Six days before the fatal fire this week at 209 Dyckman Street in Inwood, HPD brought a case against the owners at their property next door. One allegation caught my attention. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development cited a $100 buyout in Queens as evidence of the landlords’ bad behavior. I decided to take a closer look at that, because buyouts have become increasingly rare and a hundred bucks is a pittance. Few buyouts happen anymore because the 2019 rent reform removed the 20 percent rent bonus that incentivized landlords to buy out rent-stabilized tenants. Buyouts for substantial rehabilitation […]

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