Manhattan Co-op in Crisis Spearheads Push to Cap Land Rent Hikes
A throng of city co-op apartment owners traveled to Albany last week to plead their case for bills that would shield them from rent increases on the land their buildings sit on. Calling themselves the Ground Lease Co-op Coalition, they are demanding protections even stricter than those recently passed for tenants under the Good Cause law Gov. Kathy Hochul signed earlier this month.
Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan) and Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) are the lead sponsors of bills that would cap any annual rent increase for co-op buildings on ground leases by 3% or the consumer price index, whichever is greater. It would also allow for the co-op to take on a mortgage or other forms of debt for repairs, maintenance and capital improvements.
“Every situation you could think of about housing is at a crisis point, and this would create another one for the people who live in as many of the 100 ground lease buildings that we’ve uncovered so far,” Rosenthal said to THE CITY.
