New York City Rent Control Debate

@uptowngirl from NYC Rent Guidelines FAQ:

My mother passed away - can I continue to live in her controlled apartment?

Under the rent control rules, you could take over or "succeed" to the apartment only if you had lived with your mother for the two year period immediately preceding her passing or departure from the apartment, or, if you are a senior citizen or are disabled, you only had to have lived with your mother for one year. For more information, see the fact sheet on succession on this web site.

Succession rights are also discussed in the Succession Rights FAQ's.

And here are the Succession Rights FAQs: http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/faq/succession.html

@Never Sleeps thanks for the information. Bet the said editor already knows the rules and since she is only in her mid-50's has quite a while to plan her niece's stay with her though the apartment in question is a tiny studio filled with books and other stuff. can't imagine two people living there but then maybe she will install a Murphy bed or find some other ingenious way to accommodate her niece.

@hhusted No, the idea is this: as a renter, the more your building appreciates in value over time, the higher your rent will be. So over time you become "poor" because you might not be able to afford your rent any more. We all know of a lot of places that have been priced out of the neighborhoods they helped make famous. For example, CBGB's. This happens all the time: people move into a lousy neighborhood and invest their time and work and money in it, only to see the neighborhood turn around and be subsequently priced out of it. Look at what the Lower East Side is now. Do you think any of the low-income families who lived there when it was at its worst could ever afford today's rents?

I'm for some form of rent stabilization in principle, though I think New York's system is complicated and often ineffective. My guess is a lot of the hostility toward rent stabilization is similar to the hostility toward welfare and social programs. It's perceived as a few undeserving people getting something for nothing. But there should be a system that reward people for investing years of their lives in a neighborhood, and for helping shape it. Although the current system is bad, I do think something should be in place that helps preserve the integrity of neighborhoods.

New York City should be a place where middle class people want to live, not a free-for-all for real estate speculators.