When Developers Get Tax Breaks, Tenants Pay Through the Roof
69% of New Yorkers – over 5½ million people – live in rented housing. Landlords and developers capitalize on that enormous demand, and some break the law while doing so. Last November, ProPublica began an investigation into how some New York City developers and landlords illegally overcharge tenants and cheat taxpayers. ProPublica reporter Cezary Podkul discusses his ongoing series “The Rent Racket” which examines New York City’s ineffective rent stabilization system and investigates how tax breaks for developers and careless regulatory agencies affect the lives of tenants.
Do you know if your rent is legal? @Cezary reports on illegal rent in NYC. Find out how to protect yourself https://t.co/9j6TEcdx9w
— Leonard Lopate Show (@LeonardLopate) February 18, 2016
Have you seen "legal rent" and "preferential rent" on your lease? Do you know what it really means? https://t.co/y8NLwxbtIV
— Leonard Lopate Show (@LeonardLopate) February 18, 2016
@LeonardLopate Can my preferential rate be raised even though there is a freeze on rent stabilized leases?
— Bibi Reyes (@BibiReyes3) February 18, 2016
Certain people go to housing courts every day to investigate tenants, and add them to a blacklist, says @Cezary https://t.co/LBqJq8EhlS
— Leonard Lopate Show (@LeonardLopate) February 18, 2016
Find out your rent history, and learn if you are being overcharged, here: https://t.co/erfPjIOT1w
— Leonard Lopate Show (@LeonardLopate) February 18, 2016
@LeonardLopate Got rent history. Apt exempt in 2002 for "Substantial Rehab." Per DHCR, landlord NOT req'd to prove this. They just say it.
— Susan J Weiswasser (@pinkcollarlaw) February 18, 2016
A landlord calls in to ask: what do I do if a tenant refuses to pay? https://t.co/dew6oP2NGF
— Leonard Lopate Show (@LeonardLopate) February 18, 2016
"It's up to the tenants to enforce the law, and it's really unfortunate," says @Cezary https://t.co/WFZ11Zhn7I
— Leonard Lopate Show (@LeonardLopate) February 18, 2016
"You'll see these condo, and their tax bill is nothing" since some condos also get tax breaks - @Cezary https://t.co/WsV1msMn8C
— Leonard Lopate Show (@LeonardLopate) February 18, 2016
"It's not that there aren't laws on the books... it's that they are not being enforced" @Cezary on NYC rental laws https://t.co/n0ybvRoDNu
— Leonard Lopate Show (@LeonardLopate) February 18, 2016
