Lease Renewal Information

The Division of Housing & Community Renewal (DHCR) requires landlords to provide a lease renewal form to rent stabilized tenants between 150 and 90 days before the current lease expires.
DHCR has a wonderful page explaining that if you get your lease renewal late, you can choose when you want it to start: the original date or 3 months from the date you actually received it. There is other useful information there as well: http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/rent/factsheets/orafac4.htm

If you have NOT gotten your lease renewal form a week before that 90 days expires, first e-mail or call Cheryl Casas and Francine Schiff at Stellar Management: ccasas@stellarmanagement.com and fschiff@stellarmanagement.com. If you do not get the form on time, file DHCR form RA 90 with DHCR - by certified mail, return receipt requested and make sure to keep a copy.

Please send a copy of your e-mail to Stellar to the executive committee of the CPG Tenants' Association . We need to know how often these delays are happening.

June rent bills - Computer glitch affects some tenants

From Stellar Management's Basil Chapman, assistant building manager:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Basil Chapman <bchapman@stellarmanagement.com>
Date: Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 9:46 AM
Subject: Rent receipts

Good Morning Ms. Susman

I just wanted to inform you that there was a computer clitch in our
system and tenants are receiving their rent statements stating that
last months rent was not received in their account. I just want you to
know that this information is not correct. I am informing all tenants
that call about this situation and I am letting them know when last
month rent was posted to their account. Just wanted to keep you
informed of what is going on.

Can you go to Albany this coming week?

Espada back in Democratic fold; State Senate functions again

Renegade State Senator Pedro Espada of the Bronx decided to rejoin the Democrats - giving them once again a 32-30 majority in the Senate. As part of the deal, he becomes Senate Majority Leader, while Malcolm Smith becomes Senate President and John Sampson is Democratic Conference chairman.

Hiram Monserrate (who had gone over to support the Republicans and then flipped back) is the new head of the Housing Committee - replacing Pedro Espada. Monserrate has been a strong tenant advocate, if otherwise erratic.

MARKET RATE TENANTS: The bill to Repeal Vacancy Decontrol will be voted on. It will put back into rent stabilization all apartments that have left stabilization through vacancy and the resulting increases. The rents would be rolled back to the January 1, 2007 rent.

RENT STABILIZED TENANTS: The Stewart-Cousins bill, S.3326, is expected to be voted on next week. (It has not yet passed either house of the legislature.) This bill would get rid of the "unique or peculiar circumstances" increase once and for all.

So tenants need a big presence in Albany.

There will be vans going up every day - with a big push for Wednesday, July 15th. If you can spare the day, please contact Maggie Russell-Ciardi of Tenants & Neighbors at Maggie@tandn.org .

Happy July 4th !

HAPPY JULY 4th!

Albany circus continues; tenant issues ignored

One view of what's happening from Tom Robbins of the Village Voice :

Senate Coup Plotters' Hidden Agenda

Tabloids call it a circus, but the lobbyists' goal is to squelch reforms

By Tom Robbins

Tuesday, June 30th 2009 at 1:13pm

The tabloid version of the Great Senate Stalemate of 2009 goes something like this: Those bozos in the State Senate—who can't be trusted even on a good day to get their lunch orders straight—brought the people's business to a screeching halt over a petty internal dispute about who got to wield the gavel at meetings.