As NYC continues to grapple with an affordable housing crisis, tenants are growing concerned about rent hikes, poor apartment conditions and eviction. In response, many residents are turning to tenant associations by organizing within individual buildings or across multiple properties to push back against landlord neglect or extreme demands.
What is a tenant association?
A tenant association is either a formal or informal group of residents in a property who choose to come together to negotiate with landlords and address various apartment concerns.
The group acts as a unified voice to leverage action, rather than relying on individual complaints, according to New York Law Help, a nonprofit that helps New Yorkers know their legal rights and options on important topics, including housing.
“A tenants’ association is a union of all or most of the tenants in a building. When tenants work together, they can apply more pressure to make a landlord provide services, make repairs, stop harassment, and get the best possible home for the rent they’re paying,” the organization explains on its website. “A strong tenants’ association can force a landlord to listen.”
How do you form a tenant association?
It is a pretty simple process, according to experts from existing tenant groups and unions.
“It really doesn’t take a lot to start a tenant association,” said Heather Woodfield of the Union of Pinnacle Tenants, a citywide tenant union. “You can start with just a few people. Most tenant associations start with just two people who get together and bring on more people.”
Regular meetings are the bread and butter of tenant associations. Meetings are where tenants in a particular building or property discuss issues important to residents, such as repairs, security or rent.
“What we do is we have a meeting in the lobby,” Woodfield said. “We make a little flyer and go door-to-door and talk to our neighbors. It’s a great way to get to know your neighbors, too.”
Monica Mercola, a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society’s civil practice-housing justice unit group advocacy in Queens, said to make flyers as detailed as possible.
“The flyer should announce a time, date, and place for a meeting,” she said. “Flyers could be placed in a lobby, in the mail area, other public areas, and slid under apartment doors.”
She also recommended starting online group chats using WhatsApp or other platforms to share information with neighbors.
Guest speakers from tenant coalitions, such as Pinnacle or the Legal Aid Society, sometimes attend meetings to help New Yorkers understand their rights as renters.
Meetings should be short, friendly, and open to all tenants. Meeting organizers often bring snacks, take notes, and report back to neighbors who could not attend.
Landlords and building staff cannot interfere with residents forming a tenant association, the experts said. In fact, it is illegal.
“The right to form a tenant association is protected not only by the First Amendment of the Constitution, but by New York City law,” Mercola said.
What are the benefits of forming a tenant association?
Forming a tenant association remains a valuable endeavor, even for renters with reliable property management. Tenant associations serve as an effective platform for getting to know others in a building, as well as resolving major issues.
“It is truly power in numbers,” Mercola said. “We have seen courts and community representatives take issues more seriously when you have a larger group of people. Because it’s not just your voice, it’s many people’s voices coming together and explaining that these are real issues that are impacting people.”
More information about forming tenant associations — including a handy checklist — is available on the Pinnacle Tenants’ website, pinnacletenants.org.