Thursday, May 22, 2008

How to make money in court

"SUE THEM ALL AND LET THE COURTS SETTLE THE DIFFERENCE!"

Living in court:

Under this approach, private investment firms, backed by large banks, purchase buildings in working-class neighborhoods and then aggressively challenge the identity of as many [rent-controlled/stabilized] tenants as possible. The apparent aim here is to replace as many people as possible with higher-paying residents [until the building no longer qualifies], while taking advantage of the lax enforcement of rental-housing laws.

So far, it appears to be working. The Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development reports that the turnover in many buildings purchased by these private-equity firms has been as high as 25 percent. Conveniently, this is the same vacancy goal cited in financing documents filed by one of the new firms, Vantage Properties, a company that has bought more than 9,200 units in the city in the last two years.

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