, the owner is required to provide tenants with an annual notice regarding the installation of stove knob covers.
• How far do we need to go for to keep their children’s safe? Why aren’t we required to pay health insurance for them, after all most sickness happens in your apt.
• Are we responsible for their children’s behavior?
53. Self-Closing Doors
Starting June 13th, 2019, failure to maintain self-closing doors as required will constitute an immediately hazardous violation (Class C) and will result in emergency repairs being conducted by HPD if the property owner fails to comply within 21 days and certifies the correction to HPD timely. The property owner will be billed for the repairs. If the owner fails to pay, the City will file a tax lien against the property. The tax lien will bear interest and may be sold and/or foreclosed to collect the amount owed. In addition, the property owner may also incur civil penalties related to the failure to comply.
54. Lead-Contaminated Dust
As of June 11th, 2019, any clearance dust tests taken must meet the new clearance standards listed below to ensure that no lead-based paint dust remains. Lead-related dust threshold levels have been reduced as follows:
Area Current
Standards New
Standards
Floors 40 mcg/ft2 10 mcg/ft2
Window Sills 250 mcg/ft2 50 mcg/ft2
Window Wells 400 mcg/ft2 100 mcg/ft2
• This is insulting, we spent at every vacancy, thousands to comply with the current Lead laws to provide safe and healthy living. Now all this effort Is worthless, we need to re-do every unit….
• Is the lead more dangerous in 2019?
There is another few points nobody touched.
• While rents are capped by 1.5% increases, tax will still be raised every year with no limit, by the end of the game the city will earn the entire profit.
• All increases we were entitled to, has barley effected the low-income tenants, since every tenant with any rent assistants program (sec 8, HPD, LINC, Fehps, etc.) Will still pay just 30% off their income, regardless how high the rent is.
• While I understand the political pressure they had to get their voters, they could get them with passing just 1 of those 50 rules, now that they destroyed the market, and no one will blame them when it will crash (just the rich landlords) and or if landlords will win in court, they will have to revise the law, they will end up being losers in their voter’s eyes.
• The increase in homeless are not caused by landlords, it is because of the following.
1. NYCHA mismanaged properties
2. Growth in population
3. The ability to get housing assistance when you are in shelter. My tenants telling me clearly that they went to shelter just to get LINC subsidies, which is the best paying program funded by HRA, they got a voucher after 2 weeks there (not a bad idea instead of going for sec 8, 3 hours away, there is a shelter on keap st. and Union Ave. Walking distance to Williamsburg)
• I’m managing a RS building in the Bronx, over the last year we spent $500k for building improvement, which we recouped via IAI and MCI, the tenants keep on saying how happy they are that someone is caring for them, even though they are paying a bit more rent.
• At a turnover; since it was built in 1900 with a backdated electrical system (no panel box, just 1 outlet in a room) I used to install brand new electric system in every apt, which is a cost of a few thousand dollars, besides what we need to break all walls for that. Or doing new floors… etc... Instead of installing new appliances I will give used ones, and will think twice before spending a dollar. Why should I?
[list=]Let’s compare it to Diamond’s
1. You can only charge 1.5% markup, regardless your input.
2. You must document Cash sales……
3. If someone is not paying more than 5 days, or if a Mechiten took a sample and is not returning it after 5 days, you must send a notice with certified mail. otherwise the balance is waived. (good idea for תקנות)
4. If transection is more than $2000, you must pay double % sales tax.
5. If client don’t have from where to pay, you must give 1-year extension.
6. If you did improvements to the stone, the city will tell you how much you can charge for your labor.
[/list]
Bottom line….
Think before you speak!!
מילה בסלע שתיקה בתרין!!
