Landlords say rent stabilization laws force him to leave apartments vacant (PIX-11 News)

[QueerDuck]

Jun 25, 2026 --- Right now the housing crisis in New York City is worse than ever with vacancies at historic lows and rental prices at historic highs.

[SSJVegeta]

1. Without clicking the headline suggests there will be a lot of privileged whining

Thats my opinion as a landlord myself.

[Scrivener7]

2. Looks like the landlord let it go for decades. Lead paint remediation laws went into effect 22 years ago.

And all you really have to do is paint over it with a sealant. Was he planning to rent the apartment without painting it?

That red carpet looks like it's from the 20s.

How long has it been empty? And how long did he have tenants living like that?

And how many tenants WERE evicted so the landlord could get the outlawed 20% vacancy bump?

Sorry. Not sorry.

[SSJVegeta]

7. I think there is a term for this

Slum-something or other

[CrispyQ]

3. There's a mess on the wall right by the front door. And is that a band-aid stuck to the wall? Ick!

I was the office manager at a contractor's office & he also owned over a dozen duplex units. He was such an excellent landlord, we had a long list of names of people to call when there was a vacancy, which wasn't often. All his units had a washer/dryer & he took care of maintenance & had a regular schedule for carpet cleaning & painting. His longest renter had been there 9 years & there were several over 5 years. One renter lived in 3 different units over the years. I worked for him for 3 years & he raised the rent $50 a month once. Having rented for 10 years myself, he was an exception, for sure!

[zanana1]

4. You pay a deposit and two month's rent when you move in.

What happens to that money?

[Manatee]

6. It pays

the first and last month's rent, and covers any possible damages caused while you lived there.

[Deuxcents]

5. If landlords can't afford to keep up with codes, they should get out of the business.

They could get units up to code and work with the tenants and some kind of sweat equity where the tenant could paint, cleaning in exchange for a security deposit or work out an agreement where both have a stake to live there. Seems one sided to me with loopholes and just sitting empty is worse.

[DET]

9. Not Practical

Lead and asbestos remediation is not a job for someone who knows nothing about those substances, let alone the building codes pertaining to them. Professional remediation can easily cost 10k and up. There could be a bunch of code violations in those ancient apartments. Not something you want a tenant working on. Skilled workers are expensive. The cost to bring a place like that shown up to current code could be prohibitive. And that doesn’t include aesthetic improvements (new paint, new carpet, new appliances, etc.).

[karynnj]

12. Maybe they should lobby for a provision that lets

them get a reasonable increase after a major renovation to improve the quality. This could involve a City/landlord process to identify needed fixes, pre work agreement on new rent, and verification that work has been done.

In this video a pretty shabby apartment is renting for $891. If that apartment was up to code and clean, it might be worth it for the city to allow a reasonable raise.

However, the landlord should have done this maintenance over time, having a capital improvements budget as part of his expenses. Doing nothing suggests that he is a slum lord.

The other thing is this has little to do with the rent freeze as the apartment has been vacant for some time. I wonder how many apartments in this building are vacant. If the number is large, I think they might be planning a gentrification project with few people getting insider offers.

[harumph]

17. Those are good suggestions.

Some tax relief for documented improvements might be an incentive. Also, aesthetics should come second behind things like safe electrical, heating and plumbing. Some landlords will do the right thing - while others are uncompassionate assholes just extracting $. Regardless of the type of person that owns the property, they can't be expected to do it if the fixes are more costly than the value of the property.

[Deuxcents]

14. I get it..I'm not suggesting tenants clean up hazardous materials. I am suggesting there are projects

That can be shared so there’s some kind of way it can benefit both landlord and tenant. These buildings sitting empty that are seriously out of code will have to face some kind of demolition as I don’t think they can just be there getting worse as the elements rot out the building even more.

[DET]

18. Understood

Legally, the units can’t be rented until they are brought up to code. It should be noted, however, that there are landlords who might choose to ignore that requirement - at significant risk to themselves. Once a unit is legally habitable, it might be feasible to make some kind of arrangements with potential tenants. Personally, I don’t allow tenants to paint or make repairs or ‘upgrades’ since I have no control over the quality of the work and there is potential liability if a tenant injures themself or someone else. Plus, the landlord would still probably be on the hook for material costs.

There are probably hundreds of buildings like this in NYC. I have no idea what happens to them as they age and become even more decrepit. But no landlord is getting rich charging $800/month for an apartment in NYC. I suspect that more of these places would be made habitable if the owners could at least partially recoup their investment. But rent control makes that impossible.

[Prairie Gates]

8. Ideological posh

Landlords have been running this bullshit line forever.

[karynnj]

10. How could it ever be more profitable to keep apartments vacant?

Especially with the costs in NYC! I assume that maintenance of the entire building stays pretty much the same. I also assume whatever mortgage the lender holders stays the same.

What additional ( marginal) costs for renting out a vacant apartments could be higher than the rent received?

[QueerDuck]

11. The question you're asking is based on a false premise...

... I think the reality is that his keeping an apartment vacant is not more profitable than renting it out. However, keeping it vacant represents a strategy to minimize active financial losses under specific laws and regulations.

I imagine that lead and asbestos remediation would cost $80,000 or $100,000 per unit. There's really not a one-size-fits-all solution.

[karynnj]

13. Thanks, but wouldn't that be the case for the currently

rented apartments themselves? I would bet it is not just the vacant apartment that is not up to code.

[QueerDuck]

15. I believe the legal triggers for occupied apartments are completely different from vacant ones.

It's my understanding (and based on a quick google search) that housing laws treat occupied and vacant apartments completely differently. Occupied units are generally 'grandfathered' in as long as there are no active, visible hazards like peeling paint.

The massive expenses of removal and mitigation only kick in upon turnover. When an apartment goes vacant, the landlord is legally mandated to bring the entire unit up to modern code before re-renting it.

So, basically... an occupied apartment might have old infrastructure that is legally allowed to stay, while the vacant one next door is legally blocked from being rented until a six-figure remediation happens.

[karynnj]

16. Thanks, again!