Rental Lease - Rent Stabilization Question

Don't take the broker's word for it - check the rent regulation database. Do a google search, you can search by building, lot number, and unit.

vermin are popping out everywhere.

Where does this rent regulation database can be checked online?

classic!
if this is "your" broker working with your best interest at heart and can get you a lease for $100 less then why didn't he get you that better deal in the first place?
and why is HE pocketing the difference ($100x12=$1200)?
i say tell him to at least split the difference and give him $600 only.
that is, if you are sure you would want to renew in a year anyway!

If it's rent stabilized, there is a current official maximum that the landlord can charge. If he chooses to charge less, it's called a "preferential rent". I believe that a court ruling allows a landlord to ignore preferential rents for lease renewals and future tenants, and resume the rent based on what the official maximum would be. (I might have some details of this wrong, and a court ruling in one borough won't necessarily apply in another, because NYC is split into two different higher courts [I might have that wrong, too].

So ask around some more, but to me it sounds like you should pay the higher rent, not pay the extortionate added fee, and then after you're nicely settled in your new apartment, contact DHCR to find out what the correct rent should be. If it's less than you're paying, you have a couple of years or so to sue for treble damages (if it's worth your while).

Yes, I found the building on this list:

http://www.housingnyc.com/downloads/resources/sta_bldngs/DHCR2007-Manhattan.pdf

Well, this is via craigslist so he's not really 'my broker'. The apt is def worth the price I am paying for it though.

From what I'm hearing, I am basically paying a broker's fee for finding the place this first year (12x$100). If I say no to this deal, would he even be able to write the lease up for the higher price? I'm guessing he wouldn't give me the place as he wouldn't be allowed to write the lease up at the original agreed upon price.

Thanks alanhart. So he could just be giving me a preferential rent this first year and then the owner can jack it up back to what it should be next year. In this case, I would just be losing the time value of the money I paid up front ($1200*interest%) which would be fairly small.

Does anyone know if there is an online resource that shows the max prices for rent stabilized apartments? This seems like key info (is it x or x-$100 in my case). Maybe I'll ask the broker to see this.

(sorry for all the posts).

This is an interesting comment from the gov website, considering that my original agreed upon rent was over $2000 and my deal rent was under $2000:

>>>>>>>>>>>>
However, not all apartments in these buildings are necessarily rent stabilized. For an apartment to be stabilized it must:

* Have had a rent of less than $2,000, if one initially moved into the apartment in 1993 or later.
>>>>>>>>>>>>

Am I reading into this too much?

I don't think there's an easy source to find out the correct rent for a particular apartment, or whether that apartment is still rent-stabilized (the list you posted just shows whether the building has any rent-stabilized apartments; it could be a mix).

If he's not really a broker, it could be a greater scam. Use ACRIS http://www.nyc.gov/html/dof/html/jump/acris.shtml to find out the name of the landlord/company that owns the building, and be sure that he or an authorized agent is drawing up the lease. In other words, just who is this person on CL and what is his relationship with the LL? If could be an outright scam, meaning you will never get the keys to the place, or it could be a glorified illegal sublet, without landlord's consent and (for as long as it lasts) knowledge.

Hmmm--illegal sublet rings a bell. The apartment is currently rented by someone affiliated with the company I am working with. She is moving out shortly.

alanhart is 90% close
The broker is talking about a preferential rent. But the maximum base rent is still listed with the DHCR (Dept of Housing and Community Renewal). The next year's (or 2 if you have a 2 year lease) maximum base rent is based on the current maximum base rent. The owner can continue to charge you below the maximum.
As for where the amount is, unfortunately you won't be able to find it. Until you become a tenant, you aren't entitled to the records from the state. And the actual amount is almost whatever the landlord can get away with, between the vacancy increase and then the improvements which are hard (no one ever does) to verify.

Because the bldg. is rent stablized doesn't mean the apartment you're renting is...i'm currently renting in a rent stablized bldg but, unfortunately, my apartment is fair market value.

Also, as far as the lease form, since alanhart mentioned that. Rent stabilized leases come on a specific state mandated form. You'll get a yellow copy. You will not be signing a REBNY or Blumberg lease. The landlord can put riders on the lease, but the basic form is specifically mandated by law.

gleeclub is right about the DHCR being he agency that can give the last four years of rent registered by the LL if you are a tenant but perhaps you could call them for more info

http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/dhcr/dhcr26.html

Both the preferential rent and the legal rent must be on the lease or the landlord will be screwed. Confirm this by calling the rent stabilization association. So if the landlord only puts the preferentail rent on the lease you'll be protected. Is this a relatively new building? If yes, then the apartment is stabilized because its receiving a property tax break and the $2000 limit is irrelevent. Stabilization will end when the tax break does. This also has to be in the lease.

Lots of correct info here, in bits and pieces. As flatironj says, if you are getting preferential rent on a rent stabilized apartment, there is actually a form which needs to state that you are getting preferential rent, and what the actual MBR is. If that's not there, then the rent is what's on the lease, rent stabilized. But also, it it is rent stabilized because of the owner getting a tax credit, there's another rider which has to be added to state so as a warning to you, or else when the tax abatement expires, you will still be RS ( a whole bunch of landlords learned this the hard way when their J-51's expired in the 80's and tried to raise rents to market and the court ruled that since they had not been informed that their RS status would disappear when the tax abatement did, it didn't).

re:"Because the bldg. is rent stablized doesn't mean the apartment you're renting is...i'm currently renting in a rent stablized bldg but, unfortunately, my apartment is fair market value." Either the unit is over $2,000 or the MBR is over $2,000 with a preferential rent rider. units in buildings 6 units or larger, built before (what is it? 1969?) are rent stabilized unless the starting rent is over $2,000. If the rent goes over $2,000 a month later, then it gets means tested and if your income is too high, you lose RS status.

I won't repeat what gleeclub said, just agree that it's correct, and add that what that means is that the LL can charge you any amount up to the MBR (inlcuding the mandated increases for renewal) on any renewal. So if you are getting preferential rent, it can disappear pretty much at will of the LL (but not in the middle of an existing lease, only on a lease renewal). In other words, the broker is FOS about only being able to raise the rent 3% off the preferential rent (and I don't know how they come up with 3%, because even if they only raise it what the Rent Guidelines Board picks for renewal rates, no one know what next years rates are going to be till they get chosen next year).

re:"The landlord can put riders on the lease, but the basic form is specifically mandated by law." I do no think this is correct. As far as i know, the only riders the LL can add are the riders I described above about preferential rent and tax abatements 9there may be more, but they would all be state mandated riders, not the LL's). As far as I know, NO changes to the Rent Stabilized Lease Form are allowed, period. Think about it: if you were allowed to add riders to it, and riders override what's in the body of the lease, it would sort of moot the concept of having to use a fixed RS form Lease (also a nitpick: many people use the Blumberg RS lease form, so it is or can be a Blumberg form, it's just the one which matches word for word the State mandated form).

I'm missing some of the points, but i will add that if the broker is telling you "if we put $100 less on the lease", it means the LL is willing to take $100 less rent whether or not you give him a nickel, right? Sounds like her knows what the LL's bottom line is and is trying to get extra money out of you instead of either passing it along to the LL or giving you the discount. Change your offer to $100 less for the first year without paying him any extra.

So if the landlord has tax credits that expire in say 2020, the still cannot raise rents above the preferential rent+allowable increases EVEN IF you make over $175k/the rent is over $2000, unless they are prepared to loose the tax credits for the whole building, correct? This is how so many fancy brand new buildings with really high rents are still "rent stabilized". Its the tax credits, no?

Jason, yes. But it's not tax credits, it's a real property tax abatement under SEction 421-A of the NYS Real Property Tax Law. And, tghey cannot elect to get out of rent stab until the abatement is done.

Ok, because I am over the income limit yet have found a few brand-new "rent stabalized" places in harlem, and did not want to move in if they could raise my rent because of income. But the leasing agent said they would loose the "tax credit." But I see 421-a mentioned in the documents, so I assume the agent is mixing that up. Thanks.