SENIOR REFUSES TO TAKE A HIKE

[consigliere]

The story below, SENIOR REFUSES TO TAKE A HIKE, appears in the October 18th online edition of the New York Post.
 
Sharp v. Norwood is the case in which the Court of Appeals ruled that the tenant was not creating a nuisance by paying her rent late.
 
The current case involves DHCR's insistence that a tenant follow strict time frames for responding to a landlord's baseless claim that a tenant's income exceeds $175,000 a year for two consecutive years to decontrol an apartment.
 
 
SENIOR REFUSES TO TAKE A HIKE
 
By ERIC LENKOWITZ and DAREH GREGORIAN
 
The state is joining forces with a landlord to double a 79-year-old Manhattan woman's rent because of a technicality - a move that might force the woman to give up her home of 45 years.
 
"We can't afford it," Angela Norwood told The Post of her new $4,250-a-month rent for her East 52nd Street apartment. "We're struggling to pay as it is."
 
The British Army veteran has filed suit against the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) for deregulating the rent on her fourth-floor apartment at the landlord's request.
 
Norwood moved into 444 E. 52nd in 1957, when the rent was $99 a month for the 5 1/2-room, two-bathroom apartment, and it's where she raised her daughter Nanette, an actress who's currently staying with her.
 
The landlord put in the request after Norwood failed to respond to a letter demanding she prove she earns less than $175,000 a year - the level at which rentals for longtime tenants can be deregulated.
 
Norwood's lawyer, Lynn Armentrout, said the letter was "a bad faith move" because the landlord, the estate of Peter Sharp, knew from previous attempts at booting her that she makes about $35,000 a year from her alimony, Social Security and pension.
 
"She's 79," Armentrout said, noting her client hasn't landed a new high-paying job and "hasn't won the lottery."
 
"I'd love to see" that kind of cash, Norwood chuckled.
 
The landlord's lawyer, Jeffrey Turkel, said they didn't know how much Norwood was making - they just put in a pro-forma request to find out after the rent on the apartment hit $2,000 a month.
 
"You have the right to ask DHCR whether the tenant is over the limit. It had nothing to do with her personally," Turkel said, adding "DHCR processed" the request.
 
Court records show the landlord has tried to force her out numerous times over the years, including charging she was a "nuisance" because she sometimes paid the rent two weeks late.
 
The state's top court, the Court of Appeals, eventually ruled in Norwood's favor.
 
The mom said in court papers she thought she had responded to the landlord's letters but isn't sure because she's suffering from kidney disease, and has recently had problems "walking, talking, eating and sleeping," and "trouble remembering things."
 
But an affidavit from Norwood and a letter from her doctor didn't move DHCR - they simply said her case had been reviewed and denied.
 
Peter Moses, a spokesman for agency, said they have "not been served with any legal notice in the matter. However, we always proceed with the utmost caution whenever the welfare of a senior citizen is at stake.
 
"Should any appeal be filed, we assure you that it will be given a fair and thorough review."
 
In evaluating the suit, the agency said it will consider any new facts and circumstances raised by the tenants.
 
 
PHOTO CAPTION:
 
DEFENDING THEIR HOME:
 
Angela Norwood, 79, and her daughter Nanette are fighting a cruel double-team effort, by the state and her landlord, to double her rent.