Q: Our apartment is covered by the evacuation law for evacuation of good purpose. Last year, shortly after the law came into force, the landlord's representative tried to increase our rent by 16 percent in a one -year lease. We told them about the permissible border according to the law, which was 8.82 percent. They immediately lowered this limit for the one -year lease. But now you want an increase of 20 percent for our new rental agreement. We are not aware of one reason that we would no longer be covered by this law. Can you simply ignore the boundaries and try to load everything he wants unless the tenant appeals? What can we do?
A: It sounds as if you had to again use your landlord to protect your protection according to the eviction law for evacuation in New York and other state communities that choose.
The law generally prevents certain landlords from increasing market policies over 5 percent plus the local inflation rate of up to 10 percent. The number of inflation changes annually and is published by the New York State Division of Housing & Community Renewal. On February 19, the state published a message in which it was found that the consumer price index in New York City rose by 3.79 percent last year, which increased the legal increase there by 8.79 percent.
Some houses are liberated from the law, including those who have small landlords (in New York City in possession of 10 units or less in the state of New York) and apartments in condominiums or co-op buildings. Landlords can also argue before a court that they have to increase the rent due to significant repairs or tax invoices beyond the local standard.
The ultimate decision about whether a rent increase in accordance with the law is permitted is a judge at Housing Court or another court, said Jonathan Steckler, who represents the landlord in the Goldberg law firm, Lustig & Steckler. Landlords who have an exemption of the law must provide this information in the first rental agreement, the renewal of the rental agreement or before the lawsuits of a tenant.
“Many landlords will either offer rental contracts with improper rent increases that are either incorrect or in the hope that tenants will not notice,” said Ami Shah, deputy director of Citywide Housing at Legal Services NYC.
You should in writing to the agent of your landlord about your protection according to the law of the eviction law and that the proposed increase is illegal. In your letter, mention that this also happened last year and that you expect this that this will not be an ongoing problem. Your landlord should offer a new, legal rental extension with an appropriate rent increase, said Ms. Shah.
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