Ask Sam: What’s your biggest lesson from a 44-year career as a NYC tenant lawyer?

Sam Himmelstein, a lawyer who represents residential and commercial tenants and tenant associations, is retiring at the end of the month after 44 years. (Congratulations, Sam!) Over the course of a storied career fighting for tenant's rights and helping New York City renters weather huge legal and political changes, he has come to an important conclusion: Your vote matters.

“I’ve seen the law change so many times, and each time it has had a major impact on tenants and tenant's rights,” Himmelstein says.

Some of the biggest changes came in 1983 and 1993. Until 1993, most apartments in buildings of six or more units that had been built before 1974 were rent stabilized or rent controlled.

“There was no such thing as deregulation,” Himmelstein says. “If a rent-controlled tenant moved out, the apartment became rent stabilized.”

Introducing vacancy deregulation

In 1983, the Omnibus Housing Act led to sweeping changes to the law, including the initiation of apartment registration, which gave tenants the opportunity to view their apartment's rent history. The act also created the roommate and sublet laws, which formalized the right to a roommate and the right to sublet, under certain conditions. There were compromises, but in general, the law favored tenants.

“That changed in 1993 under Republican Governor George Pataki and State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno,” Himmelstein says. “They were on a mission from the real estate industry to put a significant dent into the protections that tenants had. That’s when the concept of vacancy deregulation and high-rent high-income deregulation got introduced.”

Vacancy deregulation allowed landlords to remove an apartment from rent stabilization when a tenant moved out and the rent exceeded a certain threshold, which at the time the law was first changed was $2,000 a month and eventually reached $2,750. High-rent high-income deregulation permitted landlords to de-regulate an apartment when its rent rose above $2,000 and the tenants’ total household income exceeded $175,000. (These amounts also changed over the years.)

Tremendous incentives for landlords

And landlords could raise the rent above the usual limits set by the Rent Guidelines Board if they made improvements to the apartment, passing on 1/40th of the costs of those improvements to tenants, permanently raising their rent. Many took advantage of this to get the monthly rent above the $2,000 threshold, thus allowing them to de-regulate the apartment and begin charging market-rate rent.

“This gave landlords a tremendous incentive to go after tenants for the slightest infractions,” Himmelstein says. “It created a whole industry around non-primary residence cases. Landlords would even hire private investigators to investigate tenants.”

Non-primary cases became a huge part of his firm’s practice, Himmelstein recalls, and litigation in these cases would go on for years. During this time, hundreds of thousands of NYC apartments were de-regulated.

Changing the rent laws

“Things stayed this way until 2019, when the state assembly turned Democratic, and the housing movement made a concerted effort to get rid of Democratic representatives who were voting with the Republicans,” Himmelstein says. “They launched an intensive campaign to change the rent laws, and it worked.”

The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act was passed, leading once again to major changes to the law, this time benefiting tenants.

“Vacancy deregulation and high-rent high-income deregulation were repealed, rent overcharge laws were improved, and the rules for making building and apartment improvements changed, among other things,” Himmelstein says. Additionally, the period required to terminate the tenancy of a non-stabilized tenants was lengthened, and the process for tenants to obtain their security deposits back was streamlined.

Much depends on who is in office

The takeaway? So much comes down to your elected representatives, and voting in local elections for politicians who support tenants’ rights and actively supporting their campaigns can make all the difference.  

“Over my 44-year career, my firm always managed to stay right on top of whatever the latest changes were, anticipate what would happen, and get out in front of them,” Himmelstein says. “There’s been tremendous shifts back and forth in the state legislature and in tenant's rights. Now, for the foreseeable future, the legislature is not going back into Republican hands, so tenants should be able to retain their current protections.”

Ask Sam's Greatest Hits (sponsored) 

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Ask Sam: Are landlords less likely to take NYC tenants to housing court because of the new rent laws? (sponsored)

Read all our Ask a Renters Rights Lawyer columns here.

Sam Himmelstein, Esq. represents NYC tenants and tenant associations in disputes over evictions, rent increases, rental conversions, rent stabilization law, lease buyouts, and many other issues. He is a partner at Himmelstein, McConnell, Gribben, Donoghue & Joseph in Manhattan. To submit a question for this column, click here. To ask about a legal consultation, email Sam or call (212) 349-3000