Should NYU faculty and their dependent children receive full tuition remission?
Several NYU students who live in StuyTown could soon be seeing reductions in their rent depending on the results of a long-standing lawsuit.
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The dispute, which traces back to January 2007, is based on the claim that Tishman Speyer — the multinational development company that owns the rights to the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village complex — unfairly raised rent prices and wrongfully deregulated several apartment buildings after receiving tax breaks.
The plaintiffs are seeking roughly $200 million in rent reparations, which could result in dramatically lowered rates for many individuals.
Stern sophomore John Huh lives in the complex and is eligible to receive benefits.
"I'm glad that people are taking action for something that they see is unjust," Huh said. "As a student living on a budget in New York City, a rent reduction would certainly help out a lot."
The lawsuit was most recently brought to court on Sept. 10. The arguments that day focused heavily on the ambiguous wording found in the state legislation regarding rent control, specifically the word "became."
According to New York state law, apartments receiving tax assistance from the J-51 program must become rent stabilized by virtue of receiving these tax benefits and cannot be deregulated.
Tishman Speyer's lawyer Jay Kasner argued that the deregulated apartments were already rent stabilized prior to receiving J-51 benefits. Therefore, they did not "become" rent stabilized by virtue of the tax breaks and thus were not subject to the rule.
"The answer unequivocally is no," the apartments at StuyTown did not become rent stabilized, Kasner said in his oral statements.
But the tenants' lawyer, Alexander Schmidt, argued that Kasner's interpretation of the word "became" was flawed. Schmidt said the word can be used to indicate the occurrence of an event that may have already happened.
Deliberations are still under way and rulings are expected in the next few weeks.
Anonymous
Sep 30, 2009
12:17 a.m.
If the apartments re-enter stabilization, NYU bulk lease tenants will probably get the boot and the NYU itself *may* get reimbursed for overpayment. I highly doubt students living in stuy town paying their rent dollars to nyu will get a portion of their housing money back.
Students with their own leases stand a better chance of getting the rent overcharges back, maybe even an opportunity at a rent stabilized lease.
Cather
Sep 30, 2009
11:39 a.m.
I believe the statement by "anonymous" is correct - the tenant will possibly benefit, not the subtenant, unless the student's lease refers back to the primary lease. The students are probably simply paying NYU for "dorm" rooms. But it might open up opportunities for students to find reasonable rents directly with the landlord, as rents may be rolled back as the reselt of the court's ruling.
last nyer
Oct 22, 2009
9:49 a.m.
nyu students like on budgets??
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