My Life In Hell

Then there is Laurence Gluck and what he did to the Mitchell Lama developement which was privatized in 2004. All because Bloomberg allowed him to repay his J-51 tax benifits. Gluck is also responsible for unlawfully deregulating more then 1,300 affordable apartments at the Independence Plaza North, a complex of Mitchell Lama. Gluck decided to sell when the housing boom went bust as a result of all the forclosures in 2007 a direct result of the speculating on which people would be unlucky enough to lose their homes; they were a set of investments put together in packages called derivitives. Developers skirt the law with the help of Bloomberg, Pataki etc. but who cares? Mitchell Lama was started by the insurance company Met Life during world war two to help returning soldiers and their families. Then Met Life got greedy and conspired along with Bloomberg and Pataki. So any affordable, low income housing will probably end up the same way as either high end luxury apts. or condos only the ultra wealthy like Bloomberg can afford. Where does that leave the little guy? It's almost like David vs Goliath. In the mean time I'm freezing.

My Life In Hell

Low income affordable housing isn't being built. Any tenants organizations/advocates are only helping people in their own communities not outsiders. Whatever rent control/stabilized housing remains is being deregulated or has been deregulated thanks to Bloomberg and former Gov. George Pataki when they assisted in the illegal deregulation of apts. in buildings receiving assistance under the J-51 tax abatement program helping real estate developer Tishman Speyer Properties in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Villiage, HPD refused to enforce the laws as written.

My Life In Hell

This is a scam this is what they do; they get together, several parties form a corporation or holding company buy buildings and make it impossible for the tenant to know who the real owner or owners are, pull all kinds of underhanded deals so the tenant has no protection. They make sure of it.

My Life In Hell

These buildings have multiple people listed as owner. The loans taken by the then owner in limited partnership are evidenced by a mortage from April 16, 1974. This loan and mortage agreemant subjected the buildings to the N.Y.C rent control law not the rent stabilization law code these later statutes did not control the subject premises at the time of their stabilization in April 1974. So now I don't know what to think. If these buildings aren't rent stabilized and never were, but rent controlled and that ended after the (PHFL) loan and J-51 tax abatement ended in 1995-96; if I wasn't informed of any of this by owner and not in lease can I use this to keep from being evicted if I try and complain? What if someone is disabled are they protected from eviction? I always thought that once a building stops being rent controlled it then automatically becomes rent stabilized. Those monsters knew what they were doing they really screwed us over, they continue to steamroll over anything and everyone who gets in their way. They always get what they want. I'm in tenant legal limbo, tenant hell. I don't know what my rights, if any are. I can't call 311 unless I can know that I'm protected by either being disabled or by ignorance because I didn't know anything about what they did or were doing since they never bothered to inform me (or both).

My Life In Hell

I've been been here since the buildings were first renovated in 1975. I don't know what my status as a tenant is. I am paying rent and live in or exist on these premises, and continue to dwell here. He stopped giving leases in and around 1997. I never knew until 2007 about the J-51 tax abatement/exemption, and only began to understand what it meant: Rent stabilization are apts. in buildings of 6 or more units built before Feb. 1, 1947 and Jan. 1, 1974. Tenants who moved in after June 30, 1971 are also covered by rent stabilization. A third catagory involves buildings with 3 or more apts. built or extensively renovated since 1974 with special tax benifits generally. These buildings are stabilized only while the tax benifits continue. All 3 buildings became vacant of tenancies between 1974-1975 and were substantially rehabilitated as family units after Jan. 1, 1974. There were certificates of occupancy for each of the buildings issued Dec. 30, 1975 after completion of the rehabilitation. Each of the 3 buildings underwent a complete rehabilitation which was completed in 1975 which, but for Public Housing Finance Loans (PHFL), and later,J-51 tax abatements would place these buildings out of regulated status. The loan had been paid off and the tax abatements have ended and it was DHCR's understanding that the instant application is required pursuant to Public Housing Finance Law section 405 for decontrol of the subject premices.

My life In Hell

These people circumvent the laws and use it to their advantage. They vote in blocks to get who they want in and then get people like Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Gov. George Pataki to give them what they want. I desperately need repairs, and I'm freezing. They provide heaters to those monsters attending the yeshiva as well as hot meals; but I have to freeze. The system to put it diplomaticly, is a complete failure, it fails to protect it's most vulnerable, there is no help. Public Advocate Bill DiBlasio he's a joke, doesn't respond.

My Life In Hell

We were told to get all of our belongings out of the storage area of the basement. The case was taken up by DHCR, but after 3 years they decided we didn't have a case because we weren't rent controlled or stabilized. I didn't know anything beyond having a superficial knowledge of the history of rent control/rent stabilization, or how common a J-51 tax exemption/abatement is. The tenant who started the process has since bailed as soon as her offspring was married off, so she is in better circumstances compared to me. There are two other tenants beside me left, one is the owners niece and her family living in my building the other is I believe also related to the owner and living in the first building with their family.Why they were allowed to remain I don't know. During the summer he stopped giving hot water, he only resumed temporarily during the high holy days of the jewish holidays. Then about two and a half months ago stopped giving hot water, and never started to give heat. The place is basicly an empty shell, no insulation, 1/2 inch plaster board, not ever real plaster. So even when it's warm outside it's at least 10 degrees colder inside.

My Life In Hell

In April of 2004 I lost the subsidy for good, same reason. Then in June of 2004 the tenants recieved a notice telling us the buildings were under new ownership, I later found out this wasn't true. They wanted all the tenants to vacate their apts. One of the tenants went to Assemblyman Dov Hikind and found out they wanted to convert the buildings into a yeshiva. They wouldn't settle for two of the buildings, they insisted on all three. Most of the tenants decided to leave, but some of us decided to fight and signed a petition that the tenant who went to Dov Hikind brought to us. We recieved notices telling us that the super, who had a part interest in the buildings and was later bought out, and his assistant were being let go. We were told to mail the rent instead to a place in Clifton N.J. When we did, a month later when we recieved a rent invoice which was a practice started in Nov. 2002, it was for twice the amount implying that we never paid the rent. I don't know what became of the check. I had to put a stop payment on it, for all the good it did, it was good for only 6 months.

My Life In Hell

I have a complicated housing situation. I'm living in 1 of 3 buildings that interconnect. Each building has 16 apartments. The buildings are about 100 years old. This is in an ultra orthodox chasidic jewish community Borough Park Brooklyn. The owner- although at this point he claims not to be-is a rabbi who bought and renovated the buildings around 1973. There was a fire in one of the buildings in 1969. What I didn't know until recently was he, they got a tax exemption/abatement J-51. He did a miserable job the buildings never held up. I lost or had my NYCHA section 8 subsidy suspended in 1991 because of his refusal to fix. He completed the renovations in Feb. 1975. The subsidy was reinstated only after superficial repairs managed to make by self. In Nov. of 2002 the tenants were sent a notice telling us the buildings were under new management. This was the beginning of a nightmare.

My Life In Hell

My housing situation is a nightmare. It's really a shame there isn't some forum for tenants to be able to speak about their situations and get help and not be censured for whatever reason, even being too detailed about what may be a very complicated situation. A forum or tenantnet for tenants in N.Y.C where you aren't treated like a dimwit. It would be nice if people who blogged actually read someone elses blog once in a while and would care enough to offer some help instead of being so complacent and self absorbed about what ever, basicly nothing that's going on in their own lives compared to the real nightmares some of us are facing.