Good Time for Qualms

Even the de Blasio administration had qualms about proposed commercial rent control legislation at a hearing Monday, but Council Speaker Corey Johnson implied the bill could pass after amendments to exclude larger tenants.

The IRS issued proposed rules for new Opportunity Zones that will allow investors to defer and perhaps avoid all capital gains taxes on qualifying real estate developments. The NAHB also released a quick FAQ on the Zone rules.

The latest New York City Construction Outlook from the Building Congress forecasts non-residential construction will peak this year at a record $39 billion, falling slowly in 2019 and 2020, while residential construction will continue at about 20,000 units per year.

The Daily News editorialized against high property taxes on apartments this week, noting that rental units make up 9% of the City’s property wealth, yet are stuck paying 16% of the property taxes.

Texting is becoming the preferred way to communicate with younger tenants, but owners need to know that the technology comes with regulatory requirements. The latest NAA Units Magazine explains that texting falls under the FCC’s telephone regulations and requires some record of tenant consent, including written consent for marketing texts.

The Regional Plan Association, Wednesday, issued a report saying roughly 2 % of buildings had “bad landlords.” A “bad landlord” was defined as one having both more than ten violations on a building and having brought evictions actions against 30% of tenants within about 2 years. Even that very broad definition of a bad landlord shows that 98% of all buildings have, as we have always said, good and effective landlords.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.