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We sublet a rent stabilized unit in the East Village. Legal sublet, we pay rent directly to the landlord. The original lease is our families name. My understanding is that once the apartment reaches the $2000/$175,000 marker, it is market value. My question is does anyone know would it be $175,000 of the lease holder's income or the legal sublet?

Ms. Barbara Ross c/o Brian Lehrer

We live in a converted condo which was a Mitchell-Lama rental until five years ago. Our rent has almost tripled in that time and is now close to market. How might the J-51 arrangement or participation in it affect our rent at this time, if at all?

Any suggestions as to whom or where we can go to
get help.

Thank you.

[Correction]

In Cambridge after the roll-back of rent regulation, average rents rose from $1,100 (in 1994) to around $1,700 (in 1996). One caveat: Both Cambridge and Boston's vast student population tends to distort the market somewhat--more than would be the case in New York City, anyway.

( cont'd.)

Most of the large cities in California (San Francisco, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Oakland, Berkley, Beverly Hills, San Jose) as well as Washington, D.C. and many towns in New Jersey and Maryland also have rent controlled (or stabilized) housing. [3-4]

Another interesting case study is that of the cities of Boston and Cambridge, where rent control guidelines were rolled back in 1994. The result? The median monthly rent for a 2BR apartment nearly doubled: from $882 to about $1,600--in just one year! In Cambridge, average rents rose from $1,163 in 1994 to in 1996. [5]

1. Met Council rent control fact sheet (www.metcouncil.net/factsheets/rentcontrol.htm)
2. Times Topics (Rent Control and Stabilization), topics.nytimes.com
3. NYC Rent Guidelines Board (www.housingnyc.com)
3. California Department of Consumer Affairs, 2005
4. National Multi-Housing Council (www.nmhc.org)
5. "When Rent Control Vanishes," NYT, June 15, 2003

These CATO-esque proponents of rent stabilization decontrol, for the most part, don't appear to know what they're talking about. For starters, in New York City most rent controlled tenants are elderly. [1]

All of my artist/actor/writer friends who are lucky enough to be living in rent stabilized (I only know one person who actually lives in a rent controlled apartment and, not unlike Congressman Charles Rangel (who last year was reported to be living in FOUR rent stabilized apartments!), he is a multi-millionaire and surely doesn't need this sort of living assistance.) would not be able to live anywhere near New York City to pursue their creative lives and careers. Is this the sort of city we want to live in?

Just last month, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn observed that the affordable housing problem in the city has continued to deteriorate.

It's also important to distinguish between rent control and rent stabilization: there are approximately 50,000 rent controlled apartments in the five boroughs; by contrast, there are nearly one million rent stabilized units (approximately 47% of the city's rental housing. Once the rent reaches $2,000 a month, however (annual increases on the order of 4-7% are typically approved by the NYC Rent Guidelines Board that governs the stock of rent stabilized apartments in the city), the unit generally no longer qualifies for rent stabilization. [2-3]

Many rigorous studies have been done over the years that model where average rents would "settle" if rent control and rent stabilization were phased out. (But you'll have to look them up as I don't have then on hand just now.)

Neither is rent control/stabilization unique to New York City. A total of 51 municipalities in New York State alone have some form of rent control. Apart from Gotham, these include including Albany, Buffalo and various cities, towns, and villages in Albany, Erie, Nassau, Rensselaer, Schenectady and Westchester Counties. [2]

"Do away with these laws and most renters will ultimately benefit."

I agree with the previous post. Following the logic of these rent stabilization laws we should extend price stabilization to other necesseties like groceries, clothing, restaurants etc.

I saw a newsletter for real estate agents in the West Village. There was a article about specific methods to force vacancy decontrol.

Price controls do more harm than good. Rent control creates an arbitrary system that favors some people over others, encourages gaming the system, and contributes to the overall housing shortage.

Can you speak to the rights of tenants who live in an 8 unit brownstone on a block in the West Village where similar buildings have been selling for $25 million? If the building is sold to an owner who wants to occupy the entire building as a single family home, do we have any protection against this?

Over the last ten years, each person I have come across that possesses rent stabl/control are architects, filmmakers, doctors, and designers. All made over 40,000 a year and were not supporting extended families. As someone who makes roughly 20,000 a year and does not have rent control, it makes it difficult for me to be sympathetic here. Banish rent regulation or regulate it so that the truly poor are its recipients.

Instead of regulating rents, why not allow sufficient development to bring market rates down. The reason market rates are so high is because housing is scarce and housing is scarce because of zoning restrictions and complainant friendly procedures for construction permitting.

Yes the city is legally permitted to prevent new buildings from exceeding the height of surrounding buildings. But there are costs to using that right and that cost is housing scarcity with the resulting escalation in housing costs. Rent regulation just creates a fantasy that development restrictions can remain in place with no cost in terms of housing costs.

Maybe you shouldn't have told him ahead of time the matter of his bribes.

Why is Albany talking about modifying rent laws? Your previous segment showed that the market can take over even rent stabilized apartments to the advantage of renters. Do away with these laws and most renters will ultimately benefit.