The Park West Tenant Vol. 44 No. 2, Newsletter of Park West Village Tenants’ Association, info @ pwvta.org April 2020 Patricia Loftman, President Daisy Wright, Secretary Dean Heitner, Vice President Miriamne Spector, Membership Kathi Black, Treasurer COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered and continues to impact every part of our daily lives. Our neighbors, friends and families have been furloughed, lost jobs or had their work hours reduced. Many were unable to pay rent in April 2020, some for the first time in their lives. Others, in their capacity as health care workers, were summoned to extend themselves beyond what seemed like human capability. Teachers’ daily lesson plans were altered, leaving parents with a renewed appreciation for them. Mothers labored and birthed their babies without the loving arms of partners and spouses. Some of our most vulnerable seniors, many in nursing homes, made their transition alone. Life as we have known it no longer exists. The challenge for us all, now, is to continue to adhere to social distancing recommendations and engage in activities that will promote and sustain us all in good physical and emotional health. Can NYC Landlords Raise Rents During The Pandemic? Several landlords have indicated that they intend to be flexible if tenants can't pay their rent, including not asking for major increases. Rent-stabilized tenants must wait for the NYC Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) decision regarding the annual rent increases for rent regulated apartments. Market-rate tenants, however, are subject to the forces of supply and demand. They can be asked to pay more when it is time to renew their leases. For the full article click the following link: https://www.brickunderground.com/rent/coronavirus-covid-19-landlords-raise-rents-lease- renewal-during-the-pandemic-how-to-negotiate-nyc All Market Rate Tenants Must Be Given Adequate Notice But market rate tenants are entitled to up to 90 days' notice of a rent increase of more than 5 percent depending on how long they have lived in their apartment. Tenants who have lived in their apartment for less than a year are entitled to at least 30 days’ notice, 60 days if the tenant has lived there between one and two years, and 90 days for longer-term tenants. De Blasio Calls For Rent Freeze For NYC’s Rent-Stabilized Tenants Despite calls for New York City to freeze or suspend rents for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, 1 that has not happened. On the contrary, the City has indicated that it will move forward with determining the renewal rent increases of its nearly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments. Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had previously advocated for a suspension of the 2020 Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) review process, announced on Friday, April 10, 2020 that the RGB process will proceed remotely. However, he called on the RGB to enact a rent freeze instead of raising rents for New Yorkers. No decision has yet been made. https://ny.curbed.com/2020/4/10/21216746/nyc-rent-stabilization-apartment-rent-freeze https://nypost.com/2020/04/10/coronavirus-in-ny-de-blasio-orders-rent-freeze-for-regulated-nyc- apartments/ Rent Guidelines Board Will Be Holding Virtual Meetings To Determine Rent Increases For Leases Beginning October 1, 2020 The NYC Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) has posted its 2020 Meeting and Hearing Schedule for the first four public meetings. The RGB will be convening virtual meetings due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The initial schedule can be accessed: https://rentguidelinesboard.cityofnewyork.us/meetings/2020-meetings-and-hearings/ Additional meetings will be posted in the coming weeks. The first meeting was held on Thursday, April 23, 2020 at 9:30 AM. The Board discussed the 2020 Income and Expense Study and the 2020 Price Index of Operating Costs. The 2020 Price Index of Operating Costs examines costs related to operating the buildings such as taxes, fuel, insurance, utilities and building maintenance. The public can attend these meetings using one of the methods below: 1. Livestream the meeting via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/RentGuidelinesBoard 2. Listen to the meeting via telephone: dial 646-558-8656, then, when prompted, enter Meeting ID: 910 5242 0683. Public meeting: Thursday, April 30, 2020. 9:30 a.m. The Board will be meeting via videoconference to discuss the 2020 Income & Affordability Study and additional research reports. Public meeting: Tuesday, May 5, 2020. 9:30 a.m. The board will hear testimony from invited tenant and owner groups via videoconference. Preliminary Vote: Thursday, May 7, 2020. 7 p.m. Information to attend future meetings will be announced and posted on the website at least 72 hours prior to each meeting. The RGB has also released the *2020 Income and Expense Study *which is available at: https://rentguidelinesboard.cityofnewyork.us/research/ The annual RGB reports will continue to be released on the RGB website and announcements will be sent when they have been posted. Thanks to : Andrew McLaughlin, Executive Director, NYC Rent Guidelines Board, 1 Centre Street, Suite 2210, New York, NY 10007, [email protected], for this information. 2 NYC Landlords Say Operating Costs Have Risen Justifying Rent Increases When the RGB begins its annual review process on April 23, 2020, landlords are expected to claim that rent increases in rent regulated apartments are warranted. They will base their claim on the results of the 2020 Income and Expense Study that was published on April 15, 2020. According to The Study: • From 2017 to 2018, Net Operating Income (NOI), i.e. profit, declined 0.6% for the first time since 2002-2003. • Rental income increased an average of 3.7% from 2017-2018. • Total income increased an average of 3.6% from 2017-2018. • Operating costs increased an average of 5.8% from 2017-2018. https://rentguidelinesboard.cityofnewyork.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2020-IE.pdf One tenant advocate pointed out during the meeting that the NOI increased for nearly 15 years even during an unprecedented affordability crisis, so the current slight dip was insufficient justification for rent increases. https://ny.curbed.com/2020/4/16/21223586/rent-guidelines-board-landlords-operating-cost-increase- nyc https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/nyc-rent-stabilized-landlords-see-costs-rise-push-for- rent-increases/ar-BB12K3FN?ocid=hplocalnews NYC Tenant Groups Set Rent Strike For May 1, 2020 Housing advocates are organizing a massive rent strike for May 1, 2020 designed to pressure New York lawmakers to cancel rents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Housing advocates hope as many as one million New Yorkers will participate in the rent strike to pressure Gov. Andrew Cuomo to cancel rent for the duration of the stay-in-place order, extended Thursday, April 16, 2020 to May 15, 2020, and through June 2020. Housing advocates’ demands also include a RGB rent freeze for 2020 and housing for about 92,000 homeless New Yorkers. To date, 2,166 renters and tenant leaders from buildings with about 1,100 apartments have signed up for the May 1, 2020 rent strike, according to Housing Justice For All (HJ4A) leadership. The hope is that New Yorkers who can pay their rent will refuse to do so in solidarity with those who cannot. While PWVTA will not be participating in the rent strike we recognize that many New Yorkers have been affected by COVID-19 and stand in solidarity with them. https://therealdeal.com/2020/04/16/tenant-groups-set-rent-strike-for-may-1/; https://patch.com/new- york/new-york-city/nyc-gears-coronavirus-crisis-rent-strike New York State Court of Appeals Strikes Down A Provision of The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act 2019 A New York State Court of Appeals reversed a portion of last year's rent reform law that had expanded overcharge cases that tenants could bring. The court ruled that The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act 2019 (HSTPA 2019) which extended the statute of limitations for rent overcharge cases, reinstated the four-year statute of limitations. Tenants will remember that The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act 2019 (HSTPA 2019) was extensively reviewed in The Park West Tenant September 2019 issue. The section reversed is below: 3 Extends Rent Overcharge Four Year Look-Back Period to Six Years Before June 14, 2019 After June 14, 2019 Previously the statute of limitations for tenants Effective Immediately and applies to pending to file for rent overcharges was four years and proceedings: Extends statute of limitations to six years did not allow looking at the rental history prior to from the current four years. Allows collection of six years the four-year period from the base date. The of damages, including six years of trebles rather than the base date was four years before the overcharge current two. Eliminates DHCR’s ‘safe harbor’ policy that complaint. allowed landlords to refund the overcharges when they got caught and then avoid treble damages. Courts and DHCR may consider ALL rent history that is ‘reasonably necessary’ for a determination. Allow the tenant to choose their forum. Owners do not have to keep old records BUT they destroy them at their own peril. Four-year rule exceptions – current RSC exceptions are now written into the RSL, plus: A new ‘reliability’ exception which includes whether ‘an unexplained rent increase’ renders a registration ‘unreliable.” RSC= Rent Stabilization Code Prior to HSTPA, there was a four-year statute of limitations on rent overcharge cases and landlords were free to dispose of records older than that. The 2019 rent reform law did away with that statute of limitations allowing cases older than four years to be initiated.