I Always Feel Like, Somebody's Watching Me

An entry in Gothamist reported of the increase in private detectives hired by landlords to seek out illegal sub-letters. This got me thinking about my current living arrangement.

For those who don’t live in the area, to have a rent controlled or stabilized apartment is like hitting the real estate jackpot. I can’t really breakdown the nuisances of rent control and how it got that way, but what I do know is that those who have it are seriously envied. To put it in laymen’s terms - Let’s say you just acquired a rent controlled apartment for $1000 a month. For as long as you live in that dwelling, that is all you will ever pay each month. Sure, there are some exceptions (income restrictions and non-repair work), but that’s pretty much the gist of it.

Fortunately, or unfortunately (however you want to look at it), after the rent-controlled tenant decides to vacate the premises, the rules allow the landlord to raise the rent to the full “market rate”. I put market rate in quotes because that amount is totally subjective. Naturally, this has created a business of seeking out those tenants who are illegally subletting their apartments in order to throw them out and raise the rents. Although this is not news to me, it’s certainly surprising the lengths some will go to in order to kick someone to the curb.

While I sympathize with landlords, after all, this is the city of tenant’s rights; I have to admit I’ve become hardened through my experiences both directly and indirectly with them.

I recall my shock and slight jealous disdain years ago upon learning that a co-worker and his family were living in a four bedroom apartment in Little Italy and paying only $400 a month in rent. When I expressed such outrage (most likely done out of apartment envy), he bluntly explained that no one wanted to live in Little Italy several years ago when it was one big shit hole, and now that it’s fashionable, why is it not okay to have these types of rents for those who stuck it out through the difficult times? His comment really sat with me.

I see the gentrification of Harlem, especially now that Columbia University has snapped up tons of land in neighborhoods now deemed undesirable. What’s going to happen to the current residents once NoCo (I just know that’s what realtors are going to christen this area!) becomes a hot address? Will the newbie’s to the area paying thousands of dollars going to be so understanding once they find out that the apartment above them occupied by someone for decades is paying a miniscule amount in rent?

There are times when being angry at a tenant’s lucky deal is indeed warranted. I remember back in the day when I was pounding the pavement, Village Voice real estate classifieds in hand, looking at potential roommate situations. This was pre-internet and pre-pre-Craigslist. While looking at one apartment share in Alphabet City, it was brought to my attention by the girl that the tenant below her in the same configured two bedroom apartment was paying only $36.00 a month in rent! You didn’t read that wrong. Can you imagine that? Her cable bill was more than her rent. To me, that is just wrong. How are the owners supposed to pay anything on the maintenance and upkeep of their buildings I ask?

I heard that there were some sleazy tactics done by my landlords in order to get people out of their apartments. One tenant was told that she was illegally subletting because she took over her ex-boyfriend’s place. Actually, she was unknowingly following the law. In the city of New York, if you are living in a dwelling and paying the rent using your name on the check or money order, after a set amount of time, if the landlord doesn’t call you on it, the apartment is considered yours. Some might say that she deserved the false eviction for not looking into and standing up for her rights. But, I think it’s pretty smarmy for them to even approach a tenant in the first place knowing they themselves missed the deadline for taking action.

And then there was the great freeze out of March 2006.

The boiler broke, and according to our landlords, the repairs were going to take “several days”. Well, several days turned into two weeks. All this time we were without heat. By law, we tenants should have been provided some sort of alternative heat, but we weren’t, and the slumlords wouldn’t listen to our complaints. Most people in the building stuck their heads in the sand and quietly complained. Me? Like the Lone Ranger, I took them to housing court. We all knew damn well what they were up to. They wanted us to be sick and tired of the situation and look for an abode elsewhere. What they got were indignant tenants who swore we would never leave, especially after this incident. Because rent-controlled tenants are often prisoners of apartment privilege, deep down, we knew we really couldn’t afford to leave.

I’ve become more of a proponent of rent stabilization laws than rent control in my time here. Rent stabilization is where by law your landlord can increase the rent only about 4% a year. This helps landlords with the upkeep of the building and stops the $36.00 a month tenants. I don’t think it’s fair for one person to have several bedrooms to themselves when there are people in the streets who desperately need homes. Also, there are building wars because controlled tenants have more rights than non-controlled tenants.

There has to be a happy medium somewhere, and stabilization, seems like a better answer. To the non-controlled tenants paying heaps of rent, I do understand their plight, but aren’t you taking out your frustrations on the wrong people? Is a crumbling tenement apartment worth some of the extravagant rents you see out there that landlords demand? No. However, my landlord just found a loophole that got my apartment off of rent control and onto stabilization, yet I’m angry about it. I don’t think my apartment qualifies for de-control. But that is simply my opinion and not the opinion of someone who desperately needs a home.

To quote perfectly from a great article on controlled tenants who get too big for their britches (“Rent Asunder”), “I'm the first to admit that it's totally unfair, but I would be crushed if I lost it. I wouldn't live the life I do without it”.

That is so true.