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My father has been living in a rent controlled studio on the upper west side for ever. Now he is approaching the end of his life and that apartment is probably the only thing he has of any value. Is there any way to keep it in the family after he passes? What else can be done with it legally?
Last edited by Christopher G; 09-23-2009 at 02:10 PM..
My father has been living in a rent controlled studio on the upper west side for ever. Now he is approaching the end of his life and that apartment is probably the only thing he has of any value. Is there any way to keep it in the family after he passes? What else can be done with it legally?
You may be able to keep the apt, but you have to pay the current value of the apt. either rent stabilized or market rates which ever apply your building. For rent stabilized there is a formula that the landlord would have to abide by for vacancies.
My father has been living in a rent controlled studio on the upper west side for ever. Now he is approaching the end of his life and that apartment is probably the only thing he has of any value. Is there any way to keep it in the family after he passes? What else can be done with it legally?
Hate to say it but the apartment is not his so it can't be "the only he has of any value." It belongs to whoever owns the building.
I am not anti rent control or rent stabilization either.... I support them but possession of the apartment should pass with him.
No offense intended.
I'm not an expert on this by any means....but I thought the rule went something like "if you are an immediate family member like a child or spouse and you've been living there for the last 2 years the apartment can be "passed" to you."
Hate to say it but the apartment is not his so it can't be "the only he has of any value." It belongs to whoever owns the building.
I am not anti rent control or rent stabilization either.... I support them but possession of the apartment should pass with him.
No offense intended.
Technically you're right. The deed to the property is in the name of the owner. But many of what in other places are considered normal property rights have been taken from the owner of rent-regulated property. One of those usurped rights is the right to determine who lives on your property.
So I can see why the OP considers that his father possesses the apartment. In some cases the apartment can be passed from one generation to the next or to whoever, as an estate is passed. There are apartments that have been in the same family for generations and so the rent is incredibly low. Also tenants "sell" their rights to the apartment to the legal owner for sometimes hundreds of thousands of $. That's just the way it is in NYC. It's a political thing.
Last edited by lamontnow; 09-23-2009 at 03:19 PM..
I'm not an expert on this by any means....but I thought the rule went something like "if you are an immediate family member like a child or spouse and you've been living there for the last 2 years the apartment can be "passed" to you."
If you are a spouse, child or grandchild of the person on the lease and have lived in the apt. with the person on the lease for at least 2 years (when the person on the lease died) then you can continue living in that apt. and lease can be transferred to you.
If you are a spouse, child or grandchild of the person on the lease and have lived in the apt. with the person on the lease for at least 2 years (when the person on the lease died) then you can continue living in that apt. and lease can be transferred to you.
The thing with this, though, is that federal housing guidelines might allow the LL to not allow another person to move into the unit. If I understand the rule correctly, it's each bedroom allows for two people, then add 1. So, a 1BR is 3 ppl, 2BR is 5, etc. My understanding for a studio is that it is 0Br's + 1= 1 person. The LL might be able to say that no one else can live in the studio with the old guy and thus no one might be able to continue in the rent-regulated unit.
As always, the best advice in a situation like this is get a lawyer's advice.
My father has been living in a rent controlled studio on the upper west side for ever. Now he is approaching the end of his life and that apartment is probably the only thing he has of any value. Is there any way to keep it in the family after he passes? What else can be done with it legally?
If you want to claims succession rights to this apartment, you have to move in with him and live there for 2 years. You can't just show up and "claim" the apartment. Check out the rent control laws in NYC... that will explain everything.... most importantly if you can even live in the apartment with him since it's a studio.
as long as its 2 years your fine. personally i think it sucks what people do to cut a landlords income and plot and plan to what amounts to legal fraud. . i would love to see how these same people would react if their income at work was manipulated and taken from them because of loop holes in the laws.
as a landlord in new york we have taken all our rentals over the years and converted them to co-ops and have been selling them off as tenants move , die or have their leases bought out.
our family effectively pulled 39 rentals in a beautiful building overlooking central park out of the rental markets ,sold them and would never be a landloard again. EVER.
thats 39 apartments that could have been rentals but its not worth it for us to deal with the aggrevation, the decit and new york citys stupid view of housing
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