e more statement where my you got yeah all right can can you good evening everyone thank you for your patience uh my name is Eric buth I'm the assistant director uh for the division of housing preservation uh tonight I will alternate between director shyron Richardson uh with the task of uh administrator or hearing officer based on the uh case that's going before the board uh first I need to read uh the Sunshine Law statement into a record having been properly advertised in accordance with the sunshine laws of the state of New Jersey the uh today Thursday July 18th 2024 meeting of the Jersey City rent leveling board is called to order at 6:26 p.m. um I'm going to start with a roll call danan Hill the microphone I'm sorry presid Alexander ham present James eock present Elder pinut present okay we have a quorum um is there any um case on the agenda that you would like to hear first commissioner um yes let's um take uh claim number H 20242 property 336 New York Avenue that's uh flip over number six good evening Matt earing again Matt saara from erck petal Gooden plaz and Reed I'm appearing tonight for Jersey mountains 6lc in their hardship rent increase application okay so my client purchased this property um a little over a year ago it's a sixun building in Jersey City um at the time it was purchased uh the rents at that property were extremely low and that was reflected in the purchase price my client paid which is lower for properties uh of that many units in the city of Jersey City um however they were also informed prior to purchasing the property that the units would all be vacant uh upon acquiring the property they came to learn that they were not in fact vacant um their plan had been to to rehabilitate the property uh it was not to increase rents on any existing tenants uh part of the process would be uh renovating the property and that couldn't be done with tenants in possession they also knew that in order to make the property economically viable the rents would have to be substantially increased again not something that they wanted to do while they are tenants in possession unfortunately the seller made a misrepresentation and the most of the units were occupied upon the time my client acquired the property now the Bureau of rent leveling uh reviewed my client's application and issued a determination that provided for approximately $250 I'll look at it exactly uh $228 38 increase for each unit the rents at these units range from $510 per month on the low end to 534 at the absolute highest the bureau's uh recommendation however fails to consider several uh substantial costs that my client pays on a yearly basis those costs include the water bill uh $5,400 approximately I can get into that a little further but my client had to estimate because currently two units out of the six are vacant so the water bills that they received every month aren't exactly uh indicative of what an average use usage would be at full occupancy um the annual Insurance costs were not factored into the bureau's recommendation property insurance the management fee was not factored into the bureau's recommendation the interest on the loan was not factored into the bureau's recommendation and the payments to the building's superintendent were not factored into the bureau's recommendation in addition to that there were approximately $115,000 in maintenance and repair costs that my client incurred during the first year of ownership only a small fraction of those were factored into the bure's recommendation uh on July 8th we submitted a um new materials to the board that more fully document the monthly and annual Insurance costs uh interest in the loan superintendent costs we provided receipts copies of the uh mortgage and Loan agreement insurance contract invoices and payments for all these in addition um to more substantial evidence in support of the repair cost cost that my client had incurred if all these costs are factored into um a determination as to hardship it it would find that my client's total expenses operating expenses for a year are $13,988 30 the total income if all tenants are paying their rent for the property is $ 37,4 188 that's a net difference of $116,000 $116 $483,000 it's not economically viable for my client to operate this property without a substantial hardship increase if they're unable to obtain that increase before the board the property will go into foreclosure it'll fall into disrepair and no one will be able to respond um to the complaints of the tenants or to address any of their issues if those operating costs are taken into account and the fair return uh that's calculated in the bureau's recommendation with which my client doesn't differ um and we just follow the the procedure the process the formula that set forth in the bureau's the board's ordinance we would have a increase for each unit of $1,850 186 that's after adding the operating loss to the fair return uh just consistent straightforward application of the formula in the ordinance so my my client is here tonight asking for the board to approve an increase for each of the six units of$ 1,850 which would bring the new rents uh in line with the fair market rentals for that zip code I'm happy to answer any questions if we'd like to review any particular documents that have been submitted uh subsequent to the application or with the application we can that's the substance of the application um to my understanding there is some abatements that haven't been resolved in the apartments there are yes but those are only in vacant apartments the most recent it's my understanding and I believe Mr bwith could speak to this because I have not seen the actual inspection report but it's my understanding that all violations in common areas and affecting op occupied Apartments have been confirmed debated it is vacant apartments where there still are issues unabated zavy Stein yes yes yes um first I want to make clear I'm I'm I'm not the owner the owner has uh had a a close family wedding tonight and he he he had to attend so he couldn't be here so I'm I'm representing him I'm working for him for the last year and um I was very highly inv very involved in the operation of the property and the financials as well so so in terms of the violations um um Eric I spoke to Eric about getting the the latest report today he said that the inspector is away so he couldn't he couldn't send it but he can attest that every there was a lot of cold violation in the beginning um we had a we had a reinspection U I think it was on the 10 July 10 and and every single violation in in in all the in the properties and the comedies was was was was evaded except for two two units so it's we have one one R which is a tenant that has been living in a senior living facility or in a nursing home a rehab not 100% sure for the last two years and we couldn't we didn't have access to this apartment was a whole we had was was squaders we had a court we had a court case to evict the squatters but the judge said that it's only to evict the squatters the tenants stays there so we we had the right to change the keys and secure it but we can't like to check up on that nobody goes into the apartment and that it's it's vacant until the rightful tenant comes back but in terms of uh repairs Renovations we we couldn't go in and then we have the we have uh two L one L the other side that we tried repeatedly have their emails with inspector Rocco back and forth the then decided that they don't want to allow us in to repair the the violations only when we schedule it with the inspector or with the lawyer with inspector and and I repeatedly emailed them I have so the we were able to abadey the there was two two two issues the water issue and the electric issue plug some plugs that uh needed to be added um the plumbing issue we were able to the bait but the electrical issue I I emailed them the the the the license number of the repair man the the name and everything and try to communicate at with him to schedule something I even tried to CC him together with the tenant and he WR back wrote back oh you you only need to schedule with me but then I sent I sent them okay I have the license number I have the number but it was it went without answered I tried with her lawyer again and her lawyer said oh you can only schedule with the inspector okay so those except for those two units we spent thousands of and a lot of effort and fixed all the violations and and whatever yeah you got a question I have a question I think you stated this earlier the issue with the sale of the building and not knowing if it was vacant or not not knowing if the units were vacant there was an issue with that was that correct me if I'm not hearing that right the property was initially we we went my client and they can correct if I'm wrong but we went into contract to purchased the property with the understanding based upon representations from the owner that it would be delivered vacant that's correct okay so I have a part two on this and that is once you found out there were individuals living there doesn't that sort of change the situation in that you're trying to fix this building and do all these things but there are now people that are living there what was done as far as understanding once the sale was not what you guys thought that it was right did did you have an issue with the person selling you the unit or the the building or how did that whole thing transpire well what we're doing right now is attempting to use a mechanism available under the ordinance to obtain a hardship increase that that's the method by which my client is addressing that that issue question if but if you purchase a building and the seller misrepresents it that's really not this board's uh jurisdiction I mean I would agree you know you your client it sounds like your client was cheated and now you're asking this board to remedy that no that that's no that's not correct respectfully um that is it's not within the board's purview to address issues with misrepresentation in sales contracts I agree uh I am trying to give context for how we came to be in this the present situation now then your tenant proceeded to try to force the tenants out of the building pardon me we we have a an affidavit or we have a letter from the tenants that claimed they were harassed uh and being forced out of the building so this looks like a you made a mistake on the purchase B now that you're not getting the rents you thought you would get you're asking us to remedy your error that so again respectfully I would disagree with that as to representations in the letter submitted from by the tenants my my client would welcome the opportunity to respond to those in detail they do have email correspondences that relate police reports again they they do have email correspondences and other items that relate to those allegations unfortunately we did not receive a copy of that letter until after the deadline for us to provide additional documentation had lapsed if the board would like to us to submit our position statement with respect to that we'd gladly do so but we were unable to submit our proofs and response to that statement yeah one thing if I if I may just address your your other point briefly um again I'm not I'm not asking the board to correct any error I'm just asking the board to do a straightforward application of one of the terms of its ordinance which permits for a hardship increase in the case where the landlord's able to meet its operating expenses and EXC but if I make a bad investment I don't get out I you know how do I get out of it this is like you're asking us to get you out of a bad investment I just want to jump in this is a hardship application so what we want to focus on reviewing is MH the cost of the building and and the rate of return because the ordinance says that you should get a fair rate of return right so that that's what we want to focus on here so before we make this judgment I want to speak to the tenants let's hear their side let's hear what's going on with them okay thank you thank you we have any tenants here in 336 come up get sworn in Hi how are you yes anab Basset yes I can two NS a n n a b a s s e t t ma'am I do hi I'm going to read from something I prepared MH I stand before you today as a resident of 336 New York Avenue for almost 15 years over the past year my neighbors and I have endured a series of troubling and aggressive actions perpetrated by our landlord and Affiliates of one year Jersey Mountain 6 LLC registered uh registered agent El Luther Feldman and hollan management managing member Simon Feldman through pre through a premeditated PL pattern of deception neglect and harassment Holland management has sought to force us out of our homes ignoring both legal obligations and basic decency I hope to detail these misdeeds in the following prior to the purchase of the building in May 2023 Simon Feldman aware of the building's rent control status frequently visited our residents posing as management and asking um sorry asking invasive questions about rent personal backgr rounds uh and the Tenant health of the elderly tenants um while standing there taking notes in June 2023 after months of Simon Feldman's probing he Simon Feldman announced that Holland management would be the new property manager uh manager in August 2023 Holland management hired a real estate company to show vacant unit 3L who revealed the plans to raise the rent to 20 250 approximately um and use a Section 8 voucher this we have evidence for August September 2023 zevi Stein and Simon Feldman tried to coers tenants Irene uh and Mark Rosenthal into leaving suggesting that the government Provisions a pathway for the landlord to force them out if they didn't comply October 2023 Holland management removed superintendent John cherry leaving the building without maintenance staff and forcing tenants to manage the repairs themselves we learned about this when we noticed that the garbage had been piling up and piling up for several weeks John Cherry informed us that Holland management and this is sometime later we had a happen stance uh interaction he informed us that Holland management told him to stop going to the building and doing repairs and taking out the trash because they were trying to get us out this I have evidence of they falsely claimed to be seeking a replacement October and November 2023 Holland management conducted random inspections with little to no notice often failing to follow through on 24-hour entry notices resulting in eviction notices uh for alleged tenant non-cooperation in November 2023 Holland management issued a 4% rent increase with a notice to quit and threatened eviction for non-payment tenants paid the rent increase in December 2023 I faced a total loss of essential Services due to a broken tub handle despite multiple complaints by myself the city my attorney and my attorney Holland management ignored all attempts to resolve that issue and it left me without a toilet a sink a shower and hot water for over 5 months January 2024 Holland management installed hidden cameras disguised the smoke detectors and refused to provide footage um and uh and had locks glued sorry excuse me um and refused to provide footage um for a break-in that incurred leading to police involvement um and they failed to address the serious security concerns meaning we reached out to them they said they would help send somebody right away and it should be specific we reached out to ziin he said he would send somebody um and then they didn't come for a month so we had to fix the lock ourselves to make sure that we were safe in January 2024 after we paid the re increased rents Holland management reversed the decision and demanded the original amount creating confusion and raising raising concerns about uh an underhanded eviction attempt we weren't really sure why they said Pay The increased rent and then wait no don't pay it uh February and March of 2024 zevi sign was seen entering into Apartment 2 I'm 1 R um it was later discovered that dead fish feces rotten milk and other toxic odorous materials had been placed deliberately by this individual uh and they locked the door they were the only one with a key with access to that unit um to create an odorous smell that we asked about we reported and we were responded with we'll send somebody to take a look at it um we have camera footage and and unfortunately this required the fire department's involvement and police involvement um and it escalated to um further finding out that they did this again in another unit on the on the third floor um we have video footage of both the entire thing March 2024 uh March 24th 2024 after a break-in Holland management took no action to secure the property forcing tenants to handle the issue themselves this is breaking number two um March and April 2024 garbage was allowed to accumulate in the basement causing health hazards and quality of life issues this is not the garbage that we the tenants were taking out as as the um maintenance essentially you know just taking out our own garbage this was garbage from uh an evicted tenants apartment to which Holland had hired um handyman I'm not sure who and they were tearing out items bringing uh things that were rotting and molding and just leaving them in the apartment I have piles of footage of them just leaving it there Holland showing up looking at it walking away we reported this many times on C click fix there's a lot of evidence there to to prove this um and so that is that is uh what happened in March and April um complaints to the city departments were ignored by Holland management April 4th 2024 Holland management filed for hardship rent increase which tenants viewed as a continuation of their harassment campaign um and I'll just summarize it with this uh the actions of Holland Management in Jersey Mountain 6 have been characterized by deceit neglect and outright harassment aimed at displacing long-term tenants from their homes they are in complete violation of code 26-7 anti-harassment and tenant complaints the recent the recent hardship filing is merely the latest maneuver in a series of unethical practices designed to achieve their goal of evicting tenants and con and uh converting the property for major profit Holland management and or Jersey Mountain 6 did their research they should have pursued hardship as a first step but chose an unethical path when it didn't and when it didn't work then they cried hardship we urg the rent leveling board to recognize the these tactics for what they are an abuse of landlord privileges intended to exploit the rent control system and to harm tenants thanks one second one second um what's oh what's the current rent you're paying right now $520 okay anybody else from uh 336 that want to speak come up if I could just interject before you go up excuse me um one 270 26-7 B puts these complaints in the realm of Municipal Court and the prosecutor MH the rent leveling board is just for the hardship application right so we can analyze if substantial compliance is is an issue or things like that I just want to contextualize the discussion within your purview as the rent leveling board not a prose prosecutorial role or that nature thank you there's no paper here anna did you take the paper sorry about that true Irene Rosenthal okay and I um I just want to make one comment oh yeah sorry you ttim proed yes I do my first comment is just about what this board is and we felt that the harassment that we were receiving was so important that we wanted to start with that so I'm going to go in through a little bit more of of the things that they haven't done that they're claiming that they're doing um so my name is Irene Rosenthal I've lived at 336 New York Avenue for 22 years my husband and I now live live there with my 2-year-old daughter so Holland management and the owner of the 336 New York AV are here to tell you that they need to raise the rent based on financial hardship on their part the tenants will show you how those claims are false and intentionally misleading the majority of work and maintenance that an inspector from the city will have recently seen is Holland's meager attempt to Abate code violations these are not Capital Improvements intended to increase the safety and well-being of its tenants they are last ditch efforts to be in compliance before the rent leveling board meeting today but please don't let them fool you Holland cannot claim the expense of a super because there hasn't been one since October or November of 2023 Anna went through all of this so I'm just very quickly going to say that John Cherry was appointed in July of 23 by October 23 we had piles mounds of garbage that we had brought downstairs because for 22 years I have never not had a super in that building take out my G so why should I take it out for the garbage um upon contacting zevi Stein emails texts by Anna and Mark and myself we were informed that no superintendent was available but that they were trying still no one has showed up um again just as a reminder it was rediscovered through a chance reconnection with John Cherry that Holland management had instructed him not to perform any duties or to return to 336 New York Avenue on purpose um to push the tenants out um to this present day no superintendent has taken out the garbage and my husband and I mainly mop and sweep and try and maintain the building Anna and I after two um problems with the building break-ins we with the drill fixed the doors the the window had fallen out they had taken it out and put their hand in to come in they didn't take care of that Holland cannot claim that they have responded adequately to the problems in one L um I know Anna for 15 years I know everything that went on in that building with the relationship with Ted Mitchell and they did not respond adequately to her problem in her shower and I can attest to that she came up to my apartment to take showers to use my bathroom because she didn't have any hot water for 5 months um glued locks hidden cameras and no help from management January 24 um we noticed that the front door latch had been locked so that bottom latch latch was locked and glued open we had asked zie to come fix it every day calling him it wasn't for an entire month he said well the top lock locks that was enough but it was not really locking it was hard for us to get into the building at that point I had a one-year-old one and a half-year-old so getting in and out of the door was like it was it was it felt like I was going to have an emergency and I wasn't going to be able to get in or get out and he didn't care is how it felt and just to reiterate Simon Feldman of Holland management told us specifically that the owner of this building wouldn't put any money into the building until the tenants were out and the building was profitable for them why is it the responsibility of the tenants in the city to subsidize a bad business deal that's all I have to say thank you you have a question you two ladies said that yes youtil ladies said that um there was an increase of 4% did you pay it are you paying it now okay so in December January uh December 2023 or January 24 and I do have a document that said that they asked for a 4% increase in which case we all paid that amount that was January and I they did cash that check later on in January I received I received a letter my T my neighbors aren't sure if they received one but I did receive a letter that said we're not going to increase the rent we're not doing it go back to the old one and they gave me a a rebate on that $18 or whatever it was however since February February March April they have not cashed a check they cashed April 30th's check for May then they did not Cash June or July so they are are have only cashed one check since that increase in rent which is very why why then are you here to say that you're not getting money to pay for things but I don't know there's something else at play right I don't know so they've only cashed one of my checks since that rent raise but they asked me to go back to the original amount and I have that information do they have a no increase number that they sent you they sent me a letter just saying go back to the old amount and it was probably in order for them to I mean I'm assuming for them to um apply for the rent increase oh thank you so and I have that information I'm happy to share that okay no is any any other tenant yeah Jimmy here Jimmy you're sign your name okay what's it do what's it do oh these pens first you can just St your sorry say your name for the record James spell your last name James W R H atim yes I'm I'm a tenant at the 336 New York Avenue for 51 years and I never had a I'm 80 years old and I never had a trouble trouble with rent before my my landlord now Haren management is holding back on my rent checks for the months of May June and July of 2024 I live in a unit 2 L unit 2L when I walk when I talk to the landlord Ori he doesn't like me to talk about it he just gets mad and looks the other way I think that he's holding my my rent for the purpose of evicting me by saying I'm not paying my rent which I am paying my rent sir and uh this behavior is making me very sick and uh there were sleepless nights and uh I cannot sleep sometimes and when I wake up I it really upsets me I have a high high blood pressure and uh this is no good for that Hollen management is continuously bothering me about making repair improper in proper repairs that are necessary I believe that they are to take advantage that they're taking advantage of me and zor called me for my ceiling in the bathroom and to be painted and I let I let it happen I let him end do it after painting it they called me and told me that the job was not done right that it had to be done all over again and I had to let these people in and uh it is not right to do the job once if it is necessary and I also I also have my uh receipts if anybody would like to take a look at them that I paid for these uh months okay I guess that's all okay anyone else I just wanted to add one more thing um when he had come up he had just said that he had spent a lot of of money doing improvements one of the things that needed to be improved was my floor and the person who came in to do my floor needed my help to move things to help lay down the floor it's a simple vinyl floor but it wasn't done well you know it wasn't something that somebody had to do that would pay uh $2,000 I had asked a Home Depot what they would do to put down some flooring down and it was $22,000 but this was not a $2,000 job it was somebody came in got the vinyl and need did my help to move my furniture um and I just it wasn't done well you know so I just wanted to add that okay motion to close the public portion of this meeting motion second all in favor all right all right to excuse me excuse me I'm just going to interject again I think this discussion should happen on the record for me feel free to ask um when the rent increase happened to 4% um and everyone obviously agreed to it because they all paid that rent right isn't that sort of a contract what is what the question is so the question is the rent was increased 4% everyone paid and then they were told two or three months later oh we're not going to increase your rent don't worry about it we'll give you that money back to act like it never happened and then it allows for all of this to happen so like if if I signed like a lease with somebody for a year and I agreed to pay X they couldn't come back in three months and say oh it's actually why that's what I'm getting at I'm not familiar with the terms of the lease so it's difficult for me to toine on that it just see you understand why I'm asking though right it just seems odd I've never had like my rent be increased and then all of a sudden the increase isn't there and then we're where we are now that that's kind of where I'm getting at this is very messy I agree that it does seem curious okay okay right we we can go with right yeah so so I could actually speak a little directly to that question if if you'd like um so it the tenants were not offered a lease it was a notice of rent increase permissible amount under the ordinance it was not for any definitive one one year period it was just a increase going forward on a month-to-month basis now under the ordinance my client wouldn't be able to affect an increase for another one-year period however my client withdrew that increase and the tenants are are right in a sense it was because they were comp contemplating this hardship application but it was only in an effort to make this a more straightforward and simple application I I think a 4% incre increase on rent of $510 has has no substantial impact on the profitability of the property it was to make this a more straightforward process I I agree with what you're saying however if they knew that that wasn't going to be anything real I just don't understand what it was like why was that the route chosen it just seems very strange in the financials of everything to come up with some random we're going to increase you rent 4% like you're saying on like 500 plus dollars which isn't a lot but it just sort of seems odd and then to pull that back three months two or three months later to get to where we are it just it's that's not handled well that's all that's all I'm saying my client I can speak to that was we we're scrambling the the the the owner of the building is not a he's not a wealthy individual he's a simple guy lives in a simple home he drives a Honda Odyssey is like a from 29 2018 he's a simple guy and we trying to scrambling to see the numers what we're doing we're losing so much money he's trying to pull from this few other prop that he has that he makes money and we're trying to think oh we we we we can increase the there's like we saw the the CPI what the of that month and then we learned about H relocation we didn't know about it we this like we can we and we said okay like okay it's going to be an increase not an increase we didn't know 100% the the rules of it or whatever so he's like okay we right away sent the notice we gave them credit and and and it's that's the story behind it you understand why yeah sure I'm just explaining what what it was we wanted to keep it simple it was an increase it wasn't an increase how you calculate for the full year for another the full year so we right away sent I don't know if we if it's probably not all the tenants that we deposited the money before um we we said okay please send a new check I remember like a few of them we deposited already from them we said okay please send a new check for the for the new amount that's it simple increase and then we said your rent goes back to normal that's that was a story I understand what is going on I want to forgive me I'm not trying to be labor where we need to be in this conversation but I my name is Anna Basset um tenant 1 L um during this time this this back and forth uh for the rent increases this was during the time where I was dealing with the habitability issue and they had completely ignored any form of communication from myself from the city and from attorneys and then when they decided oh you know we're going to renig on this increase that's when they decided to communicate with me but not about the issues the severe habitability issues that I was dealing with it was specifically about that MH the the attorney mentioned that uh you know the an anti harassment and tening complaints uh should go to the Municipal Court have you gone to the municipal court I have I was in court today oh okay Believe It or Not ironically okay um not it was specifically for the criminal mischief and the Vandal vandalism for zevi Stein um I was there earlier yes but how about everything you've outlined in your letter of July 5th has that been presented to anybody other than this board um we were told by tenant landlord that we had to submit it to the owners and to tenant landlord and it had to be done by by certified mail okay a question did we hear through the conversation that there was some abatements done but they were done in July sorry that's okay uh yes there there was a reinspection I believe July 10th the prior inspection may have been back in May or June so between that period of time uh there were substantial re abatements and I believe there only two units that are still have ongoing issues the the rest of them were cleared it's my understanding I haven't seen the report myself okay NE neither have we uh the you know the opinion we're working with is as of about in March 22 2024 the building inspector said that uh you know violations were found throughout throughout the property and still exist in the property and then they leave it to us to see if there's been substantial compliance but we really can't at this point I I I okay I would just say that again it's my understanding that um it's been communicated by the inspector that most of those the issues have been abated and it's only two apartments which my client specifically addressed earlier tonight that have outstanding issues and are they the vacant apartments one is a vacant apartment I misspoke with respect to the other I believe it is Miss bassett's apartment if I'm not mistaken and my client has um testified to the board that there have been substantial issues with coordinating access it's been required that first it go through an attorney then it's been required that access be scheduled through an inspector and it has been very difficult to enter and perform those repairs but my client remains eager to do them to the extent they're permitted okay um can we speak to the uh hearing officers um attestment yes Eric please please yes the I do I think Tori knows how to spell my name of B wi uh Eric bwith uh sometimes uh rent lling board administrator sometimes hearing officer tonight I'm hearing officer for this hardship application yes um first uh I well before you have any questions I do want to speak to council um stating that um obviously with the uh operating loss uh calculation um there there wasn't uh all the documents provided initially I mean that that is in the um exhibit OB you know obviously I provide you guys uh the application and the the documents that we received on date um so uh there as to the insurance and anything else um that didn't have supporting documentation uh that was not included uh as an operating loss um just give me one moment here um we we heard something that on July 8th new cours were presented so again we we don't have that to go by July 8th I'm Sor yes I I believe the attorney said that on July 8th uh there was some new costs presented yes um again we're stuck with a timing difference in a way right um so the rule um I'm just getting to the ordinance 26-10 um so uh 26-10 D says after the landlord has filed his or her application for an increase with all supporting documents and materials no material will be considered by the hearing officer or board unless such new material is filed with the board and notice identifying such new material and setting forth a description of such material is served upon each tenant no later than 10 days prior to the date of the hearing tenants who request a copy of the hardship file and any new material submitted to the board or hearing officer shall have one provided by the landlord at least 5 days prior to any hearing date uh yes I can confirm that there were uh documents that were provided um this is usually the case especially after um they see a calculation where I've omitted um numbers because we there was documentation that was omitted uh but to speak to whether the uh tenants were provided uh those documents or not I I don't know I cannot say um uh but that that is my uh explanation uh as to where I got to as far as operating loss um uh uh to speak to the uh inspections uh again yeah so there uh this property as a whole is not in substantial compliance um there are violations that exist um one in uh violations in I believe yeah one R and one L um but on top of that um there are there there were two quality of life task uh Force inspections that were conducted I'm still waiting to get the results of those reports um I do know summonses were issued and they're being heard in court um but as far as a decision tonight um as per sorry again uh 26-3 um the board can uh make a decision um you can also not make a decision um you can uh make a provisional decision um uh get allowing the property owner 6 months to evate all violations and bring the property into substantial compliance um if that isn't done within the six months you can provide another three um but again uh as far as a determination tonight you you still can make one um I I will test that there are violations that exist in this property it is uh it is not in substantial compliance uh I am sorry too that we do not have our inspector Tom Colleen who can verify that tonight um but um I I can confirm that it's not in substantial compliance and I'm still waiting for more reports not only from our inspector Tom Colleen but also from the uh quality of life task force um oh I'm sorry and and so there were also um there are petitions that are filed yes and there are complaints that are filed too by the tenant yes there are harassment complaints um that has nothing to do with this application tonight but yes they are in the court we do also have though petitions for uh from tenants uh for ma failure to maintain services that also kind of affects this right here so do we have compliance throughout the building what you know we can't really proceed on those uh until we get full compliance and obviously there isn't any compliance and those petitions too haven't uh even started yet because of the backlog that we have um I think that covered everything I was do you have any questions no no problem no okay um yeah that's it that's it okay all right the board um I I can confirm that uh notice was hand delivered uh on July 8th to each of the units of the additional filings that were presented uh to the board um um I I I don't think I take any issue with what Mr B said um if we don't have the inspector here I I I guess I would take minor issue with the um assertion that Mr B can confirm that there's not substantial compliance um without the inspector here but I I do believe that this inspector would be required to be here to confirm whether or not substantial compliance is in effect I also agreed that the board has the ability to make a determination as to the permiss permissible hardship increase at this time uh and have it be contingent upon substantial compliance being confirmed following an inspection um by the city um I will only note that to the extent the board has not reviewed my July 8th submission I'm not sure that a determination tonight would be entirely appropriate because there were substantial supporting documents evidencing uh highly increased or cost very highly in excess of those Allowed by The Bureau and its determination evidence which had not been initially submitted to the bureau which is but which has now been presented to the board so I believe any um determination would necessarily need to factor in uh Factor those additional submissions to be made properly okay thank you okay going to read this recommendation into record after applying the return on investment the ROI formula the bureau found that the landlords calculated $5,5833 request is excessive and baseless without providing ing proper proofs a side by-side comparison is provided in this hardship calculation compared to the landlords and applicants request which is a fair market rent would have been for the year 2024 based on the office of policy in summary I recommend that the board accepts the bureau's recommended annual increase of $ 32,8 18710 allocated to each apartment based on the number of rooms as set forth on the attached schedule I'm sorry you're you're making a motion making a motion okay to accept the recommendation of the is there a second no I don't accept it you want say go ahead say it John I just want to say if if you are making motion just make sure that you're putting your specific reasons for doing so on the record right so by reading this recommendation is what I'm posing to be voted on by the board um with the stipulation of 4 months to have all abatements addressed if the abatements are not addressed in four months then we go back to zero we start all over again I will say that the ordinance gives six months to to reach substantial compli I thought it was up to six months is it up to six or to be reviewed within six months within six right right so they can have the statements prior or the but they'll have that full six full six okay okay yes so they have the they have AP so it's for 6 months if the uh baits are not done in six months we come back right and all the re the the uh money that was spent to the tenants had to spend for a rent will have to be refunded back and we start over could I be heard briefly by the board on the motion if it's if the motion's been made before voting occurs okay that's up to you chairman just for the for the record the the motion's on on anybody second to my understanding you're going toise $32,000 right for for all the apartments but they came can we make sure our microphones are on please okay at first it was an increase of 4% M then the landlord said no I don't want it right then they find out that they can do um uh how do they call this uh hard hardship yeah and they came up with our chip and you agree to it we as it is now this if the 32,000 comes out to a like a 50% increase uh each month right almost 50% somewhere in the pi 40s monthly increase it's my wh it's six apartment is that it on the red control yes so if you so it cannot be that much no the r R Control Ordinance allows uh this application so if the property falls under rent control the property owner is allowed to apply for this hardship application uh Eric what was the recommendation you had made I I heard the six months part but was it so per the ordinance um you have uh an option as uh uh chair Hill has um has stated that um you can provide a provisional approval with uh six months for the uh property owner to Abate um after that if not abated you have the option of providing another three months or terminating or you could Prov provide another three months based on whatever report you get at that time uh if it's not in substantial compliance uh and then if that after they cannot Abate within those three months then you terminate and then the landlord has the option to reapply for the hardship application uh but again that is that is up to you um you also can just approve it um or you can deny it or you can also provide your own calculation again this is just a a recommendation that is brought uh before you okay I have a question Eric um and that is obviously there's a recommended increase I understand that but since the a building is not really doing well as far as the inspections go as to what you're saying and what you found is the landlord entitled to that increase now before everything's inspected or do or is it coincide with when the building is up to code and everything is finished then the increase takes place so again yeah the ordinance um if you're asking me personally I you know I don't know if I mean I am recommending the the the increases I do I did uh confirm that there is uh an operating loss here um and that uh yes so what um so to answer your question um it again if there is a if you provide the provisional increase and then it terminates that that the land lord has to reimburse the tenants after that it's not yeah it's not like it's set in stone and then go and again you also decide and determine uh when that increase takes place like in the case of a capital Improvement increase uh at the board meeting uh at the end once you've uh uh voted on it you can determine okay on this date or wait until you receive our written decision right I would caution though making a decision based on things that are not in the record if we're waiting on on reports that are not part of the record it you can't you can't use that to make your decision right but if if the the landlord already and the tenants already agreed that money were already exchange even though they was't cashed we can still just use that money as far as our decision and saying okay well you got three months already in advance it just I I don't believe not as a legal matter but I think as a factual matter that's not correct there my client affected a 4% increase under the ordinance which they then withdrew rescinded and already have reimbursed because they then became aware of the hardship rent increase application process um I think the motion right now would be to uh allow the landlord to collect the increased rent recommended by The Bureau which would be a different amount actually much much higher than the 4% increase which my client had previously affected then withdrew I I I would just like to note though before um voting occurs that Mr with recommendation says that my client's request is excessive and baseless without providing the proper proofs because proper proofs were not provided in connection with the initial application as I indicated previously um water bills Insurance costs management fee mortgage payment superintendent fees none of those costs factored into the recommendations calculation of operating loss those proofs have now been submitted notice of their submission was provided to the tenants so I I would object to the board voting to approve the recommendation because the additional proofs that the recommendation said it didn't have have now been submitted and a proper determination would require the board to review or the bureau to review those additional proofs but coun counselor you you are aware that you have open abatements right now current like right now I I I am I'm completely aware and again I'm I'm not saying that the Board needs to vote tonight to give us the requested increase in fact I'm seeing just the opposite that the board should review the additional proofs before making a vote and I also take no issue with um Mr Bull's recitation of the ordinances Vision that an increase can be contingent upon um compliance and can be clawed back my my client intends to continue the abatement um I think they've made substantial progress but there's still a little bit left to do and so any decision that required them to complete that abatement before the increase becomes final would not be objectionable to my client okay also vot we don't have I would I would say sorry we also can't vote on what we don't have as I was just constructed so I understand what you're saying but we still have to figure out what we're going to do now I I get what you're saying but we if we don't have the information we can't vote on what we don't have Eric no disagreement there okay you make a motion okay all right I we making a motion yeah I'd like to make a motion to deny the recommendation by the housing officer report in the housing officer report and wait for the landlord to Abate all the open open issues and give every give the Housing Authority time to review the additional proof of expenses so we can have a comprehensive picture of that the violations have been Abad and all the expenses have been accounted for so then we can come up with a more fair determination so a motion is to deny at this point all to to remand to the bureau to review the additional documents yes yes yes second roll call okay on the vote uh of this particular motion to remand this back to the rent leveling Bureau um please vote I Alexander Hamilton I Danon Hill I James eock I Elder p piter i motion carries 4 to Zer thank you thank you Let's do let's do um let's do Monumental let's do Monumental Monumental all right you got Monumental okay do Monumental okay all right thank you uh thank you next case h 2024 001 property that's him 238 Van Horn AKA 117 Lafayette Street of the PES you got to go faster good evening good evening press the button yeah press Buton is a green hi based on the letter received from Mr Bull with he actually recommended the approval which we are thankful uh we have had such a hard time in the last three years since I've Been On The Board of Trustees with the Monumental Baptist Church the rents were extremely low they had not increased for many years the first time they've had an increase was uh January of 23 which was still still not enough to cover the expenditures uh for the buildings uh the buildings cannot sustain themselves at all so this is why we did the hardship application increase because even if we had waited to go ahead and do another increase a regular up to 4% it still would not be enough and uh you may have known that in December we had a bill of $62,000 for late taxes and fortunately our Reven was able to raise the money to pay that bill so we um we really are in Desperate needed that money because we need to uh actually upgrade our furnaces they are oil and we want to convert gas the units need to be upgraded it's just a lot of expenses which the buildings cannot sustain based on the rent and what the church has been doing is helping the buildings which they have their own expenditures to take care of so this is why we submitted the hardship application and the [Music] anybody you got any questions any questions no no all right motion to close one thing I would hesitate to close public com if we're going to keep going back like we did at the last one yeah not going to do that understand once we close it just I want to also note too in Council can confirm or uh um you know if you close the public portion testimony from me is that excluded or am I included can I don't we need a motion I think the parties are not part of of the public comment yeah I mean but I would encourage you to hear testimony from Mr B as well okay hearing officer all right okay so before we close yeah so before we close can we hear the hearing officers uh sorry again I don't need to be swor in again right okay um yeah so this was uh pretty uh pretty standard um I reviewed um Miss Melvin's uh application uh I uh I reviewed all the documentation everything was submitted uh it wasn't submitted uh initially uh this was one of the first hardships uh I was working on um that we've had in some time also for Miss Melvin this was a first for Monumental Baptist Church um so it was like a process up until the submission of uh application and I can confirm that yes all the documentation was provided however um I went with the landlord's increase um because uh it wasn't um a uh uh it wasn't profitable for the property uh again I've stated uh in previous uh rent leveling board meetings you kind of want a uh well you not kind of you want a profit percentage uh somewhere between 5 and 10% the bureau's formula uh calculation did not provide that uh whereas the uh landlords did and um I can confirm yes this property is um um uh in the red for sure um and uh this would be beneficial uh not only for obviously the property owner but for the tenants and the building um just so that the the the building's needs are facilitated and and so are the tenants thank you thank you no question no question any questions all right motion to close public motion to to no I got to I got to close it first and then make the motion all right so second second second all right that concludes the public portion um do you want to vote on the motion V on the motion so after after you second all in favor yeah second I all in favor I I okay um recommendation y I'm sorry I recommend that the board accepts the landlord recommended annual increase of 15,000 divided by 12 months and allocated to each a apartment as set forth on the attach schedule the rent increases range from 18 to 36% depending on the unit but pulls the property out of its deficit and nearly makes 10% profit annually the bureau recommended increases will only rent the 3% return on investment and would properly facilit it wouldn't properly facilitate the needs of the property and the tenants as a whole motion to a second the recommendation no I give 15 15 there's a motion to accept right the recommendation uh so then there has to be a second there is a second I'm the second okay we're going to vote okay on the motion to accept or affirm the rent Levy board's determination uh please respond by saying I or nay uh Alexander Hamilton I Dan and Hill hi James eock Hi and then Elder pitot hi uh this motion carries 420 motion has been affirmed okay all right good I guess it got to be fedal record right okay go 506 506 see 56 so this this this being a long one let's try to not make this you know real out long you know your microphone on yeah okay let's not try not to make this you know at least 3 minutes minimum please we'll be here till Christmas Yes um on behalf of the landlord the landlord is actually seeking to adjourn the hearing on this um on the basis of an unavailability of the witness I do apologize for the timing of it I found out in the hallway um that a witness that was expected to testify as to the landlord's Communications with the building department who is going to fly out today was unable to attend due to a family matter so they are requesting that this be adjourned um for at least two weeks um I would have requested earlier had I known sooner so I do apologize for that let me um okay let me speak to the uh hearing officer and reference to that yeah don't need swear yes ra your testimony this proceeding I do my name is shyon Richardson you got me okay okay it's just the first time you hear of this um but he just asked I I found out possibly 10 minutes before the meeting started I didn't want to go out okay um let me see something hold up hold hold hold hold up give me a second okay all right councel let me hear from the tenants before we make a decision on yes right abely let me hear from the tenants yeah chair if I may try chairman do you want to have a split hearing or would it be best to hear everything together I I would recommend if we're waiting for a witness that we would adjourn for the witness if that's what you want to doj but the tenants are here the tenants are here I understand counselor yep yep yep y just for cross examination and things exactly all right so motion to close the public portion second all right all in favor all in favor um motion to adjourn this case and have it Revisited at a later date based on the uh information that was received from the uh the attorney from the uh property owner second hi second motion so that was a second uh to motion to adjourn correct motion to adjourn okay so we're going to do a roll call roll call Alexander Hamilton hi danan Hill I James zock hi eler the P pinch not I okay motion to adjourn has passed y they got okay 10 what are you do you can't come to a conclusion we could do about that you wouldn't be able to come to a conclusion yeah how do we proceed in the interum I say I'm sorry how do they proceed in the inter inter just wait for the next it'll be rescheduled wait it'll be rescheduled you should get something in the mail or it should be posted on the building that they don't post it in the building okay and how many times can you resched it right yeah I mean based on the right based on the the um the information based on they need to be prepared as well as you guys need to be prepared so if it's information that we need in order to render decision on the case and he don't have the information it's hard for us vice versa would be difficult for us to make a decision if everybody don't have this stuff together all right yep all right where we going who's next best case you getting there I'm getting it right another hardship oh you going okay one more we got to get our motion St I know you know I have those robits Rules of Order but I got to find them again you know how to do it you know like there's a certain uh process for making the motion and High second you know we're okay you're good second we getting it we getting it we getting listen this this the this is my second meeting so it's not you know but no no it's not easy it was a busy one they set me up yeah it's a rough one well would you we're working with you we're working right we're working we're working that's it maybe attorney can help us the attorney's been great we doing all right we're doing all right we doing we're not doing bad us oh hi yeah thanks you know with the first case it was hard to unhear or unsee some of that stuff you know yeah it's yeah to just Hing officer then I'm just going to be administrator this would be 2672 is discuss m I need you're M of because you're not appc open and so e e e e e e you okay um we're ready commission chair and Commissioners okay this last this last matter is um hardship application right H -223 d001 the property is 2672 Kennedy Boulevard landlord is uh new United Enterprises LLC uh represented by demon uh M mlen who is here now tonight uh as well as uh tenants okay sure m say my name is my name is Daman mclen d m o n d last name mlen MCC l l l a n absolutely I I swear okay uh I represent I'm the property manager for new United they own roughly 23 units and a 4 46 unit Condo building where the rents a lot of the tenants have been there since prior to the conversion to a condo so the rents are well below Market on a lot of the units um they've owned these units for roughly six years we had some tough times during you know covid where we couldn't raise the rents and so forth so that's why we're in a hardship situation now um looking this is the first time they're looking to raise the rent as owner um basically to meet the needs and the expenses to operate the building and continue repairs on the units um Mr bullworth has looked over the application he's recommended that uh the increase that we're asking for was more than fair I think his calculations had it at almost double what we were asking for uh that our application was submitted last May so now we've gone whole year so I I do appreciate that the hearing is taking place but I would ask that you take that into account and along with what we had asked for last year maybe be willing to increase it uh by maybe 50% just to cover the the inflation and ongoing expenses of the building um things that we you know my my landlords are looking to just reinvest in the property over the last 6 years they've lost half a million dollars in this property now you know we're not asking you guys to correct that we're just looking to now improve the property to allow us to you know to make it more marketable it'll still be well below Market rents as you can see from his calculations we're not looking to displace any tenants um we you know in the time that they've owned it owned it we've only evicted two tenants and that was non-payment of rent in six years so um um I think it's more than feir and like I say at the very least I would ask that you go with his recommendation but I I also ask that you go a little bit further since we've been waiting on this hearing for over a year any question a question are we allowed to do that just 50% are we allowed to De over the the um the amount go over what amount the recommended amount I would caution you to not make a decision that's not based on evidence and and and proof in again I'm just asking if that's allowed that's all yeah no you can definitely so this is a recommendation and the board can adjust modifier accept it well if you look at the the numbers here in yellow is what we initially asked for and what we actually with the rent leveling board or Bureau said that we could have had is the first two columns I'm asking you to meet us in the middle I'm not even asking for the most so let me ask you this are there any um violations any open violations we do have some open violations on the building that they my owners can't afford to repair they they've they've tried to keep the building well it's not a building they've tried to keep the condos up to the best they can now they're running out of money that's why we're in the hard situation so I would ask that you do a provisional improve the same thing you were thinking about with the other case do a provisional approval give us some time to Abate the issues a lot of the issues are common area issues it's a Condo building I have just as the property manager taking over taken over the condo association that was hired by the condo association to fix their problems as well and I'm just coming to that part this may and I've been going through the process of doing that and if you see a lot of the issues we common area issues but we've included in our packet of over 300 Pages tons of repairs that we've done that have you know put us in the red you know it's not like we haven't done anything we try to make sure the units are comfortable and habitable for people and try to respond to their issues I mean right now you can see that we have 23 units and I have two sets of tenants here I know one that has issues with his unit I don't know of the other but you know we we could try to be the best landlords we could be with what we could afford to do all right okay thank you let me hear from the tenants [Applause] excuse me oh Mario Mario m a r i o valon v Victor a l m o n you the testimony about this proceeding is the truth the truth or nothing but the truth yes of course how you guys doing good evening good evening I've been attendant at this building now since May of 1998 and this has been the seventh or eighth owners I've been through it seems that every time the building needs to repair it it's sold off where's this building at again it's on Kennedy Boulevard I know but where between where uh Glenwood and Highland Avenue at St peters's College okay all right okay my issue is in my my unit number 502 mhm for the past 4 years I've been having quality of life issues number one the ceiling leaks every time it range now that's been going on since 2000 and hasn't been fully repaired at all I just had a leak last night from that rain when I got in from this work this morning cuz I work nights so I have a bucket in my living room and a bucket in my bedroom to catch the water cuz the window frames it leaks I don't know if it's a pointing but whenever I have a a torrential rain it my apartment just Cascades and rain and he's aware of that he had a um a company came in and fixed it but apparently it didn't do the right thing cuz like I said it just sleep last night in that rain second ISS is half my apartment has no heat that's been going for four years and I call an inspector in 2022 and as soon as he walked in he he says he could feel the cold so how I try to alleviate that is I turn I put a pot of water in the oven oh and I turned on the the lights and um the landlord actually came and gave me portable heaters to compensate for no heat half my apartment that's been going over four years now so I'm dealing with that and then the heaters they gave me has Skyrocket on my life bill from $65 a month to almost 200 I was compensated one year I was in 2022 last year I wasn't compensated even though I gave him all my life to copies on my life bu so I'm dealing with that and I'm getting prepared to deal with that this winter and the inspector told me that's definitely has to put oven on with pots of water in there they had a plumber come in couple months ago during the winter he changed some pipes up under the bottom and it's still the same half the apartment is cold and half is warm and when it's dead of winter I can't stay in that front of the apartment I got to stay in the back only way I stay in the front is with the oven on but a PT of water inside and that's not healthy cuz one time I actually fell asleep now I realize the other one was still on but woke me up was I got a headache and I realized it's probably was carbon dioxide so I had to open my windows and vect all the windows all the apartment that's a major issue the third is I have leaks I have cracks throughout the whole entire apartment in the hallway the closets and everywhere that's been going on for years nobody has even addressed that I've told the super they came in they relay it back to him but what I was told is they can't do nothing until he he gives the green light you understand that's been going over five five six years now another issue is the outlet that's in my bedroom I can't plug nothing into it because if I do it Sparks and then the cover that the covers Outlet is is burnt it's actually melted and I got PR of that the supers have came in and saw that he have told de man but nobody wants to come back and fix nothing but I'm still paying my monthly rent and I know the CPI is on the more than 4% I'm not going Beyond 4% cuz it feel like I'm back in the prior day cuz I used to live in Brooklyn and we used to have put plastic on the Windows keep warm and I'm back doing that again now so my original rent was 787 now I'm up at 938 and they keep going up going up but the services going down going down going down it's like I'm fighting battle you understand it's just that I just want to be de comfortable because next year I retire I don't want to decide if I had to pay my rent or my insulin or keep sending money to my sons who was in college in Alabama I I don't I don't want to be constantly weighing these differences you know I understand that you know things are rough out there for everybody you understand but I don't want to be caught in a a riff rare I want to be paying 200% for a place to feel like I'm back in the projects it don't make no sense to me I mean he does this year but the thing is I just want to be left comfortable like I said I'm retire next year so I'm going to be actually collecting security I don't look 65 but I'm 64 but I want to be able to live comfortably you know and have my sons when they come home the B is you know it's habitable right now it's it's a mess and then my bathroom on the wall there the Towes are falling off once again that was in February the super came in to pictures related to theand nobody came back and fix nothing you can actually put your hands inside the wall in my bathroom I don't know what kind of Critters are coming out but what I do I put plastic over that until they decide to fix that but it seems like nothing's getting done and this is very stressful and yeah Alexa that's that's the only thing going on right now but the main issue is I have no heat and I've called the inspector 2022 and he uh got to them I guess they was fined and they bought I went to three plumbers and nobody can't fix anything in that building and I can't keep coming every winter cuz I work Outdoors at nights I don't want to come home in the morning and feel like I'm still outdoors and I'm inside my apartment but I'm still paying my monthly rent so I I will pay the 4% and I find out that in apartment buildings you supposed to give tennis a lease there the MTH only for businesses and houses not apartment complexes so they they can come any day and say well you guys got to leave and I don't want to have that on my shoulder you understand that's all I have to say because I had to be at work at 9:30 so I'm trying to Breeze through this okay okay okay thank you thank you thank you okay next time yeah I'm John kasar can write oh yeah John is J hn gazar is c a z r yeah this proceeding is TR I do okay um I'm Liv in this apartment since 1994 okay basically I don't have complain about my apartment because I fix the apartment if there's any issue with the apartment I fix it so I used to work in construction that's why but um the only what I would like to say is since they came aboard they knew that they the building was on rain control they knew that half of the building was owned a building apartment owned uh they also uh they also knew that what we were paying for the for the rent so at the beginning they start increasing rent but certainly they stopped increasing the rent so for the company who really need money why they stop increasing the rent for four or five years I think um so it I I guess the increase is it's a ex exate Amounts is is too much and also I don't see the building any Improvement in the building because if you go into the building the the the elevators looks the same as 1994 uh the floor the caret is since 1994 so I don't see any any uh work in inside the the building I ex said like I said my apartment I fix myself the apartment so it they owns I think like some few apartments but there are all the owners for who own some of the other the apartments so like I say I mean I think the incre increase is exor exorbitant Amounts is too much I know I know that the the situation is very bad for everybody people even even the salary is decreasing because of everything is too expensive but I mean but it's it's too much to increase okay thank you um at this time I want to hear from the hearing officer am I allowed to respond to some of the things that were said okay Eric B again I hearing officer for this hardship application um so uh I can confirm that uh this property is not in substantial compliance um we it's still under review uh we have to go back we have to uh make sure that all the violations that we found were abated um yes uh it was also uh submitted in May of uh 20123 uh there was an issue with uh providing the tax returns we had to confirm um obviously um the the money uh that that was being uh collected in operating expenses um the tax returns are part of that as per the ordinance um I cannot speak for the owners um and but uh you know obviously with these applications there's always this reluctancy well I don't want to give too much information it's like well you can Reda some stuff you know I mean I don't need to you know know your home address but like you know it's it's beneficial um uh in determining um the the especially when it comes to the formula and the calculation as you can see here um out of all the hardship applications that have come before you the uh operating loss is the the highest right um You can also see after uh the calculation I can confirm that yeah that you know this is well over 12 12% my my calculation um so that that's that's huge for this property as far as uh uh operating profit right um so I did I went with the landlord's um requested um rental increase which is around 12% profit um so um yes there are issues um there are violations uh and again uh I leave that to the board uh whether uh again like other applications you want to remand or if you want to uh provide a pro uh provisional uh uh approval um again this is just a recommendation um you can go with my numbers you can go with the landlords you can go with something in between you've heard a testimony of of of the tenants and of the landlord um yeah I think that pretty much covers everything sorry I was just trying to wrap up but right yeah thank you you have any questions any question no no which one do they want which one just speaking I'm sorry the first one the first one over here that's what you want that's what we initially asked for so the the highlighted yeah I'm sorry the highlighted columns that is the landlord's requested uh increase the first the first highlighted column that's the requested increase and then the second column is when it's applied as you see you know some of a lot of those are two and three bedroom apartments they're well blow Mark you know again just when I also put up the fair market rent for for that year but just keep in mind um there is an asterisk there that's for a one bedroom apartment also this is for like a new building right so this is an older building um I will say this the the landlord isn't isn't asking uh for too much uh here uh especially since again it will benefit the tenants it will benefit the building and the tenants needs um yeah so any other questions no no questions no questions okay you have any question for the landlord any question for the landlord any question for my only question my only question may be for our our Council uh concerning trying to make a determination off of something we don't have in evidence so you know we could like we have the recommendation we have uh Eric's calculations of how he got to that calculation my understanding is that the whole not the application but the recommendation is an exhibit to the evidence for this application so that should be all of the proofs that the landlord submitted supporting their hardship increase yes so I can confirm that all required documentation was provided um and that's how I came to um my my um my calculation your recommendation my recommendation correct yes um the the um sorry just to specify for for the sake of the ordinance um but you can review that as well yeah yeah a 2 260 uh d10d again which I've I've stated on the record after Lort has filed his or her application for increase with all supporting documents and materials no new material will be considered so on and so forth so this wasn't something where they said um we've submitted um the required documents and we affirmed to that like these are all the operating expenses This was oh I left out this required document and had no knowledge that right you know and I again I extended a courtesy and that's why it took a year to get this um documentation and I did and I confirmed the operating loss okay thank you Eric thank you thank you motion to CL the public portion of this meeting second a roll call motion to close motion to close second okay motion to close all in favor all in favor I I I okay read the decision I'm I'm comfortable with the decision with this you to have your discussion for the reasons that you're going to make your decision to have it on the record so it's supporting what you're going to do okay um I'm going to read the uh the motion uh in summary recommend that the board accepts the landlord's request approving an annual increase of $75,400 28 cents allocated to each apartment based on a squared footage as set forth on the attached schedule this determination being given will have a six-month extension and the uh all the uh abated unabated um violations that they're not uh done within 6 months we come back to the uh landlord reimbursing the tenants all of the money that they spent during that time frame and they have to resubmit a hardship case so we have a motion to affirm the rent leveling board's decision with the provision that all abatements be taken care of within six months yes second all right can can we vote on this motion uh Alexander Hamilton I danan Hill I James eock I Elder P all I'm sorry the motion and vote carries 4 to zero uh thank you thank you let me let me ask you so we didn't go with the rent increase no we went with the recommendation recommendation okay we the that case is coming back to us again if that case if it's not if the all the abatements are not done if all the abatements not done then they come back to us U all right you got to fix everything that I'm sorry uh there's there's nothing left on the agenda uh if you want to close um the hearing tonight you'd have to make a motion motion to close the hearing tonight second all in favor I I I motion motion carries thank you thank you all because they didn't fix so they have to fix it first all right so you'll have they'll send you a letter and 40