In the News

Heating Oil Companies Face Purity-of-Fuel Investigation

March 22, 2013    

State and federal authorities are investigating whether several New York heating oil businesses cheated tens of thousands of customers for years, selling fuel diluted with recycled or waste oil, according to law enforcement and city officials. As part of the criminal investigation, the...

HPD Building Registration Changes for 2013

March 22, 2013    

Unlike previous years, starting in 2013, the annual property registration cycle will be the same for all properties that are required to register. All properties will be required to be registered annually by Sept 1.

DOB, ECB Adopt New Penalties for Illegal Residential Unit Conversions

March 22, 2013    

On Feb. 27, 2013, Final Rules were published for Local Law 45 of 2012, which Mayor Bloomberg signed into law on Oct. 2, 2012. Local Law 45 emerged from the findings of a growing trend among New Yorkers to market rooms within residential apartment buildings for short-term use.

City Releases FY2014 Property Tax Assessments

February 22, 2013    

On Jan. 15, the city’s Department of Finance (DOF) released the tentative property assessment roll for fiscal year 2014, the tax year beginning July 1, 2013. According to the publication, the total market value of Class 2 properties, which consist primarily of cooperatives, condominiums,...

Speaker Quinn Announces Plans to Preserve Affordable Housing

February 22, 2013    

On Feb. 11, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn gave her final state of the city speech and, in doing so, laid out a proposal she says will make housing more affordable for New Yorkers. During her speech, she also unveiled a new study about the city’s shrinking middle class, showing that...

City Council Passes Bill to Reject Quick Fixes by Owners

January 24, 2013    

A bill that gets tougher on owners who make cosmetic repairs to buildings but fail to address underlying structural problems was recently passed by the city council. The bill passed unanimously and now goes to the mayor’s desk for his signature. If it becomes law, there will be a...

Water Bill Issues Related to Hurricane Sandy

January 24, 2013    

On Nov. 30, Mayor Bloomberg and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Carter H. Strickland Jr. announced that the city would temporarily suspend water bills for properties that were severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

$40M Storm Recovery Loan Fund Launched

January 24, 2013    

Mayor Bloomberg, the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), Community Preservation Corporation (CPC), and Housing Development Corporation (HDC), together with Citi Community Capital, recently launched the Storm Recovery Loan Fund, a pilot program to provide up to...

Tenants Sue Owner for Smelly Aftermath

December 19, 2012    

A group of tenants in Manhattan Beach recently went to court to make their building’s owner get rid of a foul smell that Superstorm Sandy left behind. According to tenants, a smell has permeated the 49-unit property ever since sea water flooded the basement and sprang leaks in stored fuel...

FEMA Increases Temporary Housing Rental Assistance for NY Hurricane Victims

November 26, 2012    

State and federal officials are worried about an increase in the number of those displaced by Hurricane Sandy seeking temporary shelter. Although many people have stayed home despite having neither heat nor hot water, particularly in city housing projects in Coney Island and the Rockaways,...

Defeating Overcharge Claims After Grimm Decision

August 30, 2012    

Don't wait till you're hit with a rent overcharge complaint to get your old lease files in order. That's the advice of New York City attorney Erez Glambosky, who warns, “Since the 2010 Court of Appeals decision in Grimm v. DHCR, if a tenant submits a ‘colorable...

Owner Revitalizes Nine of NYC's Worst Buildings

July 29, 2012    

An owner who bought nine of the most run-down apartment buildings in the Bronx in April 2011, promising to revitalize them, has made approximately $10 million in repairs since buying them for approximately $28 million. Tenant advocates worry that the new debt total of $45.5 million—$10...