The next ABO sponsored Registered in Apartment Management class will begin Wednesday September 7th. Contact info@registeredmanager.com if you are interested in certification.

Senate Dems refused a two day extension of rent regs last night, saying an extension without tougher rules wasn’t acceptable. Negotiations continue.

Gov. Cuomo requested legislation Wednesday afternoon extending rent regulations from midnight until 3 p.m. Friday, June 17th and both houses were expected to pass it.

We weren’t going to comment on the behind the scene maneuvering on extending rent regulation in Albany today.  A deal will be made by the end of the week or so, and anything we reported before then would just be rumors subject to change. But, we couldn’t resist this link to a tenant flyer attacking the Senate GOP and featuring a caricature of our friend and ally Joe Strasburg at RSA. Sorry, Joe. It does point out how rabid some people are to protect renters who can afford $2000 a month or more.

State Senate Republicans have proposed legislation to extend rent regulations from Wednesday, June 15th to Friday, the 17th while they negotiate end of session deals on a tax cap bill, ethics, redistricting, etc.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli issued a “report” this week on the ‘loss” of 10,000 regulated units in 2009. Glad to see he spent State funds summarizing last week’s Rent Guidelines Board report, although at least the Rent Guidelines Board noted that the number of units deregulated  in 2010 dropped to under 5,000. And, as we noted elsewhere, the number of regulated units actually probably increased slightly after adjustment for the effects of the Roberts decision.

Jon Bon Jovi wants to sell his SoHo loft for $30 million, according the New York Post, but not a lot of artists can afford that and technically most of the lofts in SoHO and NoHo were converted from commercial uses under the Artists in Residence law. Back when, the law was a trap for building owners who sought temporary residential tenants when industry left and politicians jumped in to “save” the starving artists. Now it’s backfiring on the artists. Bottom line, perhaps politicians should let the market decide what is a residential neighborhood.

Mayor Bloomberg is objecting to a State Senate Bill that would extend 421-a tax benefits for four years and cap taxes at 20% of rental income for 30 years after 421-a benefits expire, if the owner agrees to keep 20% of the units affordable. Taxes now are running closer to 30% of gross revenue. The irony, of course, is that Bloomberg or anyone else could expect affordable rents in any building where taxes were more expensive than fuel, or labor, or water, or, in many cases, debt service. To paraphrase a recent gubernatorial candidate: the taxes are too d—n high.

Rent regulated buildings need extra help to stop burning dirty #4 and #6 oil, but shouldn’t be allowed to raise rents to pay for the work, according to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. Stringer released a report today concluding that “5,614 of the 8,912 dirty boilers in New York City (63 percent) are located in buildings with one or more units of rent regulated housing.” Stringer wants new and modified tax abatement and loan programs to encourage owners to switch to #2 oil or natural gas, but wants to bar major capital improvement rent increases for anyone who get government incentives – even a low interest loan. He doesn’t explain how paying back a loan doesn’t leave an owner out of pocket when he can’t raise rents and has to pay principal and interest.  Stringer evidently understands that regulated buildings can’t afford improvements, but can’t accept that rent regulations and achieving his environmental goals simply aren’t compatible.

Despite all the hullabaloo about the city ‘losing’ rent stabilized apartments, it’s pretty clear that the number actually increased in 2010. The Rent Guidelines Board last week issued an analysis that found “a minimum net estimated loss of 4,560 rent stabilized units in 2010, 55% fewer than in 2009.” Buried in a footnote, however,  is the fact that the Roberts v. Tishman case put 4,000 units at Stuyvesant Town alone back into stabilization and many more citywide…more than enough to put the number of stabilized units higher than the year before. The RGB acknowledges that “the reregulation of these units is not included in this year’s report.”

Most of the other additions to the rent stabilized stock in 2010 were due to two tax incentive programs: the 421-a and 420-c programs, which, of course the ‘pro-tenant’ legislature has so far failed to renew, apparently on the theory that new rental housing is bad for tenants.