Alanna Schubach
Contributing writer
Contributing editor Alanna Schubach has over a decade of experience as a New York City-based freelance journalist. She has written about real estate for Brick Underground, Mansion Global, and Barron's. She has also contributed features, essays, and op-eds to The Nation, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and The Village Voice. She won a National Association of Real Estate Editors’ silver award in 2018 for her Ask an Expert column for Brick Underground. She is also a fiction writer and a creative writing teacher, and currently lives in Brooklyn.
Posts by Alanna Schubach:
Ask Sam: Can I get my rent reduced because my windows are blocked by scaffolding?
December 6, 2023 - 09:30 AM
Attorney Sam Himmelstein has the answers for a NYC renter who wants to know if they qualify for a rent reduction because their windows are blocked by scaffolding.
Read More
Ask Sam: I’m moving and need to break my lease. How can I avoid paying a penalty?
November 22, 2023 - 12:30 PM
Tenant attorney Sam Himmelstein has some advice for a tenant who needs to relocate and wants to avoid a penalty for breaking their lease.
Read More
Ask Sam: What is a 'Frankenstein' apartment and is it legal?
November 8, 2023 - 12:30 PM
New measures have eliminated the 'first rent' rule that allowed landlords to combine or chop up existing rent stabilized apartments and charge a new, higher market-rate rent.
Read More
Ask Sam: What is the latest on the rent stabilization lawsuits before the U.S. Supreme Court?
October 12, 2023 - 10:30 AM
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court justices decided against hearing a challenge to rent stabilization law. There are two other petitions still pending.
Read More
How can I tell if an apartment I'm buying has flooded in the past?
October 2, 2023 - 14:30 PM
If a duplex's lower level has been recently upgraded, but the top floor left alone, or if an apartment building's boiler was recently replaced, these could be signs of past floods.
Read More
Ask Sam: 30 years ago, rent for my apartment more than doubled. Could it have been illegally de-stabilized?
September 27, 2023 - 12:30 PM
A tenant says their stabilized apartment's rent history shows a significant rent increase, but it could have been done legally under the rent stabilization laws at the time, says attorney Sam Himmelstein.
Read More