Landlord group sues to overturn rent freeze

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A landlord association has filed a lawsuit against a city board that ordered a rent freeze on rent-stabilized apartments for one-year leases. 

The issue affects more than half of all rental apartments in the Bronx, which has the highest share of rent-stabilized units among the city’s boroughs. 

The city’s Rent Guidelines Board — which had never capped rent increases at less than 2 percent before Mayor Bill de Blasio took office at the start of 2014 — voted on June 27 this year to freeze rents for one-year leases for the second year in a row. The board also approved 2-percent rent increases for two-year leases — the lowest increase in the history of the board, which has been operating since 1969. 

The Rent Stabilization Association, a group of landlords and landlord activists, called the decision politically motivated. It filed a lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court on July 7. 

“Nowhere does the law provide that the RGB is supposed to consider the subject of affordability when determining rent guidelines,” Joseph Strasburg, president of the association said in a statement. “Affordability is an issue that should be addressed not by the RGB, but through government-sponsored rent relief subsidies to tenants actually in need.” 

Landlords argue that the board’s task was to adjust rent rates based on the cost of owning and operating a building, not on tenants’ needs.  

“The RGB, through the rent freeze, is inappropriately and unlawfully providing a rent subsidy to all tenants regardless of need,” the statement read. “The rent freeze is not based on need, but rather on the perceived inability of tenants to pay, and to accommodate de Blasio’s political agenda of gaining favor with a large segment of the city’s voting block.” 

Mr. de Blasio, who has made keeping rents low his key campaign and policy issue, appointed all nine members of the current board. 

But tenant groups, such as the Bronx-based Community Action for Safe Apartments, or CASA, argue that the 2-percent limit on rent increases for two-year leases does not go far enough. 

“We have been sustaining and maintaining landlords and raises for many years,” Carmen Vega-Rivera, a CASA spokesperson, said. “This year once again it was very clear that they did not warrant a rent increase.” 

Tenant groups called for a rent rollback after the financial crisis of 2008, she said, adding that she was still pleased the board decided to freeze rents, instead of approving a hike. 

“In the past, the Rent Guidelines Board did away with tenants hearings,” Ms. Vega-Rivera said. “Two years ago CASA and other groups said, ‘you can’t take us out of the process, don’t leave us out when, in fact, we do have a voice, we do have power.’” 

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz applauded the vote as well, calling it “a big victory for tenants.” 

“After many years of increases, some of which were significant increases, for the second year in a row the Rent Guidelines Board acted in a much more reasonable way,” he said. “I would have hoped, especially last year, that they actually roll back rents, considering the plummeting oil prices at the time.” 

“One thing I always emphasize is that although the increases for lease renewals are low at the moment, that doesn’t mean landlords are not getting increases,” Mr. Dinowitz said. Landlords still collect additional fees, such as surcharges for air conditioners and apartment renovations. 

A spokesperson for the landlords’ association rejected the significance of the drop in oil prices, arguing that it did not make up for increased property taxes and utilities fees. 

About 59 percent of all rental apartments in the Bronx are rent-stabilized, according to 2011 figures listed on the Rent Guidelines Board website. This compares to 45 percent in Manhattan, 43 percent in Brooklyn, 42 percent in Queens, and 15 percent in Staten Island. 

 

Rent Guidelines Board, Rent Stabilization Association, Anthony Capote

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