By: Adam Leitman Bailey & Dov Treiman January 30th, 2008 Recent case law demonstrates that buyers of residential property with rent-regulated units have been blind-sided by financial risks arising from their attorneys’ ignorance of rent regulatory laws. Although many of these cases go unreported, the recent decision of Newport Partners v. DHCR,1 is typical of Full Article…
How To Overcome Tenant Resistance To An MCI Application
By: Adam Leitman Bailey & Dov Treiman September, 2014 Part I: How To Overcome Tenant Resistance To An MCI Application I. General Overview Major Capital Improvement Increases (MCI’s) are a concept that parties can contract for if they are not subject to rent regulation. However, generally speaking, unregulated residential tenants rarely do contract for them. Full Article…
How to Use A Tenants’ Association to Defeat an MCI Application
I. General Overview Major Capital Improvement Increases (MCI’s) are a concept that parties can contract for if they are not subject to rent regulation. However, generally speaking, unregulated residential tenants rarely do contract for them. They are therefore, in a practical sense, uniquely belonging to the world of rent regulation and are a means whereby Full Article…
Q & A: Individual Meters In a Rental Building, The New York Times, Jay Romano
By Adam Leitman Bailey November 13th, 2009 Q. Our landlord is installing individual electric meters in each apartment in our building, which has a mixture of regulated and nonregulated tenants. Each tenant will be paying for his or her own electricity, but at a lower-than- normal rate because of the large total consumption. Is this Full Article…
Q & A: Raising Rents in Hardship Cases, The New York Times, Speakers: Jay Romano
December 2nd, 2010 Q. A number of rent-regulated apartments are for sale in a New York City condominium building. Several of the tenants pay less in rent than the combined common charge and real estate tax on their apartments, creating a negative cash flow. What are the chances that a new owner could get a Full Article…
Landlord Protections Make for Stronger Lease Agreements, Real Estate Weekly, Speakers: Dina Chadi
By Dina Chadi September 21st, 2011 The primary purposes of a residential lease agreement are threefold: (1) to designate the amount of rent, (2) to declare rights and remedies between landlord and tenant, and (3) to declare the landlord’s obligations and remedies in case of a default by the tenant. Most lease agreements are standardized Full Article…
Q & A: Are Landlords Really Responsible for Con-Ed’s Inability to Provide Power
Q: Are you saying that whenever a rent regulated tenant loses power because of a widespread power outage that the tenant is entitled to a rent abatement? A: It has nothing to do with rent regulation. It’s all about the warranty of habitability. As to a power outage, it depends on the duration. For a Full Article…
Q & A: Losing a Bike Storage Spot, The New York Times
August 23rd, 2013 Q. I am a rent-stabilized tenant in a Manhattan condominium building. I have had a storage spot for my bicycle for 25 years — since before the building went condo. The board of managers has now taken away the storage spots for all of the two dozen rent-stabilized tenants in the building. Full Article…