advance a proposal allowing 0% to 2% increases for one\u2011year leases and 0% to 4% for two\u2011year leases,<\/a> ahead of June\u2019s final vote.<\/p>\nSupporters in the room cheered, but owners of rent\u2011controlled and rent\u2011stabilized buildings say the celebration overlooks the financial reality they face.<\/p>\n
Ann Korchak, director of the Small Property Owners of New York, said the board\u2019s move leaves owners without the resources needed to keep buildings safe and functional.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are making it impossible to run our businesses,\u201d she said, adding that owners are forced to patch roofs and boilers instead of replacing them.<\/p>\n
Chris Athineos, who owns a more than a century-old rent\u2011stabilized building in Bay Ridge, said he warned the board last year that a freeze would make it impossible to keep up with repairs. He pointed to his nearly 40\u2011year\u2011old boiler, a replacement he says would cost about $200,000, and said the situation has only grown more dire.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo come up with a 0% proposal when there are constantly new mandates \u2014 backflow prevention devices, gas detectors, lead paint abatement, energy efficiencies \u2014 how is this getting paid for?\u201d Athineos said. \u201cIt\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said some of his tenants pay as little as $600 a month, a rent level he says doesn\u2019t cover even a single emergency repair.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou call a plumber once \u2014 it\u2019s $600,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Athineos argues that a freeze won\u2019t stop negligent landlords but will instead push responsible small owners out of the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we are forced to sell, no one would buy a building like this except speculators, and no one wants that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He tells News 12 that with buildings over 100 years old, he worries how he will be able to reach future efficiency standards, like those that are set to be included in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget.<\/p>\n
“These are over 100 years old, past their original effective life, we need relief maintaining this affordable housing stuck, but there’s no help, and a bank won’t give you a loan, when the city just announced your income will be basically flat,” he said, adding that maintenance costs rise on average of 6 percent a year in his properties.<\/p>\n
The Small Property Owners of New York estimates that more than 10,000 small landlords could be affected citywide if the board approves a freeze in June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A preliminary vote by the Rent Guidelines Board to consider a full rent freeze has sparked outrage among…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-225463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}