James Harmon & 32 W. 76th St.
The only thing that last month’s rent control lawsuit changed is the lives of the Upper West Side landlords who tried to bring the case to the Supreme Court, according to the New York Post. As a result, the landlords, James and Jeanne Harmon, may have to sell their townhouse, the focal point of the legal proceeding. [more]
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Despite a Supreme Court challenge Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a bill to declare a formal state of emergency in New York City with regard to housing, allowing him to extend rent regulations for another three years, the New York Times reported.
The mayor cited a citywide residential vacancy rate of 3.5 percent as the reason for the extension, at a ceremony this week where he signed the bill. Legally, rent regulations must be terminated if a citywide vacancy rate higher than 5 percent exists. [more]
Though courts on all levels have routinely upheld rent stabilization laws, and despite the fact that his own case has been dismissed by two state courts, James Harmon has caught the attention of the U.S. Supreme Court in his bid to fight the regulations. But according to the New York Law Journal, Harmon isn’t any more likely to win his case than previous challengers – even after the Supreme Court requested the city file a response explaining the courts’ aforementioned dismissals. [more]
James Harmon, a former federal prosecutor who owns a townhouse on West 76th Street near Central Park, could be going before the U.S. Supreme Court to fight rent regulation.
The New York Times reported that Harmon has lost twice in lower courts, including in the Court of Appeals in Manhattan in September, but the Supreme Court has taken notice of the case and asked the city and state to file answers to Harmon’s petition to be heard.
Harmon, who lives on the parlor floor of the house and rents out the top floors as six one-bedroom apartments, claims that the rent laws are a “taking” of his property. [more]
More New Jersey towns have rent-control rules than any other state in the country, but according to the Wall Street Journal many of those municipalities are moving to eradicate parts of the law.
Last week two cities, Hoboken and Bayonne, voted to soften rent-control rules, with the former limiting the amount tenants can recoup from past overcharges and the latter decontrolling apartments after tenants move out. The state’s controlled units typically have rent appreciations that correspond with the Consumer Price Index, or about 2 percent, per year. In recent years, nine towns have chosen to phase out the laws entirely. [more]
A tentative deal to renew New York State’s rent regulation laws and cap property taxes for homeowners emerged from Albany yesterday and is expected to move to the Senate and Assembly floors today for a vote, according to the New York Times. The details of the so-called “framework” are as follows: much to the dismay of die-hard tenant-advocates, vacancy decontrol is staying, and landlords will still be allowed to deregulate apartments when tenants’ monthly rent and annual household income reach certain thresholds. But those thresholds are being increased to $2,500 from $2,000, and to $200,000 from $175,000, respectively. Landlords will also be held accountable by state housing officials for how much they spend to upgrade rent-stabilized apartments before they’re allowed to charge tenants for building improvements. [more]
Albany lawmakers have reached a tentative agreement on statewide rent regulations and a property tax cap, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said today. According to NY1, Skelos said there’s a “framework” in place and that an official deal is hopefully near. The state’s rent laws expired this past Friday after months of negotiations failed to produce new legislation that both the Democrat-led Assembly and the Republican-led Senate could agree upon. [more]
There’s less than a week left before the state’s rent regulation laws expire, and according the Post, Albany lawmakers are still so far from reaching an agreement that they’ve begun considering a short-term extension that would buy them some time to continue negotiating. The current laws, which expire June 15, govern the prices on approximately 1.1 million rental apartments in the city. Gov. Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver have been pushing to expand tenant protections, while Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos is advocating for a more landlord-friendly plan that sticks to the status quo. [more]
As next week’s expiration of the state’s rent regulation laws approaches, a new state-sponsored report has revealed that nearly two-thirds of New York City’s 2 million rental apartments still enjoy regulated rental rates. According to the Post, the report, by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, found 1.4 million rental apartments to be either rent-stabilized, publicly-owned or taxpayer-subsidized — and that’s after the roughly 10,000 units that have been deregulated over the course of the last decade. The impending June 15 deadline for rent regulation to be renewed is threatening some 1 million New York City apartments as lawmakers, tenant advocates and landlords try to hammer out an agreement on income and monthly rent thresholds for decontrol.
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