Upper West Side landlord James Harmon, who owns a brownstone on West 76th Street, announced earlier this month that he'd be taking his case against his rent-stabilized tenants to the U.S. Supreme Court. Harmon argues that the city's rent laws "constitute a 'taking' of his property without just compensation, a violation of his constitutional rights," he tells the Times, which shares a few more details about the case. "“Suppose somebody told you, you’ve got an extra bedroom, we’d like to put someone in there for as long as they want to stay, and you have to take care of them for the rest of their lives and the rest of your life. That’s really what this is like," Harmon argues.
So how much are the rent-stabilized residents of Harmon's "extra bedrooms"?who he says have been there for 90 tenant-years?paying? (Three of the six units in his brownstone are market-rate.) One was paying $951.22/month when Harmon filed his lawsuit in 2008, another was paying $908.72/month, and the third was paying $1,298.24/month. The city and state have until January 4 to file answers to Harmon's petition with the Supreme Court.
· In Uphill Fight Over Rent, Potential for a Major Shift [NYT]
· Rent-stabilization coverage [Curbed]
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