When her mother died in 1970, Martha Taveras, then 20 years old, decided to leave Colombia. She flew across the Caribbean and arrived in New York City on a student visa. There were few job opportunities in her country, and she, the oldest of 10 children, needed to support her family.
Arriving in Greenpoint alone, she met Antonio, who would become her husband of more than four decades. In 1978, they eventually settled down in a red-brick building at 917 Manhattan Ave, where the smell of Antonio’s Dominican Republic-inspired cooking would waft through the apartment complex.
Now 71 years old, with streaks of gray in her once black hair and lingering grief from her husband’s death in 2011, Martha faces the possibility of leaving an apartment that has been her home for more than four decades. After an approximately seven-year dispute with Elizabeth Tapperāthe owner of both 917 Manhattan Ave and 156 Kent StāMartha and other longterm tenants in both buildings fear eviction.
Their fears of displacement come amid an ongoing pandemic and outcry over the slow disappearance of working-class communities in Greenpoint and Williamsburg.
The dispute between Tapper and her tenants also reflects the difficulties of both owning and renting property in an increasingly trendy neighborhood where rising property taxes and rents push out longtime residents.
“I was dealing with a dead husband, that they wanted to evict me from my apartment, that my children were all married, that I was alone,” said Martha in Spanish, her voice brimming with emotion. “I was going crazy.”
Simon Honig, the prior owner of the red-brick apartments on the corner of Manhattan Ave and Kent St, was “just a good person,” according to Emlyn Taveras, one of Martha’s daughters.
He and his family had owned the properties on 917-921 Manhattan Ave and 156-158 Kent St, since at least 1966, per the city’s property records. And he rarely, if ever, raised the rents on any of the tenants living in his buildings, said Gloria Taveras, another daughter of Martha’s. The daughters say this informal form of rent stabilization was a mutual agreement.
Honig rented out the apartments on 917 Manhattan Ave to Martha and Martha’s sister-in-laws. The building housed an extended family, and hence, a community.
Her niece, Yisela Valdes, remembers being able to smell Martha’s Antonio’s cooking, from the apartment below.
“I knew when he was cooking pork shoulder, or I knew when he was frying chicken chicharrones. I knew when he was doing his soups,” said Valdes, who still lives in the building.
And when the parents of the families living in the building went to work, the oldest cousin would escort all of the children to school.
“We were all able to go school in the morning, holding hands literally,” said Emlyn.
After Antonio died in 2011, Honig passed away in 2013, and then “everything changed,” said Martha.
Honig’s brother quickly sold the apartment to Elizabeth Tapper, who works at and owns the building where Manhattan Medical, a subsidiary of N.Y.U. Langone, is located.
She also owns, or is on the mortgage for, eight other buildings in Manhattan and Brooklyn, according to city property records. The total value of the properties to which she is connected exceeds $19 million, per the city’s most recent estimates.
In a statement from her lawyer, Tapper, who said that she is Greenpoint born and bred, wrote that she originally acquired the property in 2013 in part to save her brother’s grocery, The Garden, which was located on the first floor of 917-921 Manhattan Ave. It eventually went out of business in 2019, despite her efforts.
When Tapper bought that collection of 15 apartments and retail space on the corner of Manhattan Ave and Kent St, she decided to raise rents. Some tenants were paying between $220 to $250 per month, according to court documents. The property tax the city charged her between 2014 and 2015 was about $26,000.
“During the past seven years it has been a struggle to maintain the buildings as costs and taxes rise each year,” Tapper added in her statement.
Without prior notice, according to tenants, she asked that they pay $1,600 a month, below what N.Y.U.’s Furman Center estimates as the median rent between 2014 and 2018 in that part of Greenpoint.
However, a more than 500% increase in monthly rent is simply unfeasible for Martha. “For a retired senior citizen living on a fixed income under the poverty lineāthe proposed increase is not realistic,” said Emlyn, her daughter.
By and large low-income as well, the tenants balked and took their case to the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, which determines whether properties should be rent-stabilized, among other responsibilities.
“The tenants were well within their rights to seek guidance, but they also chose not to negotiate,” said Tapper in her statement.
For the next seven years, Tapper and her tenants went back and forth over her buildings’ eligibility for rent stabilization, a legal classification that prevents landlords from exorbitantly increasing an apartment’s rent.
New York State’s law appears to be clear. Any building constructed before 1974 with six or more units should have strict limits on the amount that landlords can increase a tenant’s rent per year. However, the devil is in the details, and the seven-year dispute centered on whether the four “buildings” on the corner of Manhattan Ave and Kent St should be considered one “building.”
If considered separate from the other two buildings, 917 Manhattan Ave and 156 Kent St would not be rent-stabilized. (Both addresses have three apartments each.) If considered one continuous complex, Tapper’s properties would be.
“Given the state of the law, this wasnāt a slam dunk case,” said Adam Meyers, the lawyer who represented Martha and her fellow tenants, in an interview.
To prove that Tapper’s collection of property was one complex, Meyers, for example, argued that the buildings shared a first-floor commercial space and had a similar facade. Tapper’s lawyer, on the other hand, argued that the buildings had separate entrances and addresses, among other points.
The tenants’ case wound its way through the state’s administrative system, where tenants in 917 Manhattan Ave, not 156 Kent St, first won rent-stabilization status. Tapper appealed and won the next administrative review. Finally, Meyers took the case to a New York State court. Martha and other longtime tenants lost, and the state’s higher courts declined to hear their appeal.
“Thereās no clear list about what are the factors you should consider and what you shouldnāt,ā Meyers pointed out as he talked about how the state determines what is and isn’t a contiguous building.
Now, Martha is staring down a potential eviction date of May 1. Governor Cuomo extended the state’s eviction moratorium this past December when COVID-19 cases were at their highest since last spring. However, it remains to be seen whether the moratorium will extend again, especially as the state accelerates vaccine administration.
“I sympathize as to the effects of the pandemic on my tenants, but our dispute has been ongoing for more than seven years without any attempts to compromise on their part along the way,” Tapper wrote. “It was unfortunate it came to this, but the tenants chose their path to never negotiate.”
The tenants, however, are not taking the court’s verdict as a final answer. With the help of St. Nicks Alliance, a local nonprofit, they recently released a petition to garner support in the neighborhood for proposed negotiations with Tapper.
St. Nicks Alliance is also pushing for legislation introduced by State Senator Julia Salazar in 2020 that would prohibit the eviction of tenants in non-rent-stabilized apartments without good cause. More broadly, the suite of laws would extend the rights of rent stabilization to all tenants in the state, said Rolando Guzman, a deputy director at St. Nicks Alliance that oversees tenant organizing for the nonprofit, among other responsibilities.
“This has been legislation we’ve been advocating for decades,” Guzman said. “I think these two buildings are perfect examples of what North Brooklyn residents in unregulated apartments go through on almost a daily basis.”
Meanwhile, as Martha and her fellow tenants’ court case has dragged on for years, she has been biding her time in her home of over four decades. In addition to caring for her grandchildren, she’s been organizing photos of the past and packing up Antonio’s thingsāall out of fear that she may have to move.
A former seamstress and artist, Martha still has the same sewing machine she bought in 1978, the year she first moved into 917 Manhattan Ave.
Her daughters hope that her sewing machineāand their motherāwill remain in the apartment.
“We’re still in it,” said Gloria. “Greenpoint is a special place because of the history, and to strip that away, it’s hurtful to everybody.”
While I sympathize with these tenants…paying $200 is not sustainable in NYC. I live in a two bedroom and my utilities are more. The city needs to stop pushing these issues to the side and forcing landlords to deal with the fact that there is no solution.
Most seniors make less than $12000 a year.(this is social security) There are no apartments in NY that they can afford independently!
This is a social issue NOT a management issue!
I cannot believe that her daughter does not try to help her mother by taking care of her. In Colombia, where her mother is from, children take care of parents and grandparents. It is time to remember moral values and take her to live with her grandkids. I bet that she took care of them all the time. She sacrificed to help her daughter. Why can her daughter take care of her? The owner of the building has been very very patient. Walk in her shoes for a year. She has Taxes, maintebance expenses and everything else. It doesnt matter if she owns 20 buildings. Good for her. But the tenants have to be conscientious and honestly think if living without paying a fair rent is the right thing to do. God bless you with common sense and love to do the right thing.
Homelessness is growing from cases like this .ive rented for 43 yrs 5 kids my hubby downsized 2x from job losses..i lost my job 2x switched careers going to college 7 yrs ..we were paying 500 for almost 10 yrs in inner city ..during this terribly rough period..thank god for my Albanian landlords .they were so kind to us .they waited for 6 mo for my rent when we were both unemployed..till my husband got his disability ck hes a Vet from Vietnam with 3 medals..so i asked Anita why did u trust us ..she said cause you good people..as i counted out the 3 gs we owed her..it wasnt a model place 4 sure but it was home .eventually raised to 650 b4 we left and they sold moving to FL. now we were older parents got married at 30…rents started to rise in late 90s after the 650 we were paying 1100 for 2 floors in 3 family we were a big family 2 of my girls had a baby in hs…we helped them finish hs ..we were always family first..i moved back to the inner city from a townbecause it was all i could afford..section 8 took yrs to get..and when we did get approved my husband was sick.and disabled they wanted to put us in a bullet riddled gangsta housing development subsidized by govt..i cried said no i cant raise my son whose ADHD in there or my 4 girls its not safe..so we passed on certificate thats all they had in bedroom sizes boy needed his own room by law. Shortly my husband got his disability i got a job no longer we qualified for help..some folks paid 0 rent to 20 dollars month on sec 8.!!.rents climbed to 1100 to 1200 for 4 bedrooms apts or a house from 2000 year and up ..now i pay 1350 for yrs one family..5 br..landlords want you now to pay water bills and sewer bills ..i.read where some are going to charge for garbage pickup because landfills are full. People go through rough times illness death our son died in 2016 cancer no life isurance ..cost 20gs to bury we had to borrow.just pd off one loan working on next 2gs to cemetery…landlords have taxes to pay too.. are suppose to fix things but theres tons of slumlords in inner cities ..you.have to fix it yourself if u can ..when your kids grow up they want their own lives..they dont want to.take care of elderly sick.people..yes it hurts but this isnt Columbia ..different cultures and spiritual values..the bottom line is $$..why wasnt their rent raised yrly? Reasonably ..200 is way below medium now .if their SS ck is low they cannot afford housing rents today..only elderly approved apts at income verified. Things change remains nothing remains same…these people had to be.on public assistance to have a rent at 200..no way. ..they jave
food stamps housing help cash assistance energy assistance and use soup pantrys for subsidys..rents have risen according to maket prices..you have to go where where u can afford you have to move
Her rent should have been raised, but not as fast as it was. No one in this day and age can expect to live in any apartment for $200 a month. Much less a full floor apartment. (Another commenter said that’s how big it was.) It is not the landlords fault that she doesn’t earn enough money to pay more than that. That’s where the government comes into play. Rents have raised significantly while income, regardless if it’s SSI, disability or a paycheck, has not. Something needs to be done with the rate of inflation. I mean it’s at the point now where unless you earn $50,00 or more a year can afford to live. My fiance earns $48,00 a year and we can barely afford we live where we do, and our place is not that big. There is something fundamentally wrong with the way our system works. and until that situation is rectified nothing is going to change. I feel for this woman, but I also feel for the landlord. She has bills to pay and $200 a month from her tenants is not cutting it. This issue should be taken up by the government. It shouldn’t be an issue between a landlord and a tenant. Unfortunately I don’t see anything changing in the near, or distant for that matter, future. It’s just going to continue to get worse, and the amount of people living in the streets is going to grow.
The problem is this. Iām sure in all the decades they lived there they must have said what happens when mr. honig dies? What happens if he sells the building? Will the new owner keep the rent the same? Will the owner never raise the rent? Iām sure this conversation came out many many times in the family.
Well low and behold mr honig passed and the building was sold. Sold at market value to new person who has todayās cost to maintain the building.
Look everyone feels bad for the lady. What about the others? Whatās their story? What does it cost to even to run a building like that! 26g per year in taxes is a start
Today it’s Martla n tomorrow it may be your own parent… the elderly were the one who stay n held things down for all these new comers… now because they grown older we or whoever come have the rights to push or force them away from their livelihood memories, left in peace of mind n be able to live out their live with everybody respecting them… Stop! N think if they were your parents aunts uncle sisters brothers,… these people have been here thru thick n thin… n they not only deserve they right to be able to stay, but also respected… leave them alone. Let them live out the rest of their lives within a safe home… n not homeless! God Bless!
Martha has no rights to stay at 200 per month rent. That is just stupid to think. A car cost $10,000 40 years ago, does that mean it should sell today for the same? Is that Martha’s Right?
Hell no, if she wants it now, she has to pay the going rate of $35,000
I live in North Carolina, (73) anyone in any state that is 65 or older should be living in government low rent apartments, without they have a lot of money and can afford big rent.
What are these people’s problem, if
you are poor why are you harassing
anyone that’s trying to make a living.
When you were young you should
have gotten a good job so you could be up with the current times, you knew change was coming.
So do what is right and move, you will
Live better in a government assisted
Apartment ,than you do now, with people your own age and make some
friends, you must not have any that
you can talk to about what a good man your passed husbsnd was.
And can afford a large rent.
I recall when the brother’s business, The Garden, went under. At the special gathering they had for their customers after the fact the reason they used was that the landlord was greedy and would not lower their rent. I felt bad for them at the time. Now, knowing this, not so much.
Why don’t people LEARN HISTORY first the OWNER has a MORTGAGE 2nd she has PROPERTY TAXES that must PAID 3rd WATER,SEWERAGE are NOT FREE as ELECTRIC,FUEL,STRUCTUREAL MAINTENANCE 4th when you eliminate the PROFIT motive OWNERS ABANDON PROPERTY and the LAST THING YOU WANT WANT IS HPD FOR A LANDLORD
It’s shameful that the landlord can’t even collect enough rent to pay her property taxes. I cannot think of one city in the US, no matter how much of a hellhole it is, where the median monthly residential rental rate would be less than $200 a month. To expect that that is a reasonable rental rate in Brooklyn of all places, is naive at best, and predatory of the tenants at worst.
First time Iāve ever heard elderly people living in poverty referred to as āpredatoryā…
Everything comes to an end; including 200 dollar rents.
They enjoyed extremely cheap housing costs for decades. They should be grateful for that.
It’s time to accept reality and move.
After 40 years if you are still living in poverty, stupidity is actually your problem, and that’s on you to fix
ā£ļøā£ļø
Let the tenants association purchase the property and turn it into co-op?
I don’t think the property is for sale. This tenant need to be living in a subsidize home. If she ever paid taxes the state collected then not the landlords. Why the landlords should be responsible for the tenant?. The landlord should have the right to fix the property and rent it at market value so she can be able to pay property taxes. Utilities and also have some profit.
The landlady is worth over 19 million. Why not just do a good deed and allow them to stay. My parents barely raised people’s rent! What you wrote was mean and nasty.
What Next…If you donāt own it, why should anyone else be allowed to control it? As life goās on, the cost of living climbs, this isnāt a New Phenomenal, itās the price of Reality, we all have to adjust and make provisions for whatās next in life, in community shouldnāt look like eminent domain, or a hostile takeover.
I am utterly confused why renters think that theyāre entitlement is somehow the workaround for Everything…
Tenants have no No accountability, shoulder None of the responsibilities, while paying just enough to sustain there own life and contributing nothing else…Water Cost More, Gas, Food and Garbage Cost More etc.
Hold your local governments responsible, theyāve known for years that there would be a housing shortage and theyāve done nothing to create a housing plan sufficient enough to deal with rising cost( public housing and alike), instead theyāve done the cowardly thing and laid this mess at the feet of property owners.
Sham On You All!
Property Owners all over the world are being held hostage, to account for other(s) peoples misfortunes and unfortunate circumstances.
Life Happens Too All Of Us…Property Owner are no Different!
This current trend of housing anarchist, is Hostile and tantamount to Bullying!!!
Taxes Go Up Every Year…Do Tenants Give A….No, itās all about them and their needs, which is selfish and very myopic.
Rental Property Taxes in some cases, if not all, are Fronting The Cost For All The Free Legal Assistance, While Property Owners are Denied Fair access to the same Legal Defenses. Owner have Lost Billions and growing, whereās the Community In That?
Taxation without representation, Is?
Absolutely Amazing , Selfish and Extremely Disappointing
You hit the nail on the head! Renters are sneaky, conniving leaches!
Being a senior citizen on a fixed income does not mean they are sneaky leeches. Not all tenants are bad and not all are good. Maybe the city needs to think about its aging population and make special arrangements to either help them or get them into rent controlled buildings.
I agree with you 100%. Unfortunately the government wants nothing to do with it. They keep allowing things to go up, and up, and up while peoples income does not. They have no idea what it’s like to live in the real world. If this were the 70’s you could buy a home if you worked at a minimum wage job. As long as you were working full time you were a homeowner. Now you have to work 3 full time jobs at minimum wage just to be able to have a roof over your families heads and feed them. I would love to see any of those politicians live that kind of life for six months. They couldn’t do it. This all needs to be taken up with the government. They are the only ones who can change the trajectory of this country. They need to start taxing the wealthy as much as they tax the little guy and then there would be money to raise the pay wage and be able to have affordable living. The whole thing is just wrong and upsets me very much.
Boo-hoo. These poor landlords with their $19 million in real estate holdings being bullied by a 70-year-old woman making $12,000 a year.
What I don’t understand in your feelings is that this woman has been paying $200 a month for the past 7 years what about the $26,000 that the landlord needs to pay just in property taxes alone every yr? here’s a suggestion why don’t you take this woman in and give her your apartment for $200 and see how you will feel?
If the tenant is making 12,000 why is she only paying 200$ per month. She can afford to pay more. Put up 350$ per month and share a rental with grandson or daughter pictured. A landlord has the right to make an honest living. You cannot envy what others have. Work so you can better yourself. But there is NO city in USA with 200$ monthly rent. The exception is senior housing. Have her move there.
Knowing that, where should these tenants move to?
Columbia
Columbia obviously.
Yeah, taxes do go up every year, but the minimum wage does not, neither does the SSI. Where are these people supposed to go on $1,200 a year. There are very few places in this country you can live on such a minuscule income.
People from Columbia need to realize that though and don’t come to NYC expecting a free ride.
The Landlord has multiple buildings and clearly is greedy. You want to throw out seniors that have lived in the building for over 40 years.
The Court needs to find a reasonable solution that helps these people.
A reasonable solution would be to throw the deadbeats out and replace them with tenants who can pay a reasonable rent which allows the landlord to at least cover their costs for maintenance and taxes etc.
“Thow the deadbeats out” where?
Why? When did people expect to be entitled to something that is not theirs? They didnāt buy the properties. They RENTED them and personally should feel ashamed of themselves for only paying $300 a month in rent! How can an owner expect to keep up with mortgages, taxes, maintenance, landscape, etc….if people feel ENTITLED to paying barely NOTHING?? This is ROBBERY…of the building owners. Each tenant that REFUSED to negotiate…they wanted to continue to basically STEAL from the building owners until they died and no longer needed a place to live….ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE the level of entitlement we see growing each and every day. The building owners owe these TENANTS ZILCH and I personally hope when future landlords call for references…they share everything about these thieves because I would hate to be stuck renting to a bunch of self entitled, moochers. No shame.
Let’s look at this from another perspective. What I see is what is the main problem with our country. It’s all about the money. Forget about humans, including landlords and renters. Our society will fail because of our greed and we are all guilty. In the end we will realize (after it is too late) that it is not about the money, it is about the people
People everywhere just want a nice, safe place to live. If we have worked at all and paid taxes, we should be “entitled” to this basic need. Socioeconomic imbalance and yet lack of empathy seems to be a problem in this capitalist country. The landlord obviously has more wealth than the tenant and should increase the rent gradually.
Racially diverse societies always fail. What do u expect?
I am with you 100%. Things need to change in this country or the homelessness is just going to keep getting worse. Start giving people a decent wage. $7.50 an hour is not enough money to live on. They can’t even get “some” people in Congress to allow a wage increase to $15 an hour in three years. They are so out of touch with reality. If people weren’t suffering it would be laughable. Tax the wealthy as much as they tax the person making minimum wage. Why do those people have to pay 18% or so of their salary when the people who have the majority of the wealth in this country get away with paying less. I’m not asking them to pay more, but they should be taxed at the same rate we are. Because they most certainly are not right now.
The fault lies with the landlord. Nobody told her to buy that place. She shouldve done her research before buying plus I’m sure it’s illegal to raise the rent that high without notice. I dont want to hear about her paying property taxes and so on and so forth she shouldve done her research as most people do when making large purchases. The tenants weren’t willing to negotiate probably cus they couldnt afford it?
Its a free market blues clues.. Are you telling us that someone cannot sell their property bc the people who live their (the renters) wont like it? “nobody told her to buy that place” thats really an ignorant statement. Who should buy it then? It was not rent controlled or rent regulated when she bought it, so that wasnt an issue.. It became an issue when the tenants with the help of advocacy groups made this a 7 year fight.
So now that the landlord won the case, let me ask you this.. The rent was raised 7 years ago to $1600 a month. Does she now owe the 7 years of back rent at $1600 a month?
I leave you with this to ponder: “no one told the lady to move to that building”
The seniors got used to a landlord who kept rents for 40 years….
$250 is not realistic.
The landlord is not greedy.
Would you sell your car for 85% discount?
Do you think that the landlord is going to rent the property for a *reasonable amount* — give me a break!
Greed is the modus operandi here.
LL asked $1600 which is still way below market and the tenants decided to sue instead.
Asking for $1600 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn isnt greedy lol.. Landlord must pay property taxes and other bills. You think $200 a month is covering that?
Why are you call the landlord Greedy? Whether the landlord has one building or four is irrelevant. Each building has its own cost to run. The $2400. yearly rent is not enough to cover even the basics much less any upkeep and taxes.
Why has this tenant not been looking for a new apartment over the past seven years? If what this article says is true why have the renters not tried to negotiate a reasonable rent increase?
I have to side with the apt owner on this one. It is a business and must make enough money to be profitable just like any other business.
Look for what other apartment? Negotiate to what? Why did you decide to get into this type of business anyway?
I agree with Edwardo.
Rent out units that are empty for what you want.. Leave the other tenants that been there under rhe original owner alone. They wont live forever then increase the rent on those units after they pass away….
This is not possible. Taxes and insurance need to be paid. Repairs must be made. Give the tenants six months to move then take them to task and remove them. There are empty apartments all over the country. Let BIDEN STOP admitting mexicans into this country and out these people into those apartments.
Yeah because the immigrant children that are coming into this country are living in apartments. Come on. The bottom line is inflation is out of control and the minimum wage sucks in this country. You can’t afford to live on the $15 an hour Biden wants to implement, which by the way the republicans are against, much less the $7 or $8 dollars it is right now in a lot of the states. And I didn’t see this problem going away when Trump was in office. Let’s just blame this situation that has been going on in this country for years and years on Biden. Also if Trump didn’t close the boarders then Biden wouldn’t be having the issue he is today.
If the boarders weren’t opened to begin with this woman wouldn’t even be in america. So this woman’s problem could have been avoided by working hard to make Columbia a better place to live.
Or get whacked.
It happens alot.
Then a random relative moves in and claims succession and sues LL again.
Well then put a stipulation in the lease where it is just for the person who signs the it. Get it notified. If they do move someone in they will have a really hard time staying there if they’re not on the lease.
I agree 100% I live in the Seattlel Wa area I am on Social Security and on a tight budget I wish I could afford to live in my own apartment but have had to move in with my daughter and grand kids
I’m not sure you can live anywhere in America for $250 a month. Let’s all be realistic, while I sympathize with the tenants, this isn’t fair to the Landlord
$200.00 a month is extreamly low to live anywhere in the US. The tenants should have attempted to negotiate, and because they did not, they should expect to move. They know they are wrong for expecting such low rent in such a place….forever.
If I was the landlord, I would not have bought that kind of trouble. Greed on both sides of the fence.
Rent stabilization should be for a certain amount of time, not indefinite. Also, she is illegal and it’s not our responsibility as taxpayers to pay her rent, nor the government’s responsibility. She made her bed. Come to America, but come legally!!
To Edward I’m a senior pay my maintenance and utilities and can’t get rid of a freeloader in my house whose much younger but in this case why can’t this woman live WITH HER FAMILY?SHE AND THE OTHER TENNANTS ARE THE GREEDY UNCARING ONES and the way you write you’re probably living OFF a trust fund setup by your grandmother
You sound more like you are living off a trust fund. You have no idea what goes on in the real world for about 75%, maybe more, of the people in this country. That’s how many can’t make a liveable wage. It’s disgusting that the citizens of this country can’t afford to live on what they earn. Doesnt matter what they do. They should be able to afford a roof over their heads.
I have no sympathy for the tenants. Instead of feeling grateful to have basically EXPLOITED the owners for four decades paying less than ANYTHING rental amounts….their self entitlement knows no bounds. To expect to pay less than $300 per month for rent, IN NEW YORK of all places is no better than strong arm robbery. These people are thieves. And to refuse to even negotiate with the owners shows how greedy and entitled they really are. Evict every single one of them. They should all feel ashamed of themselves.
I feel for both the landlord and the tenant because of property taxes have not gone up they would of not had to raise the rent. But that little lady that has lived there for 40 years I think should be able to stay though some how. I was brought up that you took care of your elders. I donāt know I think itās just a messed up situation for both and I hope some solution comes of this.
Thank you for well articulating your solutions.
Get a clue edward. Would you work for 40 years without a pay raise? Are costs the same now as they were in 1980? $200 rent on New York is reasonable? Get a clue bud.
I would pay your increase providing you can get me a pay raise. Good luck!
On behalf of Edward! Do a little homework ken. How would I say it, ākeep looking at the ball in the air buddyā Then there are others and me! focused on who threw it, where it came from, how fast was it going etc. Williamsburg is full of so many Buildings that Are rent stabilized and then we have buildings that are free marketing. Figure it out
Wow. Did some of you even read this!!!! She owns. 19 million total worth of properties! (This property )consists of 15 apartments and Retail. That between 2014 and 2015. Only costs 26,000 in property taxes! ( 15 apartmentsĆ200 Ć 12 is still 36,000 not including retail gtfoh)So 200 and 250 is clearly low by todays standards especially in New York. But raising it to 1,600. Shameful. U along w her are greedy. And i hope same happens to someone you know. She just mad her bro. Grocery store failed. And is greedy because she knows if she gets them out she can, as they say in the article 500+ rent its all about the money just grandfather the old tennant’s raise rent fairly overhaul some apartments n do it slowly. Stop being a greedy @$$ n play w ur other 19mil in properties.
Sounds like a typical, clueless tenant
I left NYC 35 yrs ago; the city is a dinosaur like chicago Los Angeles phila., there aren’t enough jobs for all the people; why not go to the empty regions of the usa eg laramie,.wyo spokane, wash raton, nm elko, nev. Come on people you need a better life get out of nasty dirty jobless nyc or south LA Long beach and head for open areas in east utah or montana
Unbelievable! It is unreasonable to expect to live in an apartment anywhere in the U.S. and pay $200-250 a month. Sure that was reasonable before inflation 40 years go. But $200 won’t even cover the costs of the utilities the landlord is responsible for, no less taxes, and maintenance, and mortgage. Hypothetically the idea of owning rental property is to earn revenues, not become a social service agency and support indigent people. The story of the elderly lady is sad, however, there ought to be the government providing low cost subsidized housing for elderly, or provide a stipend to cover her rent at market rates. Thats what section 8 does, a government subsidized housing program through HUD. Expectations for one type of business to provide free services, prop owners is an easy escape goat for a social problem thst the government has ignored and placed responsibility on one part of a private sector. How is it reasonable t expect landlords to support and provide free housing and utilities to people during a pandemic, but not any other private sect? Grocery stores are not expected to provide free groceries for people out of work. Utility companies are forced to provide free power cable, pjone etc, to suffering people. Auto insurance and medical insurance still get paid premiums or loss of coverage. Government isn’t forcing free services with any of these essential services.
Why doesn’t the government give landlords direct payments for those we are expecting support? I am a small landlord. I don’t get a break on my properyytaxes, if i don’t pay they’ll take my property. No break on city water either but i too am supposed to support now 3 separate tenants. Lost 1/3 of my income. My 22 year old working overtime to help me with the taxes because i have squatters not paying rent but have not lost their income.
Instead of sendiut big stimulus checks, vouchers for housing to the landlords should be issued. If they have income they shouldn’t get ro keep them living rent free. My tenants living more comfortably than i am. 3 have bought new cars thanks to the stimulus giving money for down-payments, since pandemic! Im not guessing, they’ve told me so. One of my none paying tenants says he’s saving up to purchase a house. Withholding rent gives him money for that down-payment! My other
squatters order take out delivery every day. Meanwhile, i can’t afford to get a decent present for my kid’s birthday, and my savings are depleted paying utilities for units people arent paying rent for.
This is ridiculous for myself, and the many other landlords like this landlord from the news story. 7 years of court battles is insane the costly legal fees for her are unimaginable!
I know one of my squatters has free legal aid whilst i have to pay filling fees and legal fees to try to get her out whilst she lives free in my place and enjoys spending her paycheck on eating out.
Its time the government stop giving our property, which is our business away, its essentially seizure of our property and giving it to tenants, a breach in our constitutional rights.
Yes that’s right, illegal seizure of private property by the government. & that’s just the tip of the government corruption iceberg! I have been hating this country for a couple decades now. Ughhh
NY is a lost cause. Corruption and greed has allowed housing prices and taxes to sky rocket. There’s no way anyone in NY should be allowed such cheap rent. If you weren’t smart enough to buy your own over your life plan to move to a cheaper area. Period. I do not sympathize with the tenants at all. We need to block corporate investment in real estate to assure normal people can afford to buy housing. It’s a racket and endless corruption.
I feel for both sides in this case. The landlord should be able to collect enought rent to pay her bills , and those people should have a safe place to live. However this is where I side with the tenants. How can you go from paying $250 one month to paying $1600 the next. That is unreasonable at the least. She should have raised it in increments. Not all at once. How would she feel if the bank who owns her property raised her payment per month at that rate. Yes, I know that would never happen, but how would she feel. I think this is where compassion comes into play. You give your people reasonable rent increases and that will in turn give them a chance to figure out what to do. I mean how would anyone feel if that were to happen to them. I know in my case I would never be able to afford such an increase and one month is not enough time to figure out what you can do with your living arrangements. The whole thing is a shame. It whats wrong with this country. Raise how much everything costs but don’t raise the wage to accommodate. It’s disgusting. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Give people a fighting chance.
I truly empathize with the tenants that have been living in the apartment for decades. But paying $200 in rent is obscene. With rising costs in utilities, taxes, and mortgages to pay whatās the point of owning something if you canāt even cover expenses? Should landlords foreclose and have the bank takeover and THEN the bank will 100% kick all tenants out. When is the line drawn? The city could probably figure out a way of either direct payments on the remainder of the rent to the landlord or some sort of tax abatement to house tenants living for more than 30 years in an apt. I truly do empathize with this tenant but we canāt expect landlords to be responsible to house and keep people if they canāt even cover their expenses.
Property taxes don’t go to free legal assistance. It goes repairing roads, the local schools, things like that. It certainly doesn’t go to non profit organizations. The main problem is that this country is out of control. Do you know that back in the 60’s 70’s if you had a full time job, regardless what it was you owned a home. And I’m about taking the person who worked at the grocery store, the gas station, those kind of jobs. Not CEO’s or anything like that. Just a regular job. Minimum wage jobs. But the price of everything went up so much while wages did not. You can’t afford to live in a $1,600 a month apartment as well as paying for water, sewer, garbage, electricity and food with what most people in this country make a month. It’s all wrong. I’m not blaming the landlord here. She’s doing what she needs to do to survive. However, she should not have raised it that much in one month.
In all the years that sheās lived here didnāt she bother to save some money? Come on if you are paying $200 a month in rent – you know you are getting over. Itās unreal, itās unbelievable. In all that time you should have opened an ira or an investment account and put the money you would have been paying in rent away. Imagine if she had raised the rent on her own and put that money away every month for 40 years? She would be a millionaire by now… what about her kids?? What do they pay?
The problem with her kind of thinking is that she was On a gravy train and thought it would never end.. but now it is. But she rode that train for 40 years. I bet you privately she never thought the rent would have stayed that low for this long. She knew she got over. If the new landlord raised the rent to actual cost so the building would ābreak evenā this lady would still complain. She just doesnāt want to pay.
Our government sends her more money every month in social security then she pays in rent . Think about that . Should saved something every month- you werenāt rent burdened like the rest of New Yorkers
Our government is not sending her money. She paid into social security her whole life. She has every right to get it back now. So don’t make it sound like they are just giving away free money. Because they most certainly are not. She earned the Social Security she is now getting. She was probably making just enough money to survive. She did have a family to raise. I’m sure she didn’t have money to put into an IRA or something like that. She was probably living paycheck to paycheck. Just like the majority of the people in this country.
Our government is what’s wrong with this country. They bend over backwards not to piss off the rich while crushing the poor. Let me ask you something. Do you think it’s fair that someone who is worth billions, or even millions pays a less percentage in taxes then the people who make minimum wage do. They get away with paying like one or two percent of their income while the poor in the country pay around eighteen. Heck some years they even get money back. Why is that? Because the government say it’s ok. So don’t go making it sound like the Government is doing her favors. Because they most certainly are not.
What does paying taxes have to do with this? Thatās a whole different argument. Look – in all the years that she lived there she had to know she had a great situation. The rent being so low. She knew it. Her friends and family knew. Her and husband couldnāt have saved half the difference in what the rent should have been for a retirement fund? Imagine in 40 years if she had put $100 a month in the s&p 500 or even in the bank when the banks were paying double digit interest in the 70s/80s.
This is absurd. Someone new bought the building and is putting a stop to this. No one with a straight face can say $250 a month for 40 years is fair rent. You canāt even rent a parking spot in that area for $250. Iām sorry but no one gets to stay somewhere forever bc they a have a great deal. I personally know people that rented apartments in 2 family houses who had āgreat dealsā until the house was sold and the new owners were no longer interested in keeping the existing low rent deal. Thatās life. She she count her blessings that she got 40 years of great deals
You were the one that brought up the government. Remember when you said the government sends her money. I was simply replying to what you said. And once again you are assuming that after they paid all their bills, including rent and raised a family they still had money left over to save. Yeah in the 60’s and 70’s they could have afforded to save a little but since then the inflation in this country has skyrocketed while wages have not. So if they did have money saved they most likely needed to use it just to survive.
Yes exactly. If she is receiving social security that means her and/or her husband paid into the ss fund. From the sounds of the article they both worked, so they both earned incomes. In all that time of working, they never saved a dime? Sorry not sorry. A minimum waged worker who had a $250 rent for 40 years would be well off today. From the article it seems like the building housed the extended family at one point. All at a great bargain. It seems like the store subsidized the tenants and the previous owner was ok with that. Now that has changed. Yes we are all sympathetic to an elderly woman who now after 40 years has to face the reality of a rent increase. What if it was 20 years ago? Would she not have fought? i’ll say this again: she had a HUGE advantage over the rest of us: a grossly below market rent that is worth about $2000 a month in income. Think about that.. $24,000 a year that doesnt come out of her pocket. Now go back over 40 years and adjust that for inflation. Thats an untaxed benefit. Imagine your employer paying $2000 toward your rent every month starting next month… Do you save some of that money? Do you spend it all? Save it all?
People on social security ARE NOT allowed to have over 2,000 dollars in their bank account..ever.
Not true. We are talking about social security retirement that you get after years of working. Not the social security social benefits or social programs for other reasons
With people like you around, it’s no wonder that we have slimy sleepy Joe in the White House.
Def NOT true. I am on Social Security & I ALWAYS have a lot more than 2000 in my bank account due to careful planning & financial management with an eye towards retirement. I actually make more now than I did while I was working right before I stopped!
How entitled. There are tenants like this everywhere in nyc – they want all the benefits and rights of owning the building without paying for it. This tenant should qualify for scrie if her income is so low and would get rental assistance. The landlord is not responsible for running a charity. I don’t see any of these politicians donating their money to pay this womans rent…
$12,000 a year doesn’t pay for low income housing any more. Yeah maybe she could afford an apartment, but that would be it. She most likely couldn’t afford to keep the lights and heat on, much less buy food
The landlord is not so much greedy and the tenants and their lawyer are not predatory. We live in a disfunctional society. The reason societies were formed, as described in our own constitution, is to provide for the common good. The laws of nature have been abandoned. Civilization is an equation that must be balanced. Animosity towards landlords or tenants solves nothing. We need to do the math and make the hard choices and enforce them. The wealth must be shared at a reasonable level or it ceases to be wealth. Billions of dollars in offshore banks is not wealth. it is rot. Everything in life has limits. We need to recognize these limits and fix this. Big time.
Who paid for the lawyers for these renters for seven years? Instead of these non profits pushing the indigent on landlords, everyone would have been better served if they focused on getting these folks in section 8 housing (which this building is not). Seven years of legal fees would have gone a long way in getting these folks situated. I do hope that they voluntarily vacate and not put the owner through the process of forcibly evicting them via the US Marshalls. That will not be pleasant for anyone. They know the date. They lost. They should move within the month.
Just A Shame…….where did you learn math????…….property tax us just scratching the surface………all their tents do not cover majntenance supplies lightbulbs the bill for heating the building…..repairs…….any idea what a roof costs on a building…….you cant see the forest because the trees are in the way
It seems like EVERYONE wants landlords to give away their “wares” for free. We are a business. I think if WE are required to give away our goods & income then ALL businesses should give away theirs too. Why stop at rent then? Make grocers give away their food, make doctors give away their healthcare, make banks give away their money, make car dealerships give away their cars…since “people need it”. Come on. This is complete nonsense to make one group of people responsible for the situation tenants are finding themselves in. AND Im a damn tenant too! Bah!
Consider for a minute what a couple making even 15k each a year could save in 40 years if your rent was $250. Rent makes up 1/3rd of most people’s income. Now imagine if a couple made 25k each…Imagine the money you could save. My mom is 80 and worked and saved her whole life at no skill jobs and is very comfortable now. Either the tenant and her husband didn’t work or they worked and spent all they made and enjoyed life…maybe I would feel sympathy if she was a spinster alone all her life…but she had a husband who should have been working hard to save for the future of his family…I just can’t feel bad for a family who had that saving opportunity for 40 years and now has nothing. I have lived in nyc for 20 years always paid btw 1200 and 2400 rent and I tried hard to save what was left…worked hard…saved hard…made good financial decisions. College degree and I still do no skill side jobs for extra cash to help with my future…there’s a big difference btw poor and lazy…or poor and spendthrift. My mom never finished high school and always taught me to work hard and save. I wish I had 200 rent I would buy the building after 40 years.
1600$ per month is outrageous anywhere in my opinion for rent! But I understand the cost of doing business regardless of the business! I believe had the landlord not jacked it up that high and that quick and had gradually increased the rent it would be a whole different ball game! And yes rental property is a business however trying to get RICH at poor peoples expense is unacceptable! You don’t have to be greedy to make it profitable!
That’s average NYC rent per month since 2000.
My Father lost his 3 family rental house due to a lady who wanted to pay $125.00 per month and a Son who leeched off him and paid nothing and his wifeās Aunt moved on the first floor and always dodged my Father when he wanted the rent . People can be ruthless and take advantage of landlords resulting in loss of property. Sheās paying $200 per month in 2021 Greenpoint? You have children you should live with them. Unless itās your children who are pressuring you to stay. There is more to this story.
I think they should pay a higher rent because you cant buy food for a family of 2 for two hundred dollars.a month. They know its not right you want to live somewhere for free because that what they are doing.
As for everyone adding there negative comments and lashing out without Researching both cases or visualizing yourself in his or her shoe! āGo fly a kiteā Okay I understand life is hard your paying over $2,500 or more in rent donāt have there parents in this situation cause there not a around, donāt even care or probably dropped them off at a nursery home! Idk. But calling rent stabilized Tenants bullies, Inconsiderate, taking advantage of landlords etc.. Plz Stop it. Because if you were born and raised in Greenpoint in the 70s or 80s and moved out got married and your mother stayed behind lost her husband to cancer and is only collecting Social security every month. How about you Go tell your mom. āYou know Itās not Fair to everyone in Greenpoint or New York or to the landlord youāre paying so little for rent! Cmon Mom your taking Advantage and abusing the system just give her what she wants everybody else is paying 3000 you need to move out now or pay that toā Iām sure! I think a friendly introduction followed by a meeting should have taken place years ago! 2. Then agree and create new leases for tenants followed by small increases yearly especially for any repairs or renovations. Chow chow!
Finally…the voice of reason. Iām so tired of hearing about these poor, beleaguered landlords. You have no idea what people have gone through.
There is an article that talks about how everything would have to go exactly right for years in order for a person to work their way out of poverty. As we all know, everything doesnāt go right all the time, and small setbacks can be devastating to a person living in poverty.
The tenants need to leave. The owner has bills to pay, and if you think they are rich because the building is worth a lot you are mistaken. There are so many costs involved that you all have no idea about unless you own the building and have to constantly put money into it. This is a business not a charity and I side with the owner.
OH MY . VIRGINIA I know a couple of really good p.h.d docs you can talk to unleash some of that anger and hate you with holding.
I’d like to know what the tenants believe a “reasonable” rent should be, given that they’re only paying $250/month and where even the landlord’s proposed $1,600/month is UNDER the average rental rate for the area.
I don’t know NY tenancy laws, but I do know they tilt heavily toward tenants. If I was the property owner, I’d be worried about family members or friends “inheriting” the apartment, by somehow establishing their own tenancy, and therefore having the cheap rents continue at the expense of the property owner.
Because of that possibility, I don’t think that the problem will solve itself – i.e. waiting for the long term tenants to die and then renting out the apartments again at current market rates.
The reality is that the tenants didn’t negotiate and KEPT the cheap rents for a further 7 years while the case wound its way through the courts. Now having morally and legally lost their case (and no, claiming the property owner “can afford it” isn’t a defense), they now seek to bully (yes, that’s right, bully!) the property owner through social media and by seeking to legislate the property owners’ rights out of existence. I wouldn’t be surprised if tenants and activists demand the city expropriate the building.
And as for where will these tenants go? The obvious answer is that they will go somewhere else… and will probably go from being a previous private burden (denying the property owner market rents) to a public one (needing a Section 8 voucher etc…).
I suspect the a relative inheriting the apartment was already in play here… the niece lives here and probably in the same apartment. If this stayed rent control she would gain the apartment under nyc rent laws at the $250 a month with minimal increases. Rinse and repeat for the next generation.. no wonder why building like this get sold and torn down completely
I cant believe they would put out an elderly person who has lived there 40years. Really shame on this cruel uncaring landlord. She hS got to make a buck at the expense of the tenants. Having to pay 1600dollars a month for that slumbag place is not good.
Ok lets go over the fact here. According to the website apartable this building has 3 apartments. Each apartment takes up the entire floor. The previous owner, Mr Honig was a nice person who hardly raised the rent and allowed Mrs Taveras and members of her extended family to live in this building for decades for about $200 to $250 per month with little to no rent increases.
Now this is the interesting part. According to the article, Mrs Taveras, a 71 year woman lives alone on a fixed income. Also her niece, a woman named Yisela Valdez also lives in the building. Read carefully, its in the 11th paragraph down from the top.. She lives there too.. Interesting.
So lets talk about Yisela Valdez. Doing a simple google search I came up with this: Ms Valdez is 46 years old, has a job in the city for a private hospital and yes lives in the same building. Now, do we defend Yisela? Should she also pay $250 a month?
Now does Yisela live in another entire floor apartment? Or does she actually live with her aunt, the subject of this story? I havent dug deep enough to find out. To all the defenders out there: you cant have it both ways.. Either the woman lives alone , or she lives with the niece. The niece with the full time job in a private hospital. Why not do a story about the other 2 tenants in this building? What is their story? Full time jobs? 40 to 50k per year? maybe more?
Thatās some super-creepy doxxing.
And how do you know she doesnāt make minimum wage?
Not really. She posed for the pictures and knowingly became a part of the story. Simple google search thatās all. I donāt know what she makes but one can assume what was found on LinkedIn wouldnāt be a minimum wage job.
I feel bad for these older tenants that have been there for 40 plus years and actually busted their asses for years just to be giving pennies to live off until they pass.. Maybe enough to live in a box next to a junkyard… Without our elders the City wouldn’t be what it is…. Just a sad situation..
That being said, nobody buy property to lose money… They do it to make a profit same as any other type of investment… The way I see it is it is definitely not rite to hike the rent up $800 in one move with a 6 month notice but I can see a yearly rent increase of $300 to $500 because what it comes down to is that it’s a business. I personally would work something out with my senior tents that have been there for over 40yrs… As for the ones buying new cars and living it up they can be kicked to the curb because they don’t even try to pay anything… I think that the state and government should also come up with a payment that covers the landlord profit loss or cancel taxes on said properties until these restrictions are lifted… What I really see is the people are pissed and these landlords good or bad thinking that they was big dogs are now being screwed by the real big dogs by struggling to keep they’re properties stolen from them for pennies on the dollar and losing all that was invested… There is a difference between having $18mil cash and having $18mil in on investment…
I disagree that it was a “kindness” for the previous landlord to never raise the rent. It is because of the rent never being raised that this situation exists in the first place. Perhaps if they’d had to pay the going rate for rent over the past 40 years, these tenants would have been incentivized to move out and get a place of their own (buy). Housing was much more affordable in the 70’s and 80’s, this now elderly woman could have a paid-for house by now and not have to face this in her old age. A house in many states in the 80’s could be purchased for 10 or 20K (what I paid in southern Cal) and would now be worth hundreds of thousands more. If they didn’t want to move out of NYC, they could’ve rented the house out. This is a cautionary tale that shows what appears to be a good deal can really hurt you in the long run. Don’t rely on someone else for cheap rent or a place to live. Make your own way in the world and don’t expect a free ride. There are many places in this country that are way, way more affordable than New York City.
“A house in many states in the 80ās could be purchased for 10 or 20K (what I paid in southern Cal).” In Southern California? Hell no, unless you mean a run down house in the very, very rural or desert parts of Southern California. Even then….maybe.
James, in Spring Valley Cal (a suburb of San Diego.) In 1975 I purchased a 3 bed 1 bath house for $19000. Perhaps you see it as a rural desert but it is now appraised at $650K.
Suburb is a bit of a stretch. I consider Spring Valley to be in the boonies. Slightly better than Imperial County.
James, Spring Valley (91977 zip code) is 20 minutes from downtown San Diego.
In the 70″s you could to do that. You can’t even afford a home in the booneys anymore unless you’re earning way more then the government says the working man deserves. They need to step in, raise the minimum wage and start taxing the people who have all the money the same percentage they tax the person earning $7.50 an hour. Because that’s the minimum wage in some parts of this country, but they will not do it. I live in WA State where the pay rate is $15 an hour and I can’t afford to live alone. Luckily my boyfriend earns a little more then I do. We can barely get by working two full time jobs, and it’s just going to get worse. Things just keep going up while the pay does not. This woman should make enough money on SSI to be able to afford to take care of herself in an acceptable fashion. She worked her whole life and can’t afford a decent roof over her head. It’s just wrong. I also think they should legalize marijuana. I don’t smoke it, but I think it should be legalized. It’s stupid it’s not. The amount of money the government could make by taxing that is insane. But I digress. Let’s just try to make our government work for us, not against us.
She worked her whole life and cannot afford a decent roof over her head? are you kidding me? She had almost non existent housing costs!!!
The shame of it all, is that other landlords will say: see, thats what happens when you are too nice..and you never raise the rent. Maybe if the old owner had raised the rent gradually over the 30 years before he died she would have been paying a normal rent,maybe below market rent, but not crazy low like $250.
She worked her whole life and never saved a dime? With a $250 a month rent?
I worked as a building manager for 30 years if you want help give me a call they can not evict you 347 575-3950.they tried that with my mother and I beat the case .I can give you tips to save your apt.If need help feel free to call me
Scumbag
WOW! That’s a little harsh. Let’s not name call. We’re all adults here.
Why assume the landlord is so rich she can afford for older lady and niece to be supported by the landlord?
We know what the property is worth combining with the other properties due to the article, but….do we know what her mortgage payments are? Are her payments huge? I am sure they are definitely more than $250Ć 3 units! Remember taxes, how about water bills, electricity for common community areas? I have a total of 2 properties, my utilities alone are $2600 a month, taxes $600 month. Thats $3200 before repairs, maintenance, insurance, and incidentals, or a mortgage. Once bills are paid i have a whole $400-600 let over called net profit. Well if there isn’t something major needed repair then sometimes no prodit and in the whole. Renters, you all have no clue what it entails and how much it costs verse the actual profit margin.
It seems like the original owner’s main income was thw srore not revenue from the rentals, therf thw tenants got to enjoy unofficially rent subsidized through his sources of income focusing on the store. Like people already mentioned, they benefited for a long time and now angry no more free ride. Why don’t the family members either supplement her income or have her move in with them. Expect a landlord to do so is ridiculous.
As someone else noted, who are the 2 other tenants who occupied the other 2 floors and what are their incomes?
The media as in this article shows a biased perspective that is meant to sway sympathy for the woman. She and the other tenants who remain a mystery received free legal aid to fight payment on rent at market rates for 7 years, in all that time no money saved to move out??? 6 years pretending no options? Why not apply for government section 8 house voucher in all that time to get assistance? Because she wanted to continue to live free loading. Or… maybe shes not qualified if that niece lives with her because of too high an income.
Also… she lives on social security right? Well she probably not only gets her own but a partial payment for the deceased spouse. Did he have a pension she now gets. We never were privy to her individual Income or her household income if niece lives there. Why not? Incomes of other residents?
Meanwhile, rhe landlord has had to pay more on taxes and mortgage payments and utilities and other miscellaneous expenses every year for 7 long years without even bringing in enough money to pay a fraction of the expenses for the property. Who or how is this magic money to come from. Furthermore landlord not only in the red for 7 years has to pay legal fees to fighr it for 7 years. Lawyers cost$500-1000 an hour, tenants payment is $250 a month? I didn’t read about a money tree wherw she can just collect the missing revenue to pay for all this.
Seems like thw people gribed for $1600 rent which is still below market value, none of them even tried to negotiate which shows they had ill intentions to begin with. This type of thing can cause landlords to go broke and loose everything. I’d not call that fair.
No other business is expected to provide services to poor people for free nor put their own security and business in jeopardy, why should landlords. Landlords are falsely villianized.
Good landlords make efforts to provide good homes for tenants and try to work with those struggling but shouldn’t be expected to carry and support others.
Do grocery stores give food free?
Restaurants free food?
Gasoline for your car free?
Free electricity, cable, wifi, gas utilities?
Doctors and hospitals, and pharmacy prescription medications free?
NO!
What…wait no???
Why not?
These are essential for living but the government doesn’t force these to be free?
Burden on landlords isnt right. Some of us are about to loise everything because we’re exp to give our property away for free. I am not rich, i have bills. Everything i have i worked hard for and sacrifices myself and my children. I was a single mother. We didnt eat out. We bought foreclosure properties and physically fixed them up with all of our free time instead of going out and having fun. We didn’t dine out we were not frivolous but frugal in everything. No new cars or clothes so we could by my property and afford to fix up. Now the government has taken all our hard work and given our sweat equity to people who did not work for it. How is this far?
Likewise, this landlord is not indicated to have inherited her money she undoubtedly earned it. Why does she or other landlords have to give it away?
Would any of you who side with the older lady be willing to give up everything you have or worked for for this lady?
What if the government seized your home, car, bank account or other assets because someone else needed it?
Bet you wouldn’t appreciate that?
The landlord is worth 19 million in property ownership. They care more about how much they make off of ownership than the tenants! People in real estate today are grifters!!!Philly is having horrendous problems with property owners. Its All about MONEY. A deal needs to be made. Where are all of these people across America going to live? Seniors should be granted a subsidy WITHOUT red tape and telling them how to live in their domicile as if they’re in prison or boot camp!
She wasnāt a senior when she moved in. Nor was she a senior for many years. In fact she wasnāt a senior when she the building was sold
Why hasnāt she applied for Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) ?
The real problem is too much regulation. During the depression people would cut their homes up into a rooming-house. More housing in the market, lower, more competitive rent. That is illegal now. Use to be you could rent out your garage or build several mini-houses in your backyard, not now. Untill just a few years ago you could build a home on 1/4 acre or less. Now it’s 3/4 acre. It’s government regulation that has reduced available housing. What made America great is that we were the least regulated county in the world. More regulation more. BUT, I’m not pushing anarchy but more freedom.
Was she evicted?