The pool party is over at Chelsea's London Terrace complex. The co-op board of the London Terrace Towers decided that renters in the London Terrace Gardens should not be allowed to use to the pool, rooftop deck, and gym unless the rental management company pays an additional $500,000 every year. Renters, who reached out to Curbed and the Post, pay between $4,000 and $18,000 a month for Gardens apartments, and they are outraged over the proposed additional cost, arguing that access to the pool and amenities is "fundamental to the leases" of all 900-plus Gardens apartments (the Towers have some 700 owner-occupied units).
According to information from a renter, the Towers sent legal notice to Gardens tenants on August 16, citing a 1997 ruling by the Division of Community Housing and Renewal that allows them to cut off amenities unless the Gardens management ups its annual payment to $750,000 (an amount cited by the Post). Currently, they pay $250,000, and an offer of $500,000 was rejected by the Towers. Gardens tenants were offered a 2 percent rent reduction, and they were asked to respond by today, September 5. However, sources say that the tenants are planning to sue the Towers over the move. The Post points out that this isn't the first time the complex saw an owners versus renters fight. Just a few years after the Towers went co-op in 1987, the renters vehemently protested when management made them start paying for the pool. The two-year fight ended with 20-year contract that expires next year.
· Co-op Owners at War With Renters Over Use of indoor Pool [NYP]
Photo shows the notice received by Gardens tenants
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