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Landlord of 20 years raising rent 50%, gave us 2 months notice. (1 Viewer)

El Floppo

El Floppo

Footballguy
Fml.

NYC. Just got the email for the landlord. Been in this spot 20+ years, through a fire and hurricane Sandy. Kids born and raised in this apt and immersed in their lives here. I can barely afford it as it is, and now won't be able to afford anything anywhere remotely near, for them or for me.

We're ****ed.

My work situation already is a hellhole rife with daily stress, long hours, not enough pay, and not doing what I'm best at and have 25 years experience with.

I'm about to implode.

Hope your Wednesday is going better than mine.
 
start selling scarfs......

In all seriousness, I truly hope things work out.. That is completely outrageous bases on my outsider point of view
 
Long Ball Larry said:
Do you know if that is definitely legal? It may be, but sometimes there are rules on how much it can be raised, I think. Might want to check into that if you haven't.
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It’s probably legal. But it’s terrible. In all the years I’ve been a landlord (mostly commercial but some residential) I’ve never given anyone such a huge rent increase. It’s always been incremental over time, and I always talk to the tenant first, never a form letter or email. There’s a right and wrong way of doing things. This is crap. I’m really sorry it’s happening to you.
 
Thank you all.

As Larry pointed out, yes- legal, but 90 days.

This is an individual condo owned by a french business family (my wife used to d business with their company...completely random coincidence), not some big corporation. They have been great and understanding landlords over the years- post-fire, covid, not busting our asses with rent raises. Our rent is basically at least 50% below market rate right now, so they're raising it to what they should be getting for it.

Kids are HS sophomore and 6th grade, at a school a short subway ride away in the city.

I'm in a world of ****ed right now. Just looked at apartments almost anywhere for the same price... Crappy spots way out in outer Brooklyn or queens in sketch neighborhood.

And that's if I still have a job come summer time.

**** me.
 
It's a 2br, and after years of making do with a Jerry rigged 3rd BR for 11yo floppinha behind curtains, I finally spent a little coin and put up temporary walls for her so she could have a proper BR with a door. Jfc.
 
Sorry Floppo - unfortunately no advice on the situation but hope it works out - you know there's a bunch of us that are happy to be sounding boards via PMs if you ever need it.
 
That's a pretty douchey move for them. Sorry to hear.

Here in Ontario, CAN the maximum increase is about 3% a year. Seems very unfair to not have any limits imposed.
 
Come on down to Florida….half of NY city already has…might as well join em.

In all seriousness….this may be your que to leave NY and look for a better and much cheaper place to live. Think of it as a new slate and a better life.

Wish you and your family the best.
 
Damn Flop, sorry to hear this news.

I know you're NYC through and through too, so looking elsewhere's going to be tough.
 
Damn, that sucks. TBH, have you ever thought about moving out of NYC? I grew up about an 1.5 hours away and I’d never move back north. Are there growing cities like Atlanta, Tampa, Charlotte, Houston, Austin, etc. where you could be doing what you want to do in a much cheaper area? I’m near Charlotte and I could be downtown in 30 minutes at most and I’m certainly not subway close. I know Charlotte is 1/7th the size of NYC, but if the job situation and the housing situations are screwed might be worth thinking about it.
 
Sorry to hear this. That sucks. No real advice and I know it’s tough with kids but perhaps time to move to a new city. Clean break from NYC.
 
Couple things keeping us tied here...

I work in very specific sector of architecture- high end residential interiors. When I say high end, I mean powder rooms that cost more than your house. While the projects and clients are around the world, the type of people doing this work are focused in a pretty small subset of major cities where NYC is at the center. I would need to move to one of those other places to get work... And those places have similar issues with high housing costs.

15yo floppinho is legit immersed here through HS. He's in Juilliards precollege program (waiting to hear about Carnegie Hall travelling orchestra) and won scholarship to his fancy private school. There's music and HS anywhere... But not quite like this.

La Floppa is a fashion designer who doesn't drive (or work). Makes those other spots tough for her.

11yo floppinha is the one that might benefit
leaving nyc the most as a new tennis player. But she also got into, and money from, her brothers fancy school... And does modeling/acting here- the acting is starting to pick up a bit. Not a great move for her, but the best of the 4 of us.
 
Todem said:
Come on down to Florida….half of NY city already has…might as well join em.

In all seriousness….this may be your que to leave NY and look for a better and much cheaper place to live. Think of it as a new slate and a better life.

Wish you and your family the best.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm not clear on why this isn't an option. I would imagine it has to do with school, but man.....this would be my course of action for sure. NYC sounds prohibitively expensive.
 
Dr. Octopus said:
falguy said:
That's a pretty douchey move for them.
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I feel terrible for El Floppo, but if this a privately owned place, it wasn't exactly "fair" to the landlord to be losing 50% (of the market value) all this time. Not every landlord is loaded or wealthy. They need to live as well.
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That's right. We've been taking the food from their kids' bellies by living here. They're going broke owning their rental property in another country.

The issue isn't raising the rent. It's raising it this much, this abruptly. Weird to have to spell that out.
 
El Floppo said:
That's right. We've been taking the food from their kids' bellies by living here. They're going broke owning their rental property in another country.
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I did not say that - but maybe their other business is failing and this is a way to offset that. I mean it is an investment for them.

Also I get your situation sucks and it would have been nice for them to give you more notice or make the increase more gradual - but they were losing potential money for a while now. I don't think it's fair to label some one a douche for not always being charitable.

And I truly do feel bad for you and your family. Its a terrible situation and they could have handled it better.
 
El Floppo said:
Couple things keeping us tied here...

I work in very specific sector of architecture- high end residential interiors. When I say high end, I mean powder rooms that cost more than your house. While the projects and clients are around the world, the type of people doing this work are focused in a pretty small subset of major cities where NYC is at the center. I would need to move to one of those other places to get work... And those places have similar issues with high housing costs.

15yo floppinho is legit immersed here through HS. He's in Juilliards precollege program (waiting to hear about Carnegie Hall travelling orchestra) and won scholarship to his fancy private school. There's music and HS anywhere... But not quite like this.

La Floppa is a fashion designer who doesn't drive (or work). Makes those other spots tough for her.

11yo floppinha is the one that might benefit
leaving nyc the most as a new tennis player. But she also got into, and money from, her brothers fancy school... And does modeling/acting here- the acting is starting to pick up a bit. Not a great move for her, but the best of the 4 of us.
Click to expand...

Could the 15 year old find a classmate's family that could take him as a boarding student? You'd need 3 years tops, right? Might be worth asking around, you might find a kind soul who has room and would give you a deal.

On the job front and knowing how tenuous your hold is currently, isn't there something tangentially related to what you do in other parts of the country? With states like Florida booming (and A LOT of money flowing in) couldn't you find something related to your current expertise? A city like Naples is lousy with rich people wanting powder rooms that cost more than my house. Feel like you'd find a job no problem.

The wife is a fashion designer but doesn't work? I'm not understanding. Is there any income related to what she does? If not, and you MUST stay in NYC, finding a job with income is imperative. There's no other option, IMO. Unless YOU take a second job and by job, I mean waiter, bus driver, etc. Something to subsidize your salary.

11 yo is the least of your problems, which you've also identified.

Got to work this problem like an algebra equation, GB. Everything should be on the table.
 
Dr. Octopus said:
El Floppo said:
That's right. We've been taking the food from their kids' bellies by living here. They're going broke owning their rental property in another country.
Click to expand...

I did not say that - but maybe their other business is failing and this is a way to offset that. I mean it is an investment for them.

Also I get your situation sucks and it would have been nice for them to give you more notice or make the increase more gradual - but they were losing potential money for a while now. I don't think it's fair to label some one a douche for not always being charitable.

And I truly do feel bad for you and your family. Its a terrible situation and they could have handled it better.
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I don't disagree that the landlord is entitled to their fair market share rent, but they could have approached them a year ago, and gradually raised the rent. There is no argument that can defend a two month notice 50% increase. If the landord's other income sources are so volatile that they would need this influx of cash so quickly, they should have planned for this and gradually raised the rent with the market over the years.
 
I get folks suggesting moving and I do think it has to be considered but that's such a hard thing to do to kids that age. I can appreciate that Floppo and his wife might put that well down his list of options and disrupt their own lives to maintain the status quo for the kiddos.
 
Dr. Octopus said:
falguy said:
That's a pretty douchey move for them.
Click to expand...
I feel terrible for El Floppo, but if this a privately owned place, it wasn't exactly "fair" to the landlord to be losing 50% (of the market value) all this time. Not every landlord is loaded or wealthy. They need to live as well.
Click to expand...
Hitting anyone with such a huge increase on such a short notice is not right. Of course the Landlord deserves to get whatever the market will bear. But there are ways to do this without such an unpleasant, sudden surprise.

@El Floppo if I were you I’d ask to meet the landlord and beg for 6 months and or an incremental rent raise over time. Explain your exact situation and put yourself at their mercy. Worst thing they will do is say no, which puts you in no worse a situation than you are now. And if you’re lucky they might just give you a break.
 
AAABatteries said:
I get folks suggesting moving and I do think it has to be considered but that's such a hard thing to do to kids that age. I can appreciate that Floppo and his wife might put that well down his list of options and disrupt their own lives to maintain the status quo for the kiddos.
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Yeah, staying in the same place and finding a way to bring in an extra $2000 or whatever a month has to be plan 1.
 
Final thought - you mention some additions to the apartment (creating a BR for your daughter). That had to add some value to the property, no? Going from 2BR to 3BR is a significant improvement from my rudimentary understanding of real estate markets. Being a professional architect, could you offer to make any other upgrades to the place in lieu of a rental increase?
 
Scoresman said:
If the landord's other income sources are so volatile that they would need this influx of cash so quickly, they should have planned for this and gradually raised the rent with the market over the years.
Click to expand...
Maybe they own a restaurant that suffered badly during Covid and was forced to close? I'm just saying things happen where people need to find money sometimes and I'm also fighting against the notion that all landlords are super wealthy people that don't need the money.

Yes- they did not handle this well. Maybe its a simple as some one they knew needed a new place in NYC and was willing to pay market value and it opened their eyes to what they have been losing.

I mean you can also say it was pretty reasonable of them to not raise the rent 10% each of the last five years which may have also forced the Floppos out years ago.

I'll back off of this now though - because the bottom line is it sucks for Floppo and his family whether the landlords did the right thing or not.
 
Last edited:
timschochet said:
@El Floppo if I were you I’d ask to meet the landlord and beg for 6 months and or an incremental rent raise over time. Explain your exact situation and put yourself at their mercy. Worst thing they will do is say no, which puts you in no worse a situation than you are now. And if you’re lucky they might just give you a break.
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I'd certainly try this before making any other decisions.

Going forward, you're an architect. You know more than just designing $600k half-baths. There's a short supply of good ones. Get on Linked-In or equivalent sites, and work it.

Nobody hates change more than me. This sucks for you, but change is coming whether you want it or not. Get ahead of it.

I wish you the the best, Flop.
 
Move to Staten Island bro

I dont know how anyone lives in Manhattan

I have a 1600 sq ft detached 3br house with a pool and my own backyard, garage, etc and my mortgage is probably cheaper than renting a nice NYC apartment

And theres plenty of transportation available to Manhattan
 
Dr. Octopus said:
Providing a place for people to live?
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Building apartments and whatnot for rent makes sense. I don't get when people buy up individual condos, apartments or a bunch of homes with the point of renting them for profit. Just seems like an unnecessary middle man that just adds more financial burden to people who need a place to live. I get why those people do it, but seems like that should be pretty strictly regulated. Our housing market in big cities is total disaster.

ETA: I don't live in a big city where theres lots of renting, leasing, etc. so maybe I am missing something. Just my perception. Anyway, back to Floppo, don't want to take this on a tangent.
 
A lot of times in a situation like this you're looking at a landlord that's getting up there in years and the heirs are moving into a position to take over their assets. They look at a rental property like this, recognize that it's not going for fair market value and raise the rent. Seems like something like that may be at work rather than someone who hasn't raised rent in 20 years suddenly screwing a longtime tenant.
 
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