[NYtenants-online] NY Tenants -- RGB orders Rent Stab increases of 3.5% and 6.5%

[Tenant]

NYtenants Online/TenantNet                                6/18/04
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IN THIS ISSUE ...

Rent Guidelines Board sets rent hikes for Rent Stabilized tenants

Last night the RGB approved hikes for rent stab tenants at 3.5% increase 
for a one-year renewal and 6.5% for a two-year renewal. The rates are 
effective for any rent stabilized renewal lease that starts from October 1, 
2004 through September 30, 2005. Lease that renew prior to October 1, 2004 
should reflect the percentage increases for the current period: 4.5% for a 
one-year renewal and 7.5% for a two-year renewal. It usually takes the RGB 
several weeks to publish an official copy of the order; when that happens, 
we'll post it on tenant.net.

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 From the NEW YORK TIMES:

In most years, there is little drama inherent in the board's final vote, 
because it rarely deviates from a preliminary vote a month earlier. But 
this year was different, because the board opted during its preliminary 
vote on May 10 not to offer specific recommendations, but rather a range of 
increases - 3 percent to 5.5 percent for one-year leases on stabilized 
apartments, and 5.5 percent to 7.5 percent for two-year ones.

Since it was established in 1968 to review rent rates annually for the 
city's stabilized units, the board has never authorized a rent decrease or 
freeze. During the high-inflation era of the late 1970's and early 80's, 
the board sometimes approved increases of up to 14 percent for two-year 
leases. But for most of the last decade, rents have gone up a few 
percentage points, in keeping with low inflation and, to a lesser degree, 
with annual surveys measuring landlord costs and incomes.

In 2002, for instance, the board ratified increases of 2 percent for 
one-year leases and 4 percent for two-year leases, even though the Price 
Index of Operating Costs, a summary of landlord expenses like utilities and 
labor, dropped for the first time. Last year, the board authorized 
increases that were dwarfed by a 16.9 percent jump in the index, the 
biggest since 1980.

This year, landlord costs grew at a much slower pace - 6.9 percent. Even 
so, landlords said they were concerned about the possible impact of the 
city's new lead paint law. The law, which regulates the removal of 
lead-paint hazards, including dust, from apartments built before 1960, 
takes effect in August. City officials and landlord groups contended that 
the cost could be millions of dollars, but tenant groups said that figure 
was overblown.


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RENTS GOING UP AGAIN
Newsday
by Glenn Thrush
June 18, 2004

The Rent Guidelines Board approved a 3.5 percent increase for one-year 
leases and a 6.5 percent hike for two-year leases during a rancorous vote 
that was stopped several times by shouting matches. The increases, which 
will affect 2.3 million tenants in a million rent-regulated apartments, 
come on top of unusually high increases last year.

The 6-3 vote, which took place amid chants of "We say no!" by about 200 
tenant activists packing Cooper Union's Great Hall, included smaller rent 
increases for tenants who pay for their own heat. About 30,000 such renters 
will be assessed 3 and 6 percent hikes on one and two-year leases respectively.

"We think it was a fair and equitable solution," said board chairman Marvin 
Markus, an appointee of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "It's not an easy decision 
to do it in this context and this environment."

The hikes take effect Oct. 1.

The board, which is made up of five Bloomberg appointees and two members 
each appointed by tenants and building owners, voted to freeze rents on 
Single Room Occupancy hotels. It also approved hiking rents in 
rent-regulated lofts 2.5 percent for one-year leases and 5.5 percent for 
two-year terms.

At one point, Markus adjourned the meeting for 15 minutes after an irate 
elderly tenant began heckling landlord member Harold Lubell after Lubell 
said, "As I look out on this audience I appreciate how Custer... must have 
felt." The man, who repeatedly shouted "Racist!" at Lubell, left quietly 
after the recess. "A time-out is sometimes useful," said Markus.

Bloomberg-appointee Martin Zelnik broke with Markus and other 
administration representatives to vote with tenants, forcing the two 
landlord representatives to vote for rent increases they had earlier 
derided as too small.

"They had no choice. It was either that or accept the possibility that the 
board might accept an even lower increase," said Joseph Strasburg, 
president of the Rent Stabilization Association, a landlord group.

Tenant representative Adriene Holder, a Legal Aid lawyer, said this year's 
increase places too great a burden on low-income tenants who have been hurt 
disproportionately by the recent economic downturn.

"We can't end poverty, but we can make sure that we as a board don't add to 
poverty," said Holder, who was booed by a small contingent of landlords. "A 
rent freeze is the right thing this year."

Lubell had argued that the hikes needed to be 6 percent for a one-year 
lease to compensate for a nearly 7 percent increase in landlord expenses 
this year.