The New York State Office of Court Administration legally sells the names of everyone who is sued over eviction in housing court to private companies, which then compile the information and sell it to landlords looking to avoid renting to troublesome tenants, the New York Times reported. But there is one key problem with the information; it does not include whether or not a tenant was evicted after the case was tried.

The omission of who won or lost the case has a damaging affect on tenants, who often decide to move out rather than face landlords in court and have their names blacklisted.

“I don’t have a problem with providing more information as to the disposition of a case,” said Joseph Strasburg, the president of the Rent Stabilization Association, noting that it would make sense to include whether a tenant won or lost in the case. [more]

Legislative negotiators have the framework to put a new rent stabilization agreement in place, and a law could be enacted as soon as today, according to the New York Post. The pending current agreement raises the threshold at which rents can be decontrolled to $2,500 per month, from the $2,000 threshold in place for the last eight years. Moreover, the maximum annual income for tenants in regulated units will rise to $200,000 from $175,000. As has been previously reported, significant progress was made in negotiations over the weekend. [more]

Following Governor Andrew Cuomo’s loud and proud declaration of support for rent-regulation, the Rent Stabilization Association has launched a new series of commercials explaining how the regulations only benefit Manhattan’s rich. The advertisements are now airing on local radio stations, according to the New York Observer.

One woman, featured in the commercials, says she rents out six affordable housing units in Crown Heights. “Vacancy and luxury control?” she says, “Not an issue in my neighborhood. Who is Albany really protecting? Nobody in Brooklyn. Just wealthy Manhattan renters.” [more]

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s settlement agreement announced today
not only forced landlord Vantage Properties to pay $1 million, but it
put all residential landlords on notice that the state’s top law
enforcement officer wants property owners to be more tenant-friendly
than the law demands.

The deal struck with Vantage forces the controversial landlord to
adhere to a three-year oversight program that will force the company
to stop serving what Cuomo described as baseless legal notices and frivolous Housing Court
actions, he said in the statement.

Cuomo was prepared to sue Vantage over the company’s alleged
harassment of tenants following an investigation of the company, he
said.

Vantage also must pay $750,000 into a tenants’ compensation fund and
$250,000 to a legal and education fund.

Cuomo said all landlords should follow the tighter rules, which will
form a “best practices” standard in the industry. [more]

The recent ruling in favor of tenants at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village initially put the city’s landlords on the defensive, but now property owners are asking if the city might owe them money because of the decision. Frank Ricci, director of governmental affairs at the landlord trade group Rent Stabilization Association, said he has fielded calls from “dozens” of landlords asking if the city might owe them for overpayment in taxes. And in recent weeks the law firm Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman raised more questions in a bulletin, including whether the city must pay landlords for lost tax abatements. Adding to the potential chaos, Stephen Meister, a partner who specializes in real estate law at the firm Meister Seelig & Fein, said he had spoken with building owners who might want to leave the city-run J-51 tax abatement program altogether. [more]