Yet orders of magnitude more renters get evicted from their homes as redevelopment hits their communities, and there are no flurries of state legislation across the country protecting them from eviction. Why the leftwing handwringing over the "eviction" of property owners -- who get compensation -- when renters are left totally at the mercy of redevelopment evicting them?
Even in supposely renter-friendly NYC, the laws provide little protection. See today's NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/27/nyregion/27conversion.html?pagewanted=print
February 27, 2006 As Condo Conversions Return, Renters Feel They Lack Leverage By CHARLES V. BAGLI and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
Bruce E. Bernstein made his way past the wires hanging from the ceiling and
the pile of trash in the hallway to the freight elevator on the 10th floor
of his apartment building on the Upper West Side.
The passenger elevator was not working, nor was the garbage chute. Mr.
Bernstein and many of his neighbors at 230 Riverside Drive say that
construction noise and thick layers of dust replaced the quiet sense of
community in the middle-class rental building at 95th Street after the new
landlord announced plans in December 2004 to convert the building into a
luxury condominium. And one by one, Mr. Bernstein said, more than 100
residents left after the owner refused to renew their leases.
"Since the conversion process started, we have been treated as if we don't
live here," said Mr. Bernstein, an executive for a software trade
association. "Existing residents have little power over the process. People
should be aware: if they can do it here, there are an awful lot of other
buildings in the city they could do it in."
Neither the owner making the conversion, Brack Capital, nor its lawyer
returned calls requesting comment.
Whatever the situation at 230 Riverside Drive, which offers views of
Riverside Park and the Hudson River, there is no doubt that the conversion
craze of the new millennium is on in New York City, with the number of
rental apartments being turned into condominiums each year more than
quadrupling since 2003. Unlike the boom in the 1980's, tenants are often out
of luck and out on the street when the owner comes calling, especially at
rental buildings in prosperous neighborhoods like the Upper West Side.
While many more rental units were converted in the 1980's than are now,
tenants today have little leverage over issues like the hours and extent of
renovation work and whether a steep discount in purchase price is offered.
In the past, many tenants in rent-stabilized units could use their occupancy
rights to pressure landlords into offering all residents an insider's price,
which could be about half of what people from outside the building would
pay. Many residents who had never dreamed of owning their own homes were
able to buy their apartments and enjoy substantial appreciation over time.
But today, with conversions making a comeback after a 15-year lull, the
advantage has gone to the owner making the conversion because of a
combination of rising real estate prices and a successful lobbying effort by
landlords seeking to end rent regulations for thousands of apartments.
Tenants in rent-regulated apartments are protected from eviction - even when
a building is being converted to condominiums.
Unlike the 80's, today the number of rent-stabilized tenants are often in
the minority and unable to block a conversion. Not only do residents fail to
get an insider's price, but even tenants paying market rents often do not
get the chance to buy their apartments because their leases expire before
the units legally go on sale. That allows converters to combine apartments
and sell vacant units at a much higher price.
"The laws haven't kept up with the market," said Jacqueline Ancess, 62, who
has lived at 230 Riverside since 1968. "The laws don't give a darn if
middle-class people live in Manhattan or not."
There has been a surge in the conversion of rental buildings since 2004,
said Kenneth Demario, an assistant state attorney general in the office's
real estate finance department, which oversees conversion plans. But there
are far different consequences for tenants today than in the 80's.
>From 1980 through 1989, more than 35,000 apartments a year were converted to
co-ops or condominiums, a total of 353,955 units over 10 years, according to
the attorney general's office.
Mr. Demario said a majority of tenants in most buildings then were
rent-regulated. They had a lot of leverage, he said, because they could
refuse to go along with the conversion.
A recession brought the pace of conversions to a mere 142 units in 1994. But
now, with a seemingly insatiable demand for housing at almost any price,
conversions are making a comeback, jumping to 6,101 last year, compared with
1,405 in 2003.
In the intervening years, however, landlords lobbied successfully for
vacancy and luxury decontrol, which removed from rent regulation thousands
of apartments that rent for more than $2,000 a month.
As a result, rent-stabilized tenants no longer represent as sizable a block
in many buildings and are less able to pressure landlords by refusing to go
along with the conversion plan, which must be approved by 15 percent of
tenants. Market-rate tenants, in turn, have little or no leverage.
"Right now, you're pretty much out of luck when the lease runs out," Mr.
Demario said.
That is proving to be a crushing reality for Carol Stock, an elementary
school principal who lives in the Sheffield, an apartment house at 322 West
57th Street, near Eighth Avenue. Her building is also being converted into
condominiums. She said that finding her apartment, which has views of
Central Park and the Hudson River, was a dream come true.
Only 15 percent of the 845 apartments in the building are rent regulated. So
there are no negotiations between the tenants and the owner making the
conversion. Ms. Stock, a market-rate tenant, said that she would like to buy
her apartment, but that she feared that she would never get the chance
because her lease had expired. Hundreds of her neighbors have left the
building.
The uncertainty prompted the majority of people whose leases have expired to
move out, said Kevin R. McConnell, a lawyer for the Sheffield tenants'
association. "Their business plan is to throw everyone out of the building,
enlarge the apartments, renovate them and get their money," he added.
The tenants' association said it was prepared to defend itself if the owner
goes to court to evict any of the remaining tenants.
It is easy to see what is at stake for the owner making the conversion. An
investment group led by Kent Swig paid a record price for an apartment house
when they bought the Sheffield in April for $418 million. Still, if their
conversion is approved and everything goes according to plan, Mr. Swig's
group will double its investment. The average asking price is $1,358 a
square foot, with a two-bedroom apartment on the top floor going for $2.37
million.
Mr. Swig said he wanted residents to buy apartments and had offered some
tenants month-to-month leases. But in the same interview, he also said:
"We're not going to renew leases. If they don't have a lease, they have to
leave."
Mr. Swig blamed the state law governing conversions for the problem. The
law, he said, prohibits him from negotiating with tenants before his
conversion plan is officially approved.
"Yet, I've got to renovate," he said. When they cannot talk, it causes
problems for tenants and owners making conversions alike. "It's unfair for
them, and it's unfair for us."
But veteran tenant lawyers like David Rozenholc dismiss Mr. Swig's comment
as an excuse. "I'm sure there is a mechanism that could be worked out to
resolve the issue," Mr. Rozenholc said. "He believes he will make more money
if he gets them out of there."
Gale A. Brewer, a city councilwoman whose district includes the Upper West
Side, has called for greater tenant protections and a moratorium on
decontrolling rent regulations.
"The free-market tenants have a new challenge, which is particularly
unfair," Ms. Brewer said. "They have no choices and are being forced out.
This is something we are trying to change in Albany."