4
QUEENS WEEKLY, MARCH 31, 2019
Elmhurst demands stronger rent regulation
the Road New York member
Beronica Cedeno said.
“Lease after lease, I noticed
that my monthly rent continued
to shoot up significantly.
I panic daily about
what will happen to my
family if we are removed
from my apartment. Rent
rates in this city have spun
out of control and I can’t afford
to go anywhere else.”
The protestors claimed
two pro-landlord loopholes
were at play, the “preferential
rent” loophole and the eviction
bonus that enables landlords
to dramatically increase
the rents in certain rent-regulated
units, putting hundreds
of thousands of rent stabilized
tenants at risk of losing
“My family and 266,000
families across New York
state today are at risk of losing
their apartment due to
the preferential rent loophole,”
tenant and member
of Make the Road New York
Herman Franco said. “It’s
a trick. A landlord allows
a tenant to enter with a
lower rent, but over several
years, the rent increases by
hundreds of dollars, which
pushes the tenant out.”
Before 2003, landlords
who gave tenants preferential
rents, below the legal
maximum, had to continue
them as long as a tenant
stayed in the apartment,
with any increases based on
the discounted rate rather
than the legal maximum.
The rule changed in
2003, after which preferential
rents have skyrocketed,
an indication that landlords
Sunday, April 14, 2019, 3pm
TICKETS: $42, $39, $35
BY BILL PARRY
A new Quinnipiac poll
released this week shows
more than four in 10 New
York City residents can’t
afford to live here and
may be forced to live elsewhere
while tenants of
an Elmhurst building,
facing steep rent hikes,
rallied to demand stronger
tenant protections.
The at-risk residents
protested outside their rentstabilized
apartment building
at 41-40 Denman St.
and shared their stories of
having a landlord demand
rent increases that put
them in danger of displacement.
With three months
left in the state legislative
session, the protestors demand
lawmakers in Albany
to strengthen the rent laws
and expand protections to
tenants across the state.
“When I first began to
live in 41-10 Denman St., my
monthly rent was $1,150 per
month,” tenant and Make
their homes.
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WWW.VISITQPAC.ORG
8000 Utopia Parkway
(Entrance on Union Turnpike, just west of Utopia Parkway)
Fresh Meadows, NY 11439
Free parking in adjacent lot, Gate #4.
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Performing
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are using preferential rents
as a loophole to take advantage
of a 20 percent eviction
bonus, through which
landlords can increase
rents a further 20 percent
when a unit is vacated,
which further incentivizes
displacing tenants.
In 2003, there were
nearly 100,000 preferential
apartment across New
York; but by 2018, that number
jumped to 266,000 units,
which equates to 31 percent
of all rent-stabilized units.
The combination of the
preferential rent loophole
and the eviction bonus
leads to a frequent bait-andswitch
by landlords, who
can depress the rent to attract
a tenant, only to then
demand a huge increase
to displace the tenant and
raise the rent a further 20
percent for the next tenant.
Ralliers claim it is an
end-run around the rent
stabilization system that
puts hundreds of thousands
of New Yorkers at risk of
losing their homes.
“In District 13, we have
35,000 unregulated units,”
state Sen. Jessica Ramos
said. “So many of my neighbors
face harassment and
unfair treatment from landlords
who just want to make
a profit.”
Residents rally outside their Elmhurst building calling on lawmakers to strengthen rent laws
and close landlord loopholes. Courtesy of Make the Road New York
/WWW.VISITQPAC.ORG
