Posted on 04/24/2012 8:56:39 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from a Manhattan couple seeking to end rent-stabilization laws in New York City.
James and Jeanne Harmon had lost earlier court attempts to get the laws thrown out, the most recent of which was a decision last year by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City. The high court refused to review that decision.
The couple inherited a building that James Harmon's parents bought in the 1940s near Central Park on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Three of the rent-stabilized apartments have had tenants or their family members there for years.
The Harmons said rent-stabilization laws force them to rent the apartments at 59 percent below market rate and argued that by giving the tenants lifetime tenure with succession rights, the government has illegally taken their property.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
All of this is based on a "housing emergency" that was declared after WORLD WAR I, and has been re-declared every few years by the authorities. Outrageous.
You’d have to be a psychopath to be a landlord today in New York city. If I was them I’d wait a few yars until real estate prices rise and the economy gets better (which may not happen ever if Obama or RINOmney is elected) and sell the building and get the hell out of Dodge. New York city is already run under Depotism so why the hell stay there? All they are doing is getting ripped off. A friend of mine USE to own a building in Queens until he got smart and sold. He said it would take him a YEAR to evict a tenant for non-payment under rent stabilization laws. And after that year the tenant would bolt without him getting a DIME and he had to pay through the nose for lawyers. I grew up in NYC and unfortunately I’m still here because of my job, but ASAP I am getting out. Everybody I know is already gone. It’s run by a psychopathic Despot who does everything he can to steal your money and property and I can’t wait to GTFO and move to Pennsylvania.
I thought NY rent control started during WWII. Cities all over America experimented with rent control policies during that war, which is strange considering twelve million Americans were in the military, hence not in the housing market at the time.
I know its ridiculous that theses people shoudl be made subject to this. But the State of New York is NOT a free state. Least of all it’s city of New York. The Federal Constitution’s Prohibition on Washington are NOT Prohibition upon their state.
I’ve heard that it is almost impossible to get rid of a building with rent controlled apartments in it. Even if you price it based on its actual rent income you wont be able to sell because the city will not lower the property tax assessment. And you can’t buy fire insurance for an old rent controlled building in New York - insurance companies aren’t stupid either.
What is ironic about their “experimentation” is that while we were “fighting fascism” we had leftist “experimenting” IE implementing it at home.
Well my buddy got rid of his 20 years ago so I don’t know what it’s like now. Probably a million times worse due to the tax crazed term limit ignoring despot. Talk about hell, the city siphons your money and you got tenants who are living there basically for free demanding repairs that they don’t have to pay for. Oh yes and you also have to pay for all the heat or you get fined if it falls below a certain temperature and how much is oil today? And that’s to heat an entire building! Never in a million years!
Yes, and somehow it's not surprising that the only two left are New York City and San Francisco.
“You’d have to be a psychopath to be a landlord today in New York city”
Ditto for San Franfreako. We have friends who bought a four unit building on Telegraph Hill with the intent of taking the penthouse apt. as their Pie De Terre when they were in town. Four three years, the only thing they could do is use the roof top patio and stay in a local hotel. It seems that the single 60 something guy in the penthouse didn’t want to move and it turns out that SF rental law allows anyone over 60 to remain in their place (provided that they pay the rent) as long as they want. Luckily, they guy found a girlfriend in Modesto and moved out on his own. The only way to break this chain is to take the building off the rental marked for at least ten years.
I live in NYC, own a modest condo. The article is citing Rent Control, not Stabilized- two different things. Rent Controlled apartments are the culprit as they can have the rent hover at well under (wayyyy under) a thousand dollars a month for as long as the lessee is in the apartment.
A form of theft and property seizure in ways.
“I thought NY rent control started during WWII.”
Yes.
Pittsburgh does not have rent control, but it is equally difficult to evict somebody if they stop paying their rent. My uncle had a 1+ year legal battle to try and evict some deadbeats, during which he had to continue paying the mortgage on that building without the income. Oh, and the tenants got a free attorney from Neighborhood Legal Services to file their appeals....my uncle had to pay his. When they finally moved away he found multiple holes cut into his walls which were filled with drug paraphernalia.
Maybe they should make a call to the “Sopranos” to get the apartments vacated? Maybe if the renters are mugged a few times in front of the building they will get the picture and move.
They had an article about that last month in the NY Post about one guy who was paying the lowest amount for a rent controlled apt in the Village, soemthing like $70 bucks a month lol. Stabilized is hell too though because it makes it very difficult to evict a deadbeat. Such as he could be behind 6 months rent and he comes up with a month the Judge lets hiim stay on a payment plan! WTF is THAT? I read once the only way you can be evicted from a rent stab apt is you pay nothing for an entire year and even then if the tenant has a good lawyer he can postpone it even longer.
Depotism, n.: A form of government in which the Home Depot rules with absolute power.
;-)
The city's rent regulations trace back to the post-World War I era, when a surge of returning troops and a lack of new construction created a housing shortage, prompting Albany to adopt an emergency rent law. The Rent Stabilization Law, the current system, has been on the books since 1969. Every few years, with authorization from Albany, the city has extended the law and re-declared a housing emergency, citing the city's persistently low vacancy rate. In March, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and city lawmakers renewed the law for another three years.
LOL....I meant tyreanny....A form of government in which Good Year tires rules with absolute power.
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