The industry won a major victory upholding the 4 year rule in overcharge cases in the matter of Regina Metropolitan, in which CHIP played a key role.

The Inwood rezoning approved last week apparently had an element ofcommercial rent control quietly inserted. New developments with more than $2 million in assistance from the City Department of Housing Preservation and Development will have to designate up to 5,000 square feet to be rented to businesses with ten year leases and limited rent increases.

Environmentalists and real estate organizations announced agreement this week on plans to reduce energy consumption by buildings in New York City by 20 percent by 2030, with a special carve out for rent stabilized and subsidized housing. In an attempt to avoid Major Capital Improvement rent increases, stabilized buildings will be asked to take limited energy saving measures instead of shooting for percentage savings.

The State Division of Homes and Community Renewal this week postedsummary rent guideline increases for New York City, Nassau, Westchester, and Rockland counties.

Supporters of a California referendum to expand rent control got a $10 million boost from an AIDS Healthcare Foundation with a contradictory record of calling for affordable housing and fighting new housing development.

HUD, meanwhile, is looking at revising its controversial Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing efforts to attack local zoning that limits housing production.

As lower and lower blood lead levels are used to trigger paint inspections, other sources of lead seem more likely to be the actual cause. Consumer Reports,Thursday, issued a report identifying lead and other heavy metals in common baby foods.

The New York City Council, Wednesday, approved a rezoning of the Inwood area of Manhattan, allowing about 3,900 more apartments to be built than previously permitted. Two thirds of the units would be ‘affordable’ under various programs.

Mayor de Blasio this week signed legislation putting tough new reporting requirements on Airbnb, in an attempt to limit illegal occupancies.

Thousands of tenants in buildings owned by Steven Croman are eligible to share in an $8 million restitution fund to compensate them for harassment, whether they were harassed or not. They can qualify for having lived in one of his buildings sometime between 2011 and 2017 according to the State Attorney General.

Freddie Mac is taking a different approach to housing affordability, offering to trade low interest mezzanine loans for ten years of voluntary rent limits.

A new economic snapshot released by the Department of City Planning reports that, outside of New York City, the labor force of 25-54 year-olds is growing exclusively in New Jersey along rail corridors with access to the City. In fact, since 2000, Northern New Jersey added 230,000 more housing units than jobs and the City added 253,000 more jobs than housing units.

The State Division of Housing and Community has posted updated Fact Sheets on Security Deposits and Demolition.

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Monitor and Analyze

Twitter can be a powerful tool for promoting your law firm and reaching potential clients. By building a strong presence, engaging with your audience, leveraging re-tweets from The Marketing Heaven, using hashtags strategically, and analyzing your performance, you can effectively showcase your expertise and establish your law firm as a trusted authority in the legal field.

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A State Supreme Court Judge has rejected arguments that the City should have done a racial impact study before approving the rezoning of the Broadway Triangle site in Brooklyn for 1,146 units, including 287 affordable units.  The project “will probably extend a predominantly white area (Williamsburg) closer to black (Bedford-Stuyvesant) and Hispanic (Bushwick) areas,” the judge acknowledged, but “This appears not to be the result of some nefarious midnight plot but, rather, the inexorable, on-the-ground realities of population growth (Hasidic) and income disparity (White compared to People of Color).”

The 2014-15 development bubble caused by building code changes and the legislative cliffhanger over extension of 421-a tax benefits resulted in a sharp drop in building permits filed for the next two years, but filings for the first half of 2018 are more than double 2017’s. We’re on track for about 30,000 new apartment units to be filed by year end according to New York Yimby.

The New York City Housing Authority is different from private housing. Following federal directives, it implemented a no smoking in apartments policy this week and was apparently able to force tenants to sign lease riders accepting the change under threat of eviction.

On the other hand, NYCHA doesn’t follow all directives. This week’s public housing scandal is that managers directed water tank inspectors not to report dead birds and homeless people polluting their tanks.

Rezoning Inwood for higher density development took a major step forward this week with approval by a Land Use subcommittee after local Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez negotiated an exemption from the changes for the core area around Dykman Street, 207th Street and Broadway that was most likely to interest developers.

In a nod to the 21st century, a Housing Court judge has granted a building owner in Renaissance Equity Holdings LLC v. Webber (New York Law Journal, subscription required) the right to discovery regarding the social media accounts of a person claiming succession to see if they indicate where she was living during the relevant time period.

Mayor de Blasio has announced the creation of another Anti-Tenant Harassment Unit targeted at “maintenance harassment.” At the same time, HPD announced a new Partners in Preservation program to fund local community groups to fight tenant displacement from new investments in a neighborhood. Apparently, City policy has returned to the days of Fort Apache, or maybe just bring private housing down to the public housing standard.

On the other hand, the Mayor admitted his ignorance of housing policy in a deposition intended to get him out of testifying in a case accusing the City of fostering segregation with location preferences for affordable housing applicants.

Meanwhile, Governor Cuomo called out New York City Housing Authority managers for falsely reporting repairs done when they failed to get access to tenant apartments. Then NYCHA admitted failing to comply with more federal rules than previously disclosed.

A federal bankruptcy judge has ruled that 17 loft tenants who haven’t paid rent in 25 years can’t be evicted or forced to take buyouts while their building goes to a foreclosure auction.

Citywide median asking rents for one bedrooms were $2,860 and two bedrooms were $3,220 in June, down 3-4% from the same time last year according to a report by apartment search site Zumper. A neighborhood by neighborhood analysis shows rents fell 7% in the financial district but were up in every area of the Bronx.

Two medical researchers brought a dose of reality to the “lead poisoning” debate in a Times Op-Ed noting that today’s “level of concern” for blood lead levels is one third the average for children nationwide in the 1970s and not poisoning by any standard.

NY Post Columnist Lois Weiss, who served on a 1993 property tax reform commission, reported on the first meeting this week of the fourth such commission since 1989…without much optimism about actual reform.

Airbnb and other booking services will have to provide New York City with monthly reports of the addresses, length of stay, cost, host name, and other details of short-term stays under legislation passed by the City Council Wednesday and expected to be signed by the Mayor.

Meanwhile, the National Apartment Association has joined an appeal against Airbnb in federal court, trying to establish the right of property owners to decide if tenants may use the service.

City Comptroller Scott Stringer issued a report this week decrying the high cost of security deposits and proposing statewide legislation to limit deposits to one month on all properties and require owners to offer installment payment plans for deposits. While highlighting that the median advertised rent in New York City in 2016 was $2695, the report also mentions that the average rent actually paid by new movers was $1690.

The New York Times reports that the City will propose combining all its rental assistance programs for the homeless into one system, to eliminate confusion and resistance to accepting tenants by building owners. Details of the combined program are not yet available.

Score another victory for NIMBYs who convinced developers planning 120 units, including 36 affordable apartments, in Elmhurst to build just 77 market rate units instead. Ironically, the City Planning Commission approved the larger building just days before opposition from the local Councilman killed it.

A legal challenge to local preferences for new housing has been filed against the Town of Eastchester. Advocates claim that giving a preference to Town residents for new senior apartments being built perpetuates segregation because the Town is mostly white. Similar cases have been brought in New York City and around the region, threatening one of the tools politicians use to convince neighborhoods to accept new development.

The City Store has just released the 2018 Zoning Handbook, an illustrated alternative for lay people who may not be able to face the full 1300 page New York City zoning code.

Want to be a judge? The Advisory Council for the Housing Part of New York City’s Civil Court is recruiting lawyers interested in a five-year term and $187,200 annual salary to preside in Housing Court. Applicants can email Linda Dunlap-Miller at ldunlapm@nycourts.gov before September 7^th, or they may write or appear in person at the Office of the Deputy Chief Administrative Judge George J. Silver, 111 Centre St., Room 1240, New York, New York 10013, and professional lawyers from sites such as Braganca Law LLC could be a great option for this and one of the applicants.

Speaking of judges, the National Association of Home Builders endorsed Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh, having appeared before him eight times on issues of interest to the real estate industry. While they didn’t win every time, they applauded Kavanaugh’s record on “curbing regulatory overreach.”

The next drink is on the Title Insurers, after a State Supreme Court Judge threw out new State regulations that limited their entertainment budgets in an attempt to reduce rates.

At least one CHIP member is dealing with elevator violations from a private inspector that were never served properly. The contractors are required by DOB to serve the owner or agent at the location, but apparently it doesn’t always happen. If you see a violation on record that you didn’t receive, a copy can be requested at pvtcopies@buildings.nyc.gov for an $8 fee…and let CHIP know.

Toll Brothers is being sued for allegedly failing to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements in new construction in Long Island City and Urby Staten Island is being sued for racial discrimination after evicting or buying out several tenants of its affordable units.

We may not know much about art, but we know a tax when we see it. The latest community benefit fee taxing development around the country is a requirement to put around 1% of development costs into “public art.” An estimated 80-100 municipalities have already bought in to the idea, at property owners’ and future residents’ expense.

As blasted earlier this week, the City Rent Guidelines Board approved one and two year renewal guidelines of 1.5% and 2.5% Tuesday night, effective October 1. The official order number 50 will be posted here soon. Crain’s noted that the guidelines issued so far under the de Blasio administration failed to provide the 2% annual rent growth projected in the administration’s affordable housing development pro formas. Nassau County’s Rent Guidelines Board, meanwhile, approved 1% and 2% hikes.

The City Planning Commission approved a major rezoning of Inwood to encourage higher density housing. The plan now goes to the City Council for final approval.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission, on the other hand, extended the Boerum Hill Historic District, impeding development in a neighborhood of 288 buildings. There are now 143 historic districts in New York City.

Just before adjourning this month the State Legislature approved a bill requiring the City Buildings Department to give owners of adjacent buildings notice and proof of insurance thirty days before non-emergency work might affect them. The bill now goes to the Governor.

The Town of Hempstead Housing Authority is looking for a private joint-venture partner to redevelop 104 senior citizen housing units at Dogwood Terrace.

A Bronx broker and a Staten Island property owner were sued by the City’s new Source of Income Discrimination Unit for, respectively, advertising “No Section 8” and advising applicants that vouchers were not accepted. Ironically, the broker told the Times that the buildings listed in his ad were not his actual clients, just nearby, because he wanted to protect his listings.

Public housing can have satisfied tenants, if it is privately managed. A report by the Citizens Housing and Planning Council compared the buildings in a pilot project on private management with similar publicly managed projects and found that professional management makes a difference.

Although the City is looking at tightening lead paint laws for apartments, Mayor de Blasio acknowledged in a radio interview about lead poisoning cases at NYCHA that “We don’t know specifically what happened with each child, because unfortunately with lead [poisoning], there can be many sources.”

California apartment owners are looking at potentially broader rent regulationsafter a proposition repealing state restrictions qualified for the November ballot.

Regulation doesn’t just make existing housing more expensive, it is responsible for more than 30% of the cost of new housing development, according to a new study by the National Association of Home Builders and the National Multi Housing Council.

In one of its final acts before adjournment, the New York State Legislature passed a bill that will make Marshals look out for pets when performing an eviction. The bill now goes to the Governor for signature.

Rockland County’s Rent Guidelines Board approved a rent freeze for the coming year and Westchester’s board reportedly approved 2 and 3 percent one and two year guidelines, although they weren’t scheduled to vote until next week. CHIP’s Executive Director testified at Tuesday’s Manhattan hearing of the City Rent Guidelines Board and an audience of only a couple of dozen tenants.

New York City will have to spend $1.2 billion more than planned to fix public housing over the next five years, under a settlement reached with the U.S. Attorney’s office this week. The U.S. Attorney found, among other problems, that the New York City Housing Authority: “undermined HUD’s inspections by disguising the true condition of its properties. This deception included turning off water to developments to prevent HUD inspectors from observing leaks; posting “danger” signs to keep inspectors away from troubled areas; and temporarily hiding improperly stored hazardous materials. NYCHA management even included a document with suggestions for deceiving inspectors in NYCHA’s official training materials. This cover-up “how-to” guide was only removed in Summer 2017, after this Office called its existence to the attention of NYCHA’s outside lawyers.”

The City Budget for fiscal 2019, beginning July 1, 2018, was adopted by the City Council, Thursday, anticipating a $1.7 billion increase in property tax collections from 2018. Property taxes have risen more than 37% since 2013, not including this new hike.

Rent Guidelines Board hearings in the Bronx and Brooklyn began this week with little fanfare. The main lower Manhattan hearing begins at 4 p.m. Tuesdayat the Great Hall at Cooper Union, 7 East 7th Street.

Housing Court Judge Susan Avery has been booted from the bench for “lack of judicial temperament.”

One year after the 421a benefit was replaced with the Affordable New York plan, only four buildings have been awarded tax breaks.

With the State Legislature likely to adjourn next week, the New York State Builders Association and New York State Association for Affordable Housing are sounding the alarm about possible last minute action on a bill that would impose prevailing wage requirements statewide on any project receiving any level of government assistance or tax breaks. The bill passed the Assembly and has a Republican sponsor in the State Senate.

Fewer than half of the buildings with water tanks are in compliance with annual inspection and filing requirements, according to a City and State NY investigation. Reporters identified both City-owned and private buildings with obvious health hazards from, among other things, dead animals and exposure to the elements. Owners can check their filing status on this map. One of those hazards is getting cancer from the water. Cancer patients often need assistance at home, check the best caregivers in Los Angeles County, California.

The City Department of Buildings has announced that a new PW2 work permit application form will be required as of June 18^th.

The New York Times continued its series on evictions and housing court this week with a lengthy piece on the Brooklyn housing part. Unlike earlier pieces in the series, this one reported owners’ problems with the court as well as tenants, and quoted judges complaining about tenants who appeared before them “umpteen” times. The reporter found some “textbook bad landlords, but also plenty of dishonorable tenants.” The Times also ran several letters to the editor on the series, including one from ABO.

Speaking of deadbeat tenants, the New York Post reported this week that New York City is late paying hundreds of millions of dollars to non-profits that provide homeless services, some of which, in turn, is owed to building owners who contract with those organizations to house the homeless.

We don’t know if the free range chicken or organic egg came first, but rents are higher within one tenth of a mile of Whole Foods supermarkets in Manhattan. The premium is about $1 a foot per month according to a CoStar analysis.