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Rent Controlled Apts Are Going The Way Of The Telegraph
By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 20, 2010
Modified Sep 20, 2010
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 20, 2010
Modified Sep 20, 2010
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Like payphones, the Dodo and green benches, rent controlled apartments are disappearing, and people don't know how to deal. There are now fewer than 40,000 rent controlled apartments in NYC, a decrease of more than 20 percent over the last decade, and more than 60 percent in the last 20 years. Unlike rent stablized apartments, rent control refers to residential buildings constructed before February 1947; tenants (or their lawful successor) must have lived in their apartment continuously since before July 1, 1971, which means most of the tenants are the elderly.
The NY Post profiles one such tenant, Magnus Saethre, 97, and his struggles with his landlord. He lives in a 750-square-foot fourth-floor walk-up on Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park for $63 a month; his landlord is trying to prevent his live-in nurse from inheriting it by calling Adult Protective Services on them, and complaining about noise. "When you talk to him when he's fully coherent, he says, 'This is my apartment. I've lived here for 62 years. There's no way that S.O.B. is getting me out,' " said Saethre's lawyer.
Tagged
apartments
landlord
real estate
rent control
rent-stabilized
tenant
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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