
Mayor Bill de Blasio. Image credit: CityLand
The Community Dispute Resolution Centers will be available in all five boroughs. On July 21, 2020, Mayor de Blasio and the Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity announced the start of a new mediation program for small landlords and tenants across the City. The Citywide Landlord-Tenant Mediation Project will provide both parties with an opportunity to resolve rent-related disputes outside of the housing court system to prevent evictions during the pandemic. (read more…)

435 West 23rd Street, Manhattan. Credit: Google Maps
Landlord classified rental apartments as being destabilized and charged tenants market rate rents despite receiving J-51 tax benefits. London Terrace Gardens, located along West 23rd Street in Manhattan and built in 1930, occupies an entire block and has 1700 apartments. After the enactment of the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1993, London Terrace Gardens began deregulating rent-stabilized apartments through high-rent vacancy decontrol. London Terrace Gardens subsequently received J-51 tax abatement and exemption benefits after making appropriate improvements to the property. (read more…)

Image Credit: NYCHA.
NYCHA put the tenant on probation after the tenant’s dog attacked the NYCHA employee. In April 2015, Lerone Washington’s English bulldog, Onyx, jumped and bit NYCHA’s employee who was delivering a hotplate to Washington’s apartment. A few weeks later NYCHA informed Washington that it considered terminating Washinton’s lease due to his having an unauthorized and dangerous dog in the apartment. Although Washington attempted to register Onyx as a service pet, NYCHA ordered Washington to remove Onyx from the apartment immediately and placed Washington on probation for one year. (read more…)

2013 Amsterdam Avenue. Image Credit: Google Maps
Landlord of 2013 Amsterdam Avenue served a notice of termination on disabled tenant, after the tenant engaged in a series of housing code violations. After a series of incidents, including causing instances of flooding and refusing to allow the landlord access to effect repairs, 2013 Amsterdam Avenue Housing Association served the notice of termination on its tenant Darren King. King is a paraplegic, wheelchair-bound, double-amputee. (read more…)