The (rental) apocalypse isn’t coming. Not yet at least.
While Monday night’s expiration of the city’s rent regulations of roughly a million New York City apartments is extremely worrisome, Mayor Bill de Blasio no longer calls it a “nightmare scenario,” according to Capital New York.
While the mayor had earlier described a “big uptick” in 311 calls of tenants looking for answers, the mayor’s office later confirmed that the amount of calls on Tuesday was actually down compared to the day before, Capital reported.
On Tuesday, the mayor told the website that he is “pushing hard for a resolution” to the lapsed laws.
Lawmakers are continuing their negotiations in Albany.
Meanwhile, de Blasio warned landlords not to try to take advantage of the situation and urged tenants to call 311 if they notice anything of the sort. Comptroller Scott Stringer followed suit and sent a letter to 42 managers who run roughly 5,000 rent-stabilized apartments in which the city’s pension system invests, according to the New York Daily News.
“In the interim,” Stringer wrote, “I fully expect you will continue to adhere to the highest standards of quality in building management and legal and ethical duties as landlords.” [Capital NY] and [NYDN] — Claire Moses