A good question for the pros! - Posted by Izzy

Re: Rent Control is for Real - Posted by JohnBoy

Posted by JohnBoy on March 07, 2002 at 13:39:09:

So are these lifetime leases or are they allowed the right to keep renewing these leases year after year and the property owner is just SOL???

What if the owner no longer wanted to be a landlord and just sell the property…couldn’t someone buy it where they wanted to live in it themselves?

Does the city freeze the taxes so they don’t exceed the rent? Unless I’m missing something I would think this would be unconstitutional for property owners.

Would lender know ar even ask what income is? - Posted by Izzy NY

Posted by Izzy NY on March 07, 2002 at 13:01:17:

I haven’t ever seen on an app for an investment condo in a building a question like “what does the tenant pay?”

the purpose of buying the condo would be to cash out a few hundred thou bucks…

Re: Rent Control is for Real - Posted by Frank Chin

Posted by Frank Chin on March 07, 2002 at 14:18:33:

Hi JohnBoy:

In a word “YES”, they are not only lifetime in NYC, but multi lifetime counting the children that inherited the rights.

Under both Rent control, and rent stabilization, leases MUST be renewed at the approved rates. Depending on the age of the building, when a Rent control tenant leaves, it then falls under rent stabilization.

Under rent stabilziation, an owner can claim a unit only if he or a close relative want to live there. This apparently is the case in San Francisco as well, and small investor groups of lets say four would go buy a fourplex to oust all the rent controlled tenants, saying the owners want to occupy the units. In response to that, a proposal was submitted in the City Coucil to ban the practice.

I beleive the issue’s been tested in the courts since 1945. The only time I could recall of a success is when the Federal Government sued during the S&L crisis, when the RTC took over bankrupt S&L’s holding mortgages on properties with rent controlled tenants. There, the issue was that the Federal government was forced to subsidize these tenants. Private ligitgants had no luck as it appears that rent control is within the power of the government to impose. The issue was fought for years in Massachusetts till it was finally voted out, I beleive, by constitutional amendment.

In order not to confront the issue head on, and anger tenants, the New York State legislature adopted “luxury decontrol”, where apartments renting for over $2,000/month will be decontrolled. The idea is, over time, when inflation brings all rents to over $2,000/month, years from now, then rent control will disappear altogether.

Frank Chin