Need to help mom stay in the house.

September 3, 2008 9:51 AM

Need to help mom stay in the house.

In the interest of justice, I humbly summon the hivemind to aide in this most important matter. Our Landlord has raised the rent by $200. My mother cannot afford it. Furthermore, The landlord has not increased the rents of the other tennants in the building. I asked the landlord why this is being done. He replied that it's because the increase of his utility bills (which my mother alone will shoulder). I reason that he is raising the rent because he was forced to fix our bathroom (by court), which fell to trerrible disrepair. My mother is refusing to accept the new lease, reserving to move out. However, I want to keep this apartment. In the spirit of fairness, I will have to champion my mother who is being bullied by this hypocrite. Tips on finding out who is the owner of the building, If the landlord/super is in the process of buying the building, what are his expensises will be much appreciated. I ask the hive mind to direct me to any agencies In crown heights, Brooklyn, zip 11225, which helps the renter and any legal recourse, or any ideas of how to fight this or force him to prove the reason for the rent hike. Or reduce the hike at least to $100. Because my mother works the overnight shift and can barely buy food for herself. This is the nicest neighborhood we've lived in since we moved to Brooklyn and would hate to be forced to move out. We live in a brick building which contains four apartments.

posted by anonymous to law & government (9 comments total)

Might start here and see what you can find.
posted by caution live frogs at 10:29 AM on September 3, 2008

You could let him know that she'll pay only $100 a month more, OR he will face a protracted eviction--I bet he'll take the smaller increase in rent.
posted by sondrialiac at 10:29 AM on September 3, 2008

I looked around a little. Unless the building was built before 1947 and you've lived there since 1971 (and it doesn't sound like those conditions apply) you don't appear to live in a rent-controlled apartment. However, there are laws governing this sort of thing. Take a look at this page from the NYC Rent Guidelines Board: so far as I can tell, if your rent is less than $1120.45, this rent hike is higher than the max of 17.85% that the guidelines allow. But you should look that page over and check the conditions.
posted by koeselitz at 10:31 AM on September 3, 2008

Call 311. Seriously, they can give you lots of advice, ranging from filing complaints to going all the way to housing court.

There are also some helpful websites:

http://www.housingnyc.com
http://www.tenant.net/
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/bureaus/consumer_frauds/housing_issues.html

You may also consider whether the landlord's decision to raise the rent so significantly was a form of harassment: http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/rent/factsheets/orafac17.htm

Finally, even if you don't want to take this to court, you can ask an attorney at housing court questions -- for free -- about the legalities of your situation.

Good luck!
posted by brina at 10:34 AM on September 3, 2008

Also, your lease would not be covered under the vacancy lease law, but under the apartment/loft lease law, as it is a lease renewal. See here: http://www.housingnyc.com/html/guidelines/orders/order40.html
posted by brina at 10:36 AM on September 3, 2008

...landlord has not increased the rents of the other tennants in the building...he was forced to fix our bathroom (by court), which fell to trerrible disrepair.

How recently did she win that case? If it was less than a year ago, she probably (IANAL) can go right back to court to get this increase cancelled as illegal retaliatory conduct. See for example article 5, section 5.101 of the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. It's unclear to me whether NY adopted it, but you should be able to find out from any tenants' rights group. If not that exact language, there's likely some similar provision.

But of course the real problem here is that she clearly has an dickwad landlord who is evidencing a bullying and vindictive mindset. Yikes. She probably can win this battle, but count on losing her the war. Despite the nice neighborhood and possible postponement of the rent increase, her home will not remain a happy place much longer. There are just too many ways for a landlord to make life uncomfortable for an unwanted tenant who can't afford to keep a lawyer on speed-dial. You'd do her the most good by doing the legwork of finding her a new place to live.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 11:02 AM on September 3, 2008

You don't provide enough information in your question to answer it categorically, but here are some things that may help you. None of these suggestions constitute legal advice from me to you. You should also be aware that the laws pertaining to rental apartments in New York City are very specific and very complicated and therefore general advice from other jurisdictions is unlikely to be of any use to you in Kings County Housing Court.

First, you must ascertain whether your mother's apartment is subject to rent regulation of any kind -- either rent control or rent stabilization. The quick and dirty rule is that if it's in a building of fewer than six apartments, it's likely not rent regulated. Still, this is not always true (buildings that now have four units might have once had six units, for example), so you must start by finding out the definitive answer to this question. Type a release from your mother that says "I, tenant, living at [address], authorize DHCR to release records pertaining to my apartment to [your name]." Get her to sign it, get it notarized, and take it and a copy of your mother's most recent lease to your local DHCR office (Brooklyn Borough Rent Office, 55 Hanson Place, Room 702, Brooklyn, New York 11217, Phone: [phone]). They'll give you a copy of the registrations for your mother's apartment. Look to see if it says "RS" or "RC" on it. If it doesn't, it's likely not rent regulated. If it's not rent regulated, then your mother is probably out of luck, since landlords of unregulated buildings may raise rents at will at the ends of leases and may even choose to not renew leases. Please note that most of the advice given in this thread so far applies to rent regulated apartments and therefore will not apply to your mother if her apartment is not subject to rent regulation. So, for example, the information contained in koeslitz and brina's links only applies if your mother's unit is rent stabilized. If it's not, there's really no limit to the increase your landlord can ask for.

Second, you ask if there's some way of finding out whether the building is being sold. Take a look at ACRIS, the City Register, but be aware that I don't think pending sales are registered in ACRIS -- just completed sales.

Finally, contact the Bedford-Stuyvesant office of Legal Services NYC, or the Legal Aid Society office in Brooklyn. Once you get a lawyer or a paralegal on the phone, tell the person all the relevant information, and see what she or he says to you. If your household income qualifies you for free legal services and there is legal merit to your case, you might actually wind up with a lawyer who will represent you in your future dealings with your landlord. At the worst, you should be able to get some advice tailored to your specific situation. If you cannot get anyone at these offices to talk to you (we're all very, very under-resourced) try the City-Wide Task Force table on the second floor of the Housing Court at 141 Livingston Street. Good luck.
posted by lassie at 12:40 PM on September 3, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

As far as I know raising the rent to pay for a manditory repair (court ordered??), let alone in such a pointed manner is just super illegal.
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 4:07 PM on September 3, 2008

Call the New York City Bar Association and look around for other online resources for pro bono assistance. Lots of real estate lawyers are slow on business right now and might fill their time helping people like your mom. They have a housing court summer assistance project and might know generously-minded lawyers in the area through that program, if not through other programs. This group may also help you.
posted by lorrer at 1:58 PM on September 4, 2008