Eighteen residents say in a lawsuit that the building’s owner has raised their rents illegally. The increases are designed to force them out of their gentrifying neighborhood.
News Story (New York)
Barbara Ross, Rikki Reyna
New York Daily News
August 10, 2015
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Tags: Housing: Affordability, Housing: Landlord-Tenant
Organizations mentioned/involved: Legal Services NYC (LSNYC), Legal Aid Society (New York City)
News Story (New York)
Barbara Ross, Rikki Reyna
New York Daily News
August 10, 2015
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Tags: Housing: Affordability, Housing: Landlord-Tenant
Organizations mentioned/involved: Legal Services NYC (LSNYC), Legal Aid Society (New York City)
DETAILS
Tenants from a building in the shadow of Yankee Stadium have declared war on their landlord, accusing him of illegal and exorbitant rent increases they say are designed to force them out of their gentrifying neighborhood.
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Lead plaintiff Emmanuel Yusuf said his rent was upped to $1,127 this year when it should be no higher than $895.
“It’s over $300 more that I have to pay now. If I didn’t have the senior citizen center I wouldn’t be able to eat,” said Yusuf, 71, a retired photographer.
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Attorneys with the Legal Aid Society and Legal Services NYC say rents in the building had been falsely reported since it opened in 1991, and that tenants were not notified, as required, that their rent-stabilized status would end.