Little known rent-stabilization decision rarely invoked by FiDi renters

Many Financial District residents are eligible to have their units declared rent-stabilized — something many New Yorkers dream of. The one problem is that denizens of the neighborhood don’t seem interested, the Wall Street Journal reported.

A court decision two years ago drew attention to an estimated 6,000 apartments in the area that received 421-g tax abatements after 9/11. Residents of buildings that received the subsidy to convert to residential from commerical are now eligible to file for rent overcharges or to sue and have their apartment declared rent-stabilized, the Journal said.

The lack of interest may be due to demographics, the Journal pointed out. Many Financial District inhabitants are young Wall Street types who move frequently, or upgrade to a tonier address after a couple of years. Others said they never received any information from the city.

“We’d stay longer if we could,” Lisa Burdeshaw, 41, who lives at 10 Hanover Square told the paper. She and her husband are planning a move to the suburbs, but said they would have stayed had they been able to secure rent-stabilization. [WSJ] — Guelda Voien