NEWS
New York Times
"A New Chapter in the Face-Off Between Tenants and Landlords By Josh Barbanel"
Dated: April 2, 2006
BURT HASEN sits in his downtown loft, a sketchbook nearby and trays of gnarled paint
tubes at hand, contemplating the painful possibility, faced by thousands before him,
that he will lose the rent-stabilized home and studio in Lower Manhattan where he has
lived and worked for 32 years. Mr. Hasens intricate maplike paintings were inspired
by his years as a military engineer in the South Pacific during World War II, before
he went to study art in Paris on the G.I. Bill. Now, at age 84, he and his wife, Mary,
and his two neighbors in a 19th-century loft building at 7 Dutch Street find themselves
in a different kind of campaign, facing ever-increasing pressures to move out of
their rent-regulated apartments and lofts.
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New York Times
"FOR RENT; A Good Deed, and an Eviction Notice"
Dated: July 4, 2004
DOLORES KAPEN'S suggestion that her roommate inquire about renting the apartment
next door seems like proof that no good deed goes unpunished. Mrs. Kapen, 84, has lived
in her rent-stabilized two-bedroom apartment in a co-op building at 18 West 70th Street
since 1969. And since the early 80's, after her children moved out, she has rented
that extra room to a series of roommates.
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New York Times
"New Landlord, Old Tenants, Hard Questions"
Dated: February 27, 2000
''IT was a beautiful offer,'' said Marie Johnson, a former homeowner from Queens and a
tenant since 1991 at the Martha Washington Hotel. ''But some of the women did not believe
it was possible. They thought he was tempting us and would not live up to his promises.''
The developer in question, Kevin P. Maloney, is now in the process of trying to live up to
those promises, made to 83 longterm tenants at the Martha Washington. These tenants accepted
an offer under which their rooms will be upgraded and re-equipped and they will be able to
stay as long as they wish at no increase in rent. In return, they backed the developer's
application for a certificate of no harassment to permit the conversion of the
single-room-occupancy Martha Washington into a modern tourist hotel.
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New York Times
"Is It Harassment? Or Is It the Law?"
Dated: January 16, 2000
FOUR times in 10 months, always early in the morning, the knocks came at Naoka Honda's
door and a stranger handed her legal papers. ''If you fail to make complete payment of
the rent or surrender possession of the premises within said time period,'' the papers
said, ''the landlord will commence summary proceedings to recover possession of the above referenced premises.''
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MANN Report Residential
"The Rands' Dilemma"
Dated: October 2006
The Rands' were all smiles as they hugged their closing attorney for the last
time and left their bank's offices where they had just completed the purchase of a lifetime.
They just achieved their dream... they had acquired a vacant brownstone in Harlem
which they planned to convert into a private residence. This was the culmination of a
long search for a place they could afford and which, after some modest alterations,
they could move into with their three children.
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MANN Report Residential
"The Rand's Had One Too Many"
Dated: November/December 2006
Douglas and DeeDee Rand, together with their 3 children, were enjoying residing in
their Harlem Brownstone. Their architect had ultimately been successful in procuring
from the City a final certificate of occupancy for her clients, which memorialized the
fact that the Rand's had transformed a vacant multi-family building into a single family
home and life was good. The Rand's, using their home as a rallying point, were fully
enmeshed in the business of living. Their children were getting older and, in fact, one
of them had already left for college; the other two were not far behind.
Read More... (.pdf - 117Kb)
MANN Report Residential
"The Rand's 62-Year-Old Problem"
Dated: January 2007
Douglas and DeeDee Rand, despite some short-lived setbacks here and there, felt
exhilarated by being owners of real property in the City of New York and began to look
at their Harlem Brownstone as just the modest beginning of a personal and vast real
estate empire. As a result, they jumped at the chance offered by their local real estate
broker to purchase the nearly vacant multi-family dwelling, which was immediately
adjacent to their own building.
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MANN Report Residential
"The Rand's Bubble Nearly Bursts"
Dated: February 2006
Douglas and DeeDee Rand were having the time of their lives. They just completed the
successful combination their existing home with the immediately adjacent building.
They now had and upper Manhattan mansion with forty feet of frontage and a backyard
in which DeeDee could create the city garden she always desired. Moreover their new
and expanded home also had six, one bedroom apartments on its uppermost floors.
The revenue derived from renting these units helped defray the monthly cost of the new
mortgage the Rand's procured for purposes of purchasing, demolishing, and constructing
their new duplex, garden apartment/home. However, and even while the sun was beaming
down on DeeDee's newly planted perennials, dark clouds were slowly forming over
the Rand's fortunes.
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MANN Report Residential
"The Rand's Taxing Issue"
Dated: April 2007
The adjacent three-story brownstone, which had been the source of so many problems for
Douglas and DeeDee Rand in the past, was finally purchased, and the new owner had
dutifully upgraded this previously dilapidated building. The enterprising developer
had replaced the entire exterior of this building from roof to windows, had installed a
new boiler, new plumbing and electrical lines, and had substantially renovated the
buildings' five existing apartments - complete with new bathroom and kitchen fixtures.
More-over, the purchaser of the property had applied for, and received, a partial decrease
in the real estate taxes otherwise collectible on his property from the City of
New York pursuant to its J51 Tax Abatement program.
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MANN Report Residential
"Rain, Rot, And The Rand's"
Dated: June/July 2007
Douglas and DeeDee were all smiles as they, arm in arm, took one of their many weekly
walking tours of their real property holdings. On one such stroll, the Rand's happened
upon a building immediately abutting their corner property to the east which had a
"For Sale By Owner - Ring Buzzer #3" sign prominently displayed on its façade.
Both DeeDee and Douglas immediately became enchanted with this four story multiple dwelling.
Read More... (.pdf - 117Kb)
