New York – September 7, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — LSNYC is gratified that the New York City Council and Mayor de Blasio have given New York City tenants new protections against aggressive “buy-out” practices used to force tenants out of their homes.
Landlords’ harassment of tenants takes many forms, such as the discontinuation of essential services like heat and hot water, threats to family members, or frequent and inappropriate communications aimed at forcing tenants out. These harassing behaviors are increasingly prevalent in the context of buyouts, where owners compensate tenants to permanently vacate their homes. Tenants offered buyouts often struggle with a lack of information, fear of retaliation, a sense of urgency, and a mistaken belief that they will easily be able to find another affordable apartment.
“Here in the Bronx, the development of our ever growing city is having a clear effect,” said LSNYC-Bronx Staff Attorney Natasia de Silva (2nd from left, above). “We regularly encounter owners that are coercing long-term, rent-stabilized tenants into taking inadvisable buyouts. Tenant harassment, coupled with the inequity in the landlord/tenant dynamic creates an untenable environment for renters, forcing long time residents out of their homes, leaving them with nowhere to go – with the added effect of reducing our affordable housing stock in the process. Tenants have been subject to harassing behaviors and an imbalance of power, with limited recourse until today. These new laws bolster the city’s existing anti-harassment laws to provide tenants with a vehicle to challenge such impropriety and conduct that is harmful to our communities.”
