Our partner, Glenn H. Spiegel was quoted in the Real Estate Section of Sunday's New York Times .
Here's the piece in its entirety:
A Renter Questions Destabilization Notice
By: Jay Romano
Q I have been living in the same apartment for over four years and my rent has not gone up once, so I'm not sure whether or not I'm rent-stabilized. I got a "Destabilized Renewal Lease" today, increasing my rent to $1,600 from $1,450. Is there any legal reason that my apartment would have been destabilized?
A Glenn H. Spiegel, a Manhattan real estate lawyer, said the reader should check with the state's Division of Housing and Community Renewal to determine the current and past regulatory status of the apartment. Generally, Mr. Spiegel said, a landlord can deregulate a stabilized apartment only under specific circumstances. If, for example, the legal rent was $2,000 or more a month before the reader took occupancy, and the previous tenant's annual income was more than $175,000, the landlord could have had the apartment destabilized. Then, when the current tenant moved in, the landlord was free to charge whatever rent he wanted, even one smaller than the legal rent, and to raise the rent as he did. But if the apartment was stabilized when the tenant moved in, and the landlord had no legal right to destabilize it, the tenant would remain stabilized and could only be obligated to pay rent increases in accordance with those allowed under the rent-stabilization rules. Mr. Spiegel noted that on July 1, the thresholds for rent and income decontrol rose to $2,500 and $200,000 respectively.