Illegal Market Rent Apartment

Your friend should really find and talk to a good tenant lawyer immediately. There's a four-year "lookback" period that applies in some situations like this, but possibly not others, and the whole thing was (a few years ago) back and forth in the courts. I don't know how or if it was resolved.

The very idea that there's a statute of limitations for improper decontrol is outrageous, and only tempts bloodsucking landlords to see what they can get away with.

Turn up the treble!

This is a tough situation. Your "friend" is obviously part of the 2%, making $200K per year, and of course he or she entered into an arms-length contract at a price that he believed was fair given the market alternatives. There is no way your "friend" can show he was harmed. Today, for your 2 percenter to be looking at laws intended to protect the middle class - the 30-70% - as a way for him to manage a windfall at the expense of a small time landlord who is probably unfairly tarnished by people who don't know better, people who just throw out the term "bloodsucker" without even knowing anything about the landlord. This is really what is wrong with New York. My hope is that if your friend does contact an attorney, that any monies won or windfall settlements received will be donated to the people that these rent laws were intended for.

My friend feels the 3500 he is paying is FAIR - he just wants to stay in the apartment and not be kicked out with 30 days notice - he doesnt care about any windfall...he likes the apartment and wants to stay - the landlord is being greedy and could care less about him........the landlord is not being very nice - they are warehousing apartments in order to sell or perhaps something else.......of course the landlord is entitled to that BUT If this apt was illegally removed from rent stabilization then thats another story..

Landlord is permitted a 20% vacancy increase, which would have automatically increased rent to $1,800 from $1,500 without any work. The landlord would have needed to do an additional $8,000 in renovation work (1/40th can be charged back per month) to get the rent up to $2,000 to destabilize.

I thought destabilization was now at 2500?

I think what is meant is "couldn't care less". Unless the landlord is a supersympathizer, rather than a bloodsucking parasite as in fact they all are.

FirstTimerNYC, you're right. it was increased to $2500 in 2012.

This is simple. Friend is either a month to month tenant/holdover tenant from an expired lease, or has a current lease expiring with a 30 days' notice provision. Or, I suppose, renter has no written lease at all, which would be illegal in New York State if the agreed lease term is one year or more.

So, call the moving truck. I recommend All Star Moving and Storage.

One thing I'll never get used to in New York City: People are renters, and after they've been there, in this case only 2 years, they think they have some vague right to occupancy of the apartment regardless of what the real owner plans.

Landlord can be greedy, nasty or smell bad, she still owns the place and the renter does not. That's the deal with renting. Rent control or stabilization complicates things for sure, and gives many rights to the renter that are unusual compared with the rest of the USA, but--the essential reality remains.

So in NYC, a landlord gives notice, and the tenant immediately digs into records to see if there is any way they can avoid that. But you are holding a lease in your hand, renter and landlord. It's a contract, and you signed it, and you are both bound by it, most of the time.

BTW I used to be a bloodsucking landlord. I lost money and closed up shop. I was a good and generous landlord, always tried to do right by my tenants, and they all liked me. But if anybody thinks it's easy to make real profit as a landlord, they obviously haven't tried it.

How can you be a bloodsucker if you lose money? Is it because the owner has expenses subject to the market, but the other side of the equation has no market responsibilities? Or is it because you paid too much and had poor planning on the expenses?

One thing I'll never get used to in New York City: People are renters, and after they've been there, in this case only 2 years, they think they have some vague right to occupancy of the apartment regardless of what the real owner plans."

It's the typical NYC entitlement mentality.

Renters think their apartments are "theirs". They are not. They are BORROWING that space -- in exchange for an agreed-upon monthly rental that will eventually end.

You can look down your nose at owners all you want -- cite chapter and verse, spinning numbers from here to infinity showing what a poor "investment" real estate is -- but at the end of the day, owners enjoy the biggest benefit, even if it comes at a premium: OWNERSHIP.

A renter is a renter is a renter and at the end of THEIR day, will always be living in someone else's home.

Land is just earth -- one of the essential elements. Nobody can own the elements. What's next: owning the air? owning the water, or the fire? Owning the buildings. It's all so ridiculous.

The right to continued occupancy of an apartment, however, by owning a legally-protected tenancy, however ... not an element, but a business/legal transaction, with solid ownership of the tenancy. And that's that.

Matt, come on. I don't necessarily disagree with you about a two year resident, but you have been in NYC long enough tho know we have a long standing tradition of long term residency in rental apartments. Yes, it may be the result of rent regulations but it has also meant that New Yorkers truly DO think of their apartments as their home. They often make significant capital investments and improvements, better grade appliances, built in storage, upgraded baths etc. All undertaken at their own expense. I can't tell you how many times my parents had the floors redone, built new closets and made other improvements that must have added up to thousands of dollars, a very substantial sum then especially for them. I realize that with deregulation, gentrification and the influx of non-New Yorkers, this may be changing and the days of the 50 year + rental occupancy may be over. But if it is, its another nail in the coffin of traditional New York life.

Matt is of course ridiculous, but this is a 2 year resident we are talking about. Rent regs are for New Yorkers, people who are the community and contribute to the community. Not takers who come from places like Tacoma, Washington or West Virginia and get free educations and steal from the taxpayer, or people who come from places like Pennsylvania that are plentiful with union jobs of their own and take New York union jobs with triple quadruple overtime simply because their sleep cycles are disrupted.
NativeRestless, your parents sound like real New Yorkers, as were mine.

I'm currently in the process of processing thirty Christmas gifts for poor kids through a NYC charity program. My daughter and I regularly volunteer at a soup kitchen. Etc. How do you contribute? By being a stereotypically obtuse asshole?

What do you DO? Other than troll relentlessly? What are your accomplishments? If any.

How can you lose money as a landlord? Let me count the ways. The biggest thing in my case was Black Swans, events you really can't predict that change everything. The Great Recession was very hard on tenants.

Wow, where did aboutready come from? Back from vacation just in time for Thanksgiving?
Nobody even called your name and yet here you are talking about your 30 Christmas gifts (that seem to take a whole month for you to "process"). Charity is supposed to be about others, not about yourself aboutready. Where did you even get the money to "process" these gifts?

If I die with somewhat less net worth because I owned my home instead of renting my home, that's just fine with me. We rented in a beautiful high rise that ran like a Swiss watch, but I don't think I really fully exhaled for a whole year. LOVE our condo :)

> Wow, where did aboutready come from? Back from vacation just in time for Thanksgiving?

In town for a few days before Christmas vacation no doubt

HOW do you contribute, troll? WHAT do you do? You have zero credibility. You offer nothing, you only troll.

It seems odd that aboutready is taking this thread about an illegal market rate apartment and trying to change the subject. We know her biases on this subject, though I find it particularly offensive that she tries to turn the thread into such self promotion, how charitable she claims she is, or maybe rather that she claims she is in "process" to be.

All I want to know is what YOU do. I find you offensive on every level and I was wondering if you could provide something proving that you're not wholly awful but I see you can't. What do YOU contribute, troll?

Aboutready, you don't seem thankful. Can it really be that bad for you?

Just answer the question. What do YOU contribute?

Will the answer to that question really help YOU be a better person? Will it help YOU be more grateful? More gracious? Less selfish?

Just answer the question, tool. You've shown no signs of selflessness, gratefulness, graciousness, zero. Just answer the question. Justify yourself, because you seem like the biggest narcissistic tool here.

Aboutready, it seems you need another vacation. This is a civil message board, you can state your observations, but you should not be name calling - tool, etc. Go away, say farewell for a while and come back when you can talk with adults.

Answer the question. Tool.

Aboutready. Hush and behave. Nobody asked for your opinion.

Nobody has ever asked for your opinion. Answer the question.

Come now aboutready. You can't ask for an answer but not an opinion. I'm a New Yorker, my opinion comes with everything.
And seriously, can I really suggest you take a break?

No. Not until you do. You're relentless and clearly oblivious as well. And I'm asking for something factual, as you do all the time, not an opinion. Maybe you're too stupid to understand?

squeal, scratch, claw, wimper

Lame.

Indeed aboutready. So really, isn't it time you take a break? Maybe head off on your vacation a bit early?

If anyone is in apparent need of a vacation it's you. Sorry you can't afford one.

lawyer, psychiatrist, and now financial advisor. Boy aren't you diverse.

Again though, aboutready, when you get like this, well, you have a history of things ending badly. Maybe cut it out for a little while?

what are you?

Boy aren't you diverse."
..."boy" is a white racist term.

When I get like "this"? Like what? Like I don't care? That seems to bother you, not me. You have the need to continually bring me into the conversation even if I'm gone for long periods of time. Seek help.

Just answer the question. What do you do? What fuels your narcissistic notions of superiority?

When you get like that.
Right there.
You see now?

Look inward. Answer the question.

To humor you, I looked inward, and as I expected, I didn't see you.

I'm sure you didn't see much of anything.

Aboutready, I found where you got a refund on your 99c bananas: http://streeteasy.com/talk/discussion/35459-amazonfresh-delivering-groceries
and then there was this from Ben Edelman and Harvard, who was upset he overpaid by $4, and wanted treble damages, just like your windfall: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/12/hbs-professor-fails-to-bully-restaurant.html

No. You're an idiot.

Don't you want your $12?

What did you see when you looked inward? Bile?

Believe it or not, as a human with a digestive system, I do have bile. Does your digestive system have wires or hydraulics?