Christmas came a few days early to the 4,400 or so newly rent-stabilized Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village tenants: January rent bills have reached mailboxes, reflecting the new, post-lawsuit rents. The recalculated rents are a mystery to most tenants, so tearing open the envelope will provide the same adrenaline rush as ripping into a wrapped present on Christmas morning. As per the interim agreement, these estimated stabilized rents will be in place for at least January and February while a more thorough unit-by-unit review is conducted and the issue of refunding rent overcharges is resolved. That being said, we've already heard a bit of disappointment from some Stuy Town renters who didn't quite see the huge reductions they were expecting. But that really shouldn't have come as a surprise.
Beyond the annual increases allowed by the Rent Stabilization law, larger increases are permitted each time an apartment turns over to a new tenant, as well as to make up for renovation costs (each market-rate Stuy Town unit was renovated before being de-stabilized, and there have been many Major Capital Improvement projects). Given the way the post-collegiate crowd has been sardined into Stuy Town apartments over the past few years, it's no shocker that many apartments have seen numerous tenant turnovers.
We've compiled all the info from Stuy Town/Peter Cooper Village tenants who've told us their old vs. new rent. Here's what we've got so far:
$2,775 --> $2,555 (-$220, 1BR)
$3,000 --> $2,600 (-$400, 1BR)
$3,080 --> $2,600 (-$480, 1BR)
$2,990 --> $2,430 (-$560, 1BR)
$3,275 --> $2,633 (-$642, 1BR)
$3,318 --> ~$2,400 (-$918, 1BR)
And in a couple cases, the stabilized rent has actually been calculated higher than the market-rate rent, in which case the tenants can continue paying the market rent:
$2,500 --> $2,711 (+$211)
$2,600 --> $2,900 (+$300)
The stabilized rents don't seem too far off from what the rents should be in this crap rental market, so it seems the prophecies of impending Rentpocalypse may have been exaggerated, though there's still that pesky rental freeze going on. If we're not mistaken (please correct us if we are), the tax breaks received by landlord Tishman Speyer that triggered this whole mess will expire in 2019, and then apartments can once again be de-stabilized.
But until then, a $918 monthly reduction is the current mark to beat. Any other Stuy Towners wish to share their good fortune?
· Stuy Town coverage [Curbed]
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