Photo:Manhattan Skyline from LIC
Credit: Jona Jaupi

“I’ve lived in this apartment my entire life,” Peter Diaz, 37, said as he sipped on his Coors Light beer. Located in the Long Island City (LIC) neighborhood in Northwestern Queens, Diaz’s rent-controlled apartment is cozy with two bedrooms, one of which is entirely occupied by DJ equipment. “I’ve been in court for about four years now,” Diaz continued, while staring at the vivid Manhattan skyline from the green steps of his fire-escape. “I’m fighting Vantage to keep my rent from rising four times.”

Diaz’s situation is not unique. Because the purpose of rent-control is to limit the price a landlord can legally charge a tenant, hostility can, and usually does, define the relationship  between a tenant and landlord. Consequently, this hostility often leads to a tiring tug of war between the two. On one end of the rope is the stability-loving tenant who has lived their entire life in their rent-controlled apartment,  on the other end is the disgruntled landlord who feels they are being scammed out of their rightfully-deserved profit. Compromise is generally reached in a court of law. Such is the case with many LIC rent-controlled apartments.

Hundreds of thousands of apartments are housed in 1,000 rent-controlled buildings throughout LIC, according to the New York City Rent Guidelines Board. Having recognized its close proximity to Manhattan yet cheaper property rates, realtors, landlords and business owners have been determined to capitalize on this neighborhood. “If you have the money to invest in LIC, do it, it’s a great investment because the rents are high and a lot of new developments are going up,” said Nicholas Zikos, a 25-year-old LIC resident and realtor at Zikos Real Estate. “I’m sure it seems unfair to landlords with rent-controlled tenants because they are not able to monetize on this flourishing market.”

Landlords have long claimed that the city has failed to understand their plight.To add insult to injury, the city recently enacted a new law stating that landlords cannot use bankruptcy as a way to get tenants to give up their leases. “Where does the city get most of its money? It comes from landlords and taxes.” Said Brooklyn landlord Reshit Gjinovic in a NY Times article by Mireya Navarro. “I hope he [de Blasio] wakes up.”

Yet still, while rent-controlled landlords are fearing the political repercussions of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s laws, which have been geared toward making housing more affordable for the poor, tenants are reveling in the love. “It’s refreshing to finally have a mayor who does what he said he was going to, as far as keeping his campaign promises to protect the lower-income population,” said Diaz.

On the opposing side, 32-year-old Jakub Strowski, an LIC landlord, said, “this law is horrendous, there have been times when I have had to pay for building maintenances out of pocket.”

From a landlords point of view, by getting rent-controlled tenants to give up their leases, they get to make capital investments, otherwise known as renovations on the apartments, which in turn increases the value of the property, raises the rent and finally, increases the return on their investments resulting in a profit. “I have three rent-controlled families living in my building, and it’s really taking a toll on my finances,” Strowski said.

To the landlords dismay though, by legal definition, rent-control restricts the right of any owner to raise rents tremendously or evict tenants, according to the government agency, New York State Homes & Community Renewals, but that does not seem to be stopping some landlords from trying.

In a recent example, Vantage Properties, a multi-family unit landlord, well known for buying out properties throughout Queens, Harlem, and Upper Manhattan, has tried illegal tactics on multiple tenants, such as refusing to accept rent, constant harassment, claims that they’ve never received the rent, and letting repairs go unfixed, according to Diaz.

Vantage is so frequently seen as a common enemy by tenants that in 2010 Governor Cuomo threatened to sue Vantage on allegations that they were trying to get rid of rent-regulated tenants, in order to raise the rent for new tenants. Eventually they ended up reaching a $1,000,000 settlement with the mayor, under the condition that Vantage would no longer harass their tenants, as reported by Charles V. Bagli for the NY Times.

“With rent-controlled apartments you can only increase a certain amount every year, lets say 3%,” said ZIkos. “I don’t blame them [landlords] for trying to evict rent-controlled residents, I understand exactly why they would.” While some landlords make solid cases for themselves, it appears the tenants have the law on their side.