You’re right. People outside of NYC and the suburbs don’t understand rent control. It’s not for low income people, it’s that the apartment has been rented by someone in your family since the apartment was originally rent controlled (1940’s some times). You move out, the apartment rents for 10x more to the next person. Landlords cant evict you, they need to maintain the apartment, and you pay almost no rent. There have be minor changes, made with much protest, like not allowing children to “inherit” a leasw if the apartment would rent for “luxury” rent amounts.
yes, rent control places can be passed down the family. that’s what’s kept so much in place.
Sounds a bit like how longshoreman’s union jobs are passed down . . .
I knew a landlord who put in a whole new heating system in his building. He petitioned the rent control board to raise his rents because of the improvement and his cost. The board determined that his new system would be more efficient and they dropped his rents.
Rent controlled units are not for poor people. They’re for friends of the politicians and board members or for those who are able to pay off the superintendents.