Tenant rights

I don't get why you're still renting there if you can do better elsewhere.

Stuck in lease with 2 month rent penalty to terminate early.
they have no leniency for tenants who have suffered job loss

Surprise. Real estate is a business. Renters need to realize they're paying for the privilege to live in someone else's building. It's that someone else who sets the terms. Don't like it? Find somewhere else to rent, or better yet, BUY.

SO move when your lease is up.

I will definitely get out of this building when my lease is up.

To nycmatt - the surprise, or rather, shock is when the landlord doesnt live up to his obligations for the "privilege" of allowing renters to live in his building. "Luxury" building - what a lie.
Unfortunately for Rose - they are finding this out hard way as tenants are leaving in an exodus. Hopefully they finally smell the coffee and get real

I'm sure there will be more tenants where those came from. There always are.

Yes - and stupid landlords dont realize that high turnover of tenants is more expensive than reasonable rent with long term tenants

in todays market, paying the 2 month penalty and getting 2 months free and a cheaper rent for an apartment seems like the thing to do. or buy :-).

"stupid landlords dont realize that high turnover of tenants is more expensive than reasonable rent with long term tenants"

Stupid or not, it's their building, and their decision how to run it.

Rightless --- here's a co-op owner's perspective on your list:

First, they implemented loud construction with no reimbursement to tenants for inconvenience. This included non-working elevators for 6 months - imagine the plight of tenants on high floors that go grocery shopping.

Big deal! Do you think we get a break on our maintenance fees when the building needs repairs or improvements? Hell no -- we get to listen to it AND we get to PAY FOR IT! My building replaced our elevators last year, and guess what -- we had ONE working elevator instead of two for 6 months too, AND, yup...WE GOT TO PAY FOR IT TOO! yaaay!

Second, they raised rents by 18% - unheard of in this market - even for long term (5+ years) tenants.

And what do you think happened when my building needed to comply with Local Law 11 (the one designed to keep OUR bricks from falling on YOUR head) -- we got a maintenance assessment -- a surcharge that bumped my maint up by around 15-20%! Yaaay!

Third, they allow several applications on the same apartment simultaneously - collecting the application fee for all - but clearly unable to rent more than one applicant.

What do you care? You're already a tenant right? But what do you think happens every time someone moves in or out of your building -- I can tell you -- the halls get trashed, the floors get trashed, the elevators get trashed and a whole boatload of money needs to be spent to cover all those repairs -- maybe the owners are just trying to offset all the money they shell out cleaning up their tenants' collective messes.

Fourth, replacement of non-working appliances takes 3-4 months.

You know what happens when one of MY appliances stops working? I get to go down to PC Richard and BUY A NEW ONE! yaaaay!

Fifth, they charge tenants a two month penalty to UPGRADE into a larger apartment in the same building -at a time when other landlords are discounting rents to prevent tenants form moving out!

Again, every time someones moves, it costs them money. Oh, wait I forgot, in your world, your landlord isnt running a business, he's running a charity -- he's supposed to GIVE you housing for free.

Now, one question for you -- how are doing saving up for you 20% downpayment so you can take advantge of the fact that real estate is going on sale soon? What, no downpayment saved yet? I thought so.

Good thought - ab_11218, am trying to find a breakeven or better deal now.

Of course its landlords decision to run it - but certain practices seem illegal - for example - is it legal to accept application fees from more than one applicant for the same apartment simultaneously?
Is it ethical to make tenants wait in a so-called luxury building for 3 months for appliance replacement?
Plenty of other unethical even if legal practices by this management

Is it legal for colleges and universities to accept application fees from more than 10,000 applicants every year for only 400 available slots?

I don't know exactly what is going on, but tenants usually have much more protection than do landlords. It is up to YOU, the tenant, to explore what recources you may have. Calling 311 might be a good start, but there are many websites, I am sure, where you can get a list of tenant rights. You appear to have a good reason to be compensated for some of the things you list, so you really should explore.

rightless, the landlord has lawyers to make sure they do nothing illegal.
Are you serious about being reimbursed for construction noise?
And yes, it is legal to collect application fee from multiple applicants. The fee goes toward the cost of checking them out (credit history, etc.)

Next go-round you'll know better than to think $3K or whatever for a one-bedroom means "luxury." It's just a word in an ad.

as far as the appliance repair/replacement. if it was my refrigerator or stove, i would have put money into an escrow account if it wasn't replaced within a week. luxury or no luxury building, there are basic amenities that the landlord must supply based on the lease.

West34 - for all the reasons you mentioned - basic math skills should demonstrate to you the value of low turnover - translation: reasonable rent and good maintenance

To others: there does not appear to be any legal recourse for tenants since many practices by this landlord are within the law - but not strictly ethical, EVEN considering co-op owners burdens - which by the way the Ellington is not (its only rentals).

Hence the point of the original email - maybe its time to change tenant-landlord laws.
Just as credit card laws are being changed now to protect the consumer

It's funny how quickly 'crazy' reveals itself.

Your experience seems atypical to me. How long-term of a tenant are you, what's your rent relative to market? Were you significantly below market before they raised your rent 18%? That's the only thing I can think of. Raise rents on those who are still way below market, and thus can't really go anywhere cheaper, in order to soften the blow from having to reduce rents on those whose initial lease began 2006-2008, most of whom could easily find other housing without 15+% rent reductions. (Rose is definitely doing the latter, based on what I'm hearing.)

Rent Stab & Rent control is why so many blds are co-op/condo in this city. Why? Cause in the 1980s, Ls wanted to get out of regulation, so they converted blds & in effect, "sold" the blds to the tenants.

Somxs, Landlord will pay extra to get rid of a troublesome tenant.

youcannot, what you say may be the reality in many people's minds, but that's not entirely true. If the construction took place OUTSIDE of the stipulated hours and the tenant kept on complaining about their enjoyment of the property, of course a tenant can sue.

Seriously, TENANTS HAVE A LOT OF RIGHTS, and it is much, much harder than people here are saying to get away being a slamlord. Are you sure you have examined all of your rights, Rightless_tenant, or have you just been searching casually on the Internet to get the answers???

A few tenants in my building got together and called couple of lawyers - but the fees and hassle to sue made them think leaving even with termination fee was better than suing - who needs this kind of management?
I'm leaning to that as well - but wonder if I will have similar experience elsewhere

I have been here 9 years - and recently management has become much more inflexible. I think what lad says is correct They are trying to raise their rent because it was initially maybe 5-10% lower than similar buildings in neighborhood - however without the maintenance level they offer

YOU DO NOT NEED REPRESENTATION for 99% of the landlord-tenant cases! Again, I must repeat: YOU, the tenant, have SO MANY RIGHTS going for you, and you get nothing if you don't speak up. If you do speak up, you are likely to be accommodated. Housing courts are extremely tenant-friendly.

Landlords have limited rights, and if my tenants take them to court, which is extremely tenant-friendly, landlords are likely to lose even if they are doing nothing unethical or nothing unkind. They may be the BEST landlord, but if someone takes them to court, chances are they'd lose out.

Do some homework!

will check out thanks nyc212!

"They may be the BEST landlord, but if someone takes them to court, chances are they'd lose out."

not true, depends on the facts of the case.

Why don't you just move? Sounds like a crappy building. Either pay the penalty or wait for lease to end.

"there does not appear to be any legal recourse for tenants since many practices by this landlord are within the law"

"This included non-working elevators for 6 months"

these two statements can not both be true. Non-working elevators for 6 months would be a reduction of services in any L&T courtroom in this city.

dwell:

I don't want to play semantics w/ you, but you cannot dispute the "fact" that housing courts are EXTREMELY tenant-friendly. Have you dealt w/ them?

Your suggestion that OP move is simply misguided.

Do you mean small claims court?
I have not checked them out yet but plan to - it seems like a hassle but might be worth it if they insist on penalty.
thanks for suggestions and insights

Not small claims court; L&T - Landlord/Tenant Court. At one point I used to joke that I wanted my tombstone to read "Here lies _____ _________; nice guy, never had to go to L&T". Unfortunately, that evaporated a long time ago. I've replaced it with "You know, there's this secret map which shows 111 Centre Street somehow lies physically outside of the continental United States. That's the only way to explain why the Laws of this country magically don't seem to apply in that building".

Rightless - If you are in a "C" line apartment (perhaps 21C?), we are interested in taking your lease.

I'm actually in Beijing at the moment, but my email is cliff@visigy.net

"I don't want to play semantics w/ you, but you cannot dispute the "fact" that housing courts are EXTREMELY tenant-friendly. Have you dealt w/ them?'

Totally agree w/ you nyc212.

""You know, there's this secret map which shows 111 Centre Street somehow lies physically outside of the continental United States. That's the only way to explain why the Laws of this country magically don't seem to apply in that building"."

Totally agree w/ you 30yr. It's Alice in Wonderland. RPAPL carries little weight.