The cover of the Right to Counsel Progress Report. Image Credit: NYC DSS.

The implementation of the program citywide happened ahead of the scheduled 2022 goal. On November 17, 2021, the de Blasio administration released the Right to Counsel Progress Report for Fiscal Year 2021. The Right to Counsel Program works to address the gap in access to legal representation for tenants in eviction cases.  (read more…)

Landlord sued to evict tenants from six-unit building in order to provide apartment for son. Shlomo Karpen owns a six-unit, rent-stabilized building in Brooklyn comprised of two rented units on the first, second and third floors. In June 2018, Karpen notified the tenants in the rented apartments that he would not renew their leases and intended to take over the apartments to make a four-bedroom apartment for his son. In October 2018, Karpen commenced an eviction proceeding against the tenants. Before the case could be completed, the State Legislature passed the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, which amended Rent Stabilization Law Section 26-511(c)(9) to provide that a landlord can recover only one apartment in a building for owner occupancy and must show compelling necessity. (read more…)