New or substantially rehabilitated City buildings and private construction with more than 50 percent City funding will have to meet LEED or similar energy conservation standards under legislation signed by the Mayor this week.

The Mayor also signed a bill barring discrimination in housing against victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence or stalking.

As we reported Tuesday, the Mayor appointed Kathleen Roberts, a professional arbitrator from Brooklyn, as chair of the Rent Guidelines Board and Mary Serafy, Director of Design for BRP Development as an “owner representative.” BRP is an affordable housing developer currently building the Crossings at Jamaica Station with City Housing Development Corporation financing. The Rent Guidelines Board will begin informational meetings next week but hasn’t scheduled its public hearings or final vote yet.

The Buildings Department is Number 1… The worst City agency according to a red tape commission created by Comptroller Scott Stringer. City Planning wasn’t far behind.The commission recommended clear timelines for permit processing.

CHIP is challenging proposed Con Edison rate increases, but Con Edison shares one problem with property owners–unfair taxes. The utility issued a report this week noting that a big chunk of the $1.2 billion it pays New York City in property taxes is for the value of equipment that other businesses don’t have to pay and underground pipes and wires that other states do not tax. Those inequities, in turn, get passed along to us ratepayers.

The Public Advocate and the New York City Housing Authority have agreed in a court settlement that NYCHA should follow the law in providing heat at night. NYCHA was ignoring the requirement to provide heat when outside temperatures dropped below 40 degrees, waiting until it was 20 or 25 outside.

The City Council held a hearing yesterday on a proposal to renew the J-51 tax break. Despite the expiration of the law last June, HPD and DOF reported that there are 900 applications pending. The bill was laid over in committee.

ABO and CHIP are again offering Registered in Apartment Management classes in cooperation with Reedc. The next classes begin in April and satisfy the biennial broker continuing education requirements.

This week’s BuildingsNY exhibitor focus is on Asbestway Abatement Corporation. Meet them at the Javits Center May 24-25th.

The Mayor’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing plan moved one step closer to approval in negotiations with the City Council this week, and one step further away from economic reality. The most viable option in the Mayor’s original plan would have allowed developers to get a density bonus for providing 30% of the units to families averaging less than 120% of the area median income (AMI is now $77,700 for a family of three). The new deal would cut the income level to 115% of AMI and require that, within that, 5% of units average 90% of AMI and 5% average 70%. On top of that, the deal includes legislation requiring a certificate of no harassment for new construction and major alterations that the administration itself opposed as unworkable just weeks ago. So, not only will the package reduce the number of new units potentially built, it will make preserving and improving existing units more difficult.

Developers can get a full explanation of the final zoning changes and regulations  directly from Planning Commissioner Carl Weisbrod, who will keynote BuildingsNY at the Javits Center at 9 a.m. May 24th. CHIP and ABO sponsor the Show.

Regardless of the zoning changes, which are expected to be voted on next week, there is concern that a replacement for the 421a tax incentive plan is vital to any plan for new rental housing. Assemblyman Keith Wright this week proposed a new plan of direct grants rather than tax breaks, but it appears the Mayor wasn’t even consulted.

If you do build anything, you can use a crane again when the wind is under 30 miles per hour. The Department of Buildings this week eased the restrictions imposed after a fatal accident last month.

And you might want to check out buildings and building sites near five new ferry routes that will be opening over the next two years. Here is a map.

It was a warm winter, but a lawsuit against oil companies that blended used motor oil with heating oil can go forward, according to the Appellate Division. A lower court dismissed the case arguing that the oil met specifications and there were no damages, but the Appellate court said the issue was whether the building operators got what they specifically contracted for.

DHCR, yesterday, issued an annual notice form (attached) to send to all ETPA tenants advising them of the availability of Senior Citizen and Disability rent increase exemption programs. It  is not on the DHCR website yet. The notice requirement went into effect in December and applies to rent stabilized apartments in the  City as well, but the City Department of Finance does not appear to have posted a notice form yet either.  There is a notice in the stabilized lease rider issued by DHCR this month, but the law requires annual service on tenants.

Exhibitors and potential exhibitors at BuildingsNY can learn how to maximize attendance at their booths and follow up with visitors using online tools at a special seminar at 11 a.m. March 24th in the Marriott Marquis. Contact rpalermo@reedexpo.com for details and reservations.

This week’s BuildingsNY exhibitor focus is on RSP Systems. Meet them at the Javits Center May 24-25th.

DHCR issued a FAQ yesterday, attempting to explain how owners should respond to its January letter warning them to register apartments in buildings that receive or received J-51 tax benefits as rent stabilized. The only sure thing stated in the guidance is that “The law in this area is continuing to evolve. ” CHIP will be sending an analysis of the document to members separately.

Owners who failed to offer apartments built under the similar 421a tax program as stabilized have paid fines totaling almost $10 million, which the City and State yesterday announced would go towards financing about 600 units of supportive and affordable housing.

Unhappy with inaction in Congress, State Legislators are trying to eliminate carried interest provisions. While aimed at hedge fund managers, the tax change would impact many real estate promoters.

The Furman Center released two research reports on housing this week. A national multifamily market analysis was noteworthy for finding that the metro NY vacancy rate had fallen from 6% to 5% (Remember that rent regulation is legislatively justified by fewer than 5% vacancies, but that is just in the City, not the metro area). And a study of landmark areas in New York City confirmed that historic districts are whiter and wealthier.

The Public Advocate settled a lawsuit against the City on behalf of family members of DRIE and SCRIE tenants who did not file to continue benefits fast enough after the original qualifying tenant died. The situation resulted, in part, from the Department of Finance cutting the time allowed for successors to apply on their own to 60 days, but legislation approved in Albany in December already had extended that to six months…incidentally causing problems for building owners who now have longer to wonder who, if anyone, is paying the rent.

While the Mayor negotiates his mandatory inclusionary housing proposals with the City Council, a developer’s plan to comply with the proposed zoning and create affordable housing in Inwood is being opposed by residents who say building on the site of a U-Haul Rental Center and parking garage will displace them.

The Daily News reported this morning on a State audit of Mitchell Lama housing finding 230 tenants earning over $250,000 a year in the subsidized units, including several millionaires whose income was underreported because the computer program used could not record more than six digits.

And Bloomberg reported this morning that luxury rental building owners are getting real competition from new condo buildings where 37% of the units are being rented by investors.

Exhibitors and potential exhibitors at BuildingsNY can learn how to maximize attendance at their booths and follow up with visitors using online tools at a special seminar at 11 a.m. March 24th in the Marriott Marquis. Contact rpalermo@reedexpo.com for details and reservations.

This week’s BuildingsNY exhibitor focus is on Appliances Connection. Meet them at the Javits Center May 24-25th.

Evictions were down 18% in 2015, prompting Mayor de Blasio to claim credit for his legal aid initiatives despite the likelihood that falling unemployment, record job creation, and delays due to reduced court personnel were more significant causes.

The City Finance Commissioner this week urged businesses owned as corporations to file for six month extensions on their taxes rather than meet the March 15th deadline because forms reflecting new State laws are not ready.

An ABC exposé of construction workers drinking on the job has led to new calls for drug and alcohol testing at job sites, but collective bargaining agreements could get in the way on union jobs. Wonder if the prevailing wage advocates on the City Council thought about that?

The Mayor is pressing negotiations with the City Council on his Mandatory Inclusionary Housing proposal and appears willing to deepen the affordability requirements (and lessen the economic advantages of the plan for developers) to win approval quickly. As CHIP and ABO members learned at this week’s 421a/Inclusionary Zoning seminar, the existing voluntary inclusionary zoning plan, which is more generous than the current proposals, has only produced about 250 affordable units per year.

Exhibitors and potential exhibitors at BuildingsNY can learn how to maximize attendance at their booths and follow up with visitors using online tools at a special seminar at 11 a.m. March 24th in the Marriott Marquis. Contact rpalermo@reedexpo.com for details and reservations.

This week’s BuildingsNY exhibitor focus is on ERG Lighting. Meet them at the Javits Center May 24-25th.

The City Council held hearings Monday on “pro-tenant” bills so bad that even the de Blasio administration opposed them: blocking most building permits without a certificate of no harassment; creating a duplicative apartment registration and renting system; and adding redundant violations for correcting underlying conditions. CHIP also testified against the proposals.

More rifts between the Mayor and City Council came up Wednesday and Thursday, when the City Planning Department approved the Mayor’s East New York rezoning Plan, spurring criticism from local residents and council members, and the City Council Speaker followed up with a 138-page counter plan for the Mayor’s pending East Harlem rezoning.

As predicted last week, the City Council, Wednesday, introduced bills to require gas detectors in apartments, give tenants lease notices about reporting gas smells, and periodically inspect all gas piping in buildings.

The Economic Development Corporation yesterday issued an RFP for mixed use development on 4.5 acres on the Long Island City waterfront. Rezoning would be required for the desired commercial, residential, retail and community space.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission cleared out a decades long backlog of cases, Tuesday, identifying 30 potential landmarks for rapid consideration, rejecting five outright, and dismissing 60 without prejudice to future consideration.

The Rent Stabilization Association this week launched a new television ad campaign attacking Mayor de Blasio’s housing policies, and the Mayor’s office, in turn, criticized the ads.

Lead renovators who got their certifications before March 31, 2010 have until the end of next month to get recertified under final rules just published by the EPA.

Join us at CHIP’s March 1st program on Tax Benefit Housing and Inclusionary Zoning. CLE credit is offered. Reservations are required.

The winter edition of ABO Developments is online.

This week’s BuildingsNY exhibitor focus is on ChutePlus. Meet them at the Javits Center May 24-25th.

Council members and community boards took more potshots at the Mayor’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing plan this week, mostly seeking more affordable units for lower income people, but the rubber hit the road yesterday with the report that the Durst Organization suspended its $1.5 billion development at Hallets Point because, as a spokesman said, “Without the (421a) abatement, the economics for the project collapse and we couldn’t get a construction loan.”

And, it was reported this morning, the 7,781 residential units receiving construction permits in December before the 421a expiration was followed by only 453 new units permitted in January, a 94 percent drop.

Developers interested in how the Mayor’s other signature housing proposal, Zoning for Housing Quality and Affordability, might work can get some design hints from HPD and the Design Trust, including possible ground floor retail layouts.

Reacting to last week’s criminal indictments in a Lower East Side gas explosion, the City Council will introduce a series of bills Wednesday calling for periodic inspections of all gas lines in buildings (at owner expense and requiring owner certification), new lease notices to tenants about gas smells, natural gas alarms in apartments, and a separate gas qualification for journeyman plumbers, including special classes and continuing education, among others. Draft bills have not all been posted online yet.

Owners with stabilized apartments in Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and Rockland counties should be getting letters and emails in the next three weeks with instructions for completing the required Owner Survey of Operating Costs online. There will be no paper forms this year. If you don’t hear by mid-March, contact ETPA@nyshcr.org

Join us at CHIP’s February 24th seminar on J51 Rent Stabilization Enforcement Issues and March 1st program on Tax Benefit Housing and Inclusionary Zoning. Both offer CLE credit. Reservations are required.

This week’s BuildingsNY exhibitor focus is on Thermaxx Jackets, insulating blankets. Meet them at the Javits Center May 24-25th.

The owners of the East Village building that blew up in a gas explosion last year were indicted yesterday for involuntary manslaughter. The complaint alleges that they, along with a contractor and plumber, improperly diverted gas from a building next door after illegal hookups in their apartment building were shut off.

A billion here or there and pretty soon you are talking about real money. The City Independent Budget Office this week said last week’s report that paying prevailing wages on affordable housing projects would add 13% to construction costs was wrong. It would really add 23%–or about $4.2 billion to the Mayor’s housing plan.

Another key to the Mayor’s plans, proposals for Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning and Zoning for Housing Quality and Affordability, took a hit at City Council hearings Tuesday and Wednesday. Most of the complaints were that the new “affordable” housing wouldn’t be cheap enough for existing low income residents in the neighborhoods effected. Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen indicated that the administration was willing to negotiate income levels.

Coincidentally, Tuesday, the California State Legislature’s non partisan Legislative Analysts Office issued a report finding that mandatory inclusionary zoning didn’t prevent displacement or keep rents affordable any better than just building more market rate housing. In fact, they concluded, more supply brings down costs. Who would have guessed?

The State Attorney General has posted a new  policy statement allowing building owners to test market the idea of a co-op conversion to existing free market tenants and non-tenants…but not to regulated tenants.

Every building in New York City that was burning #6 oil has switched to other fuels, according to the Mayor.

Join us at our February 24th seminar on J51 Rent Stabilization Enforcement Issues and March 1st program on Tax Benefit Housing and Inclusionary Zoning. Both offer CLE credit. Reservations are required.

This week’s BuildingsNY exhibitor focus is on AHC Appliances. Meet them at the Javits Center May 24-25th.

The City Planning Commission, Wednesday, gave the first formal approval to the Mayor’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing and Zoning Quality and Affordability plans, despite widespread opposition from community boards. The proposals now go to the City Council for hearings and possible amendment.

The Governor isn’t the only one proposing massive unfunded capital projects. Mayor de Blasio yesterday proposed a $2.5 billion, sixteen mile waterfront streetcar route from Astoria to Sunset Park. Other development highlights from his State of the City speech included plans to issue an RFP later this year for 33 acres on Governors Island and a relatively modest $91 million revitalization plan for downtown Far Rockaway.

HPD, Tuesday, issued a list of 250 buildings with a cumulative 25,000 hazardous violations that will be targeted for enforcement this year.

DHCR this week finally posted the correct 2016 fuel adjustments on its website, along with Maximum Base Rent forms, as announced last week. Fuel forms must be filed online by April 1st.

It is not just you getting older. People over 55 head more than one third of the households in every State and most counties, including all New York City boroughs, according to an NAHB analysis of census data.

ABO members can now get an additional $500 off any Chrysler, Dodge or Fiat car or truck under a new NAHB Member Advantage benefit.

Join us at our February 24th seminar on J51 Rent Stabilization Enforcement Issues and March 1st program on Tax Benefit Housing and Inclusionary Zoning. Both offer CLE credit. Reservations are required.

This week’s BuildingsNY exhibitor focus is on East Coast Lighting Equipment. Meet them at the Javits Center May 24-25th.

Don’t look for the State Legislature to restore the 421a program anytime soon. Albany watchers predict nothing will happen before June, at the earliest. Meanwhile, developers permitted 7,781 units in December to beat the incentive’s expiration. A total of 56,248 units were permitted in 2015 as the Legislature dithered, the highest number since 1962.

Speaking of tax incentives, the City Comptroller, yesterday, issued a report that the Department of Finance had improperly awarded coop and condo tax rebates to 1085 corporate owned condos, including 138 storage areas and nine parking spaces.

The State Senate proposed a broader tax break, Tuesday, passing a bill that would impose a 2 percent annual cap on property tax levy increases in New York City. At the same time, they grilled Mayor de Blasio on why he opposes the cap, which already applies in the State outside the City. The City tax levy went up 7.7 percent in 2014 and last week the Mayor’s budget proposal showed a 5.8 percent increase for the coming year. A similar Senate proposal last year went nowhere in the Assembly.

The City Economic Development Corporation issued an RFP Wednesday for mixed use redevelopment of the city block at 10th Avenue and 41st Street: 780,000 zoning feet, around 700 apartments, and a potential subway entrance for the 7 line. Check out https://yourfilterconnection.com/pages/furnace-filters for more.

The Public Advocates Worst Landlords list, already criticized for errors including listing the owner of a building vacant since 2009, has a few more problems. DNA Info found 33 HDFC Co-ops on the list. Apparently the shareholders reported their own buildings for mismanagement and violations.

Not In My Window? NY YIMBY reports this week on the leading proponent of capping new building heights around Sutton Place at 260 feet. Seems he lives on the 26th floor of the Sovereign, just over 260 feet from the ground.

ABO members have until February 1st to file for extra rebates on certain building products they have purchased since July. Delta faucets, Honeywell Security systems, and Carrier HVAC systems, as well as a company that does gas heating system repair in Concord are among dozens of products and services eligible.

This week’s BuildingsNY exhibitor focus is on Allstate Sprinkler Corp. Meet them at the Javits Center May 24-25th.

Property taxes will go up almost 6 percent under the 2017 City Budget proposed by Mayor de Blasio yesterday, but average class two taxes will likely average closer to an 8 percent increase based on tentative assessment rolls released last week. The Mayor was quoted as saying taxpayers would be happy he did not propose raising rates as well as valuations.

The Appellate Division, First Department, just can’t help itself. In Lafayette Boynton Hsg. vs. Picket, it reinstated a tenant post eviction despite, as one judge put it, there being no statute permitting the remedy and shaky case law. The judge went on to complain that reinstating evicted tenants “forces landlords to serve as de facto no-interest lenders to low-income tenants.” Nevertheless, he concurred in the decision.

Last week’s expiration of the 421a program left tenant advocates, developers and politicians unclear over what comes next. There seemed to be general agreement, however, that fewer new housing units would be built in low income neighborhoods and that a revised 421a or new construction incentive program would rise from the ashes eventually.

Join us for two important seminars at the New York County Lawyers Association Building, 15 Vesey Street. Both are from 9 a.m. to 11. February 24th, our panel will examine DHCR’s new campaign to re-regulate apartments in J51 buildings. March 1st, we will cover rent setting and other regulatory requirements under existing 421a and inclusionary zoning programs. Fees apply and CLE credits are available. Call the CHIP office and ask for John, or email rsvp@chipnyc.org for reservations and information.

ABO members have until February 1st to file for extra rebates on certain building products they have purchased since July. Delta faucets, Honeywell Security systems, and Carrier HVAC systems are among dozens of products eligible.

This week’s BuildingsNY exhibitor focus is on SW24. Meet them at the Javits Center May 24-25th.