What do the sweeping rent reforms mean for New Yorkers?

Tenants in New York City now have many more protections thanks to sweeping rent reforms passed in June. In this episode of The Brick Underground Podcast, we explore exactly what those changes are and how they have been received by tenants and landlords. 

The reforms ended vacancy decontrol and high-income decontrol for rent-stabilized units and changed the rules on preferential rent. There are now limits to how much money a landlord can recoup for building-wide or apartment upgrades and new rules around security deposits, lease breaks, and the tenant blacklist.

[Editor's note: This post was originally published in July 2019. We are presenting it again here as part of our summer 2019 Best of Brick week.]

Host Emily Myers is joined by Sam Himmelstein, partner at Himmelstein, McConnell, Gribben Donaghue & Joseph (and a Brick Underground sponsor) to explore all the changes in more depth. 

Building owners say some of these reforms mean New Yorkers will see rental properties fall into disrepair because the incentives to improve them (and in many cases convert stabilized units into market-rate ones) have now gone. They also claim the reforms will backfire, making it harder for people with shaky credit to secure housing. Tune in to hear the discussion. 

The episode concludes this season of The Brick Underground Podcast. We'll be back with more in the fall. In the meantime, you can contact us via our website or leave us a rating or review at Apple podcasts where you can also catch up on any episodes you've missed.

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