No tax break, no heat - landlords
nydailynews.com
BY JONATHAN SARUK and LISA L. COLANGELO
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Landlords are warning they may not be able to provide heat for the city's 1.1 million rent-stabilized apartments unless they get a break on oil costs.
Building owners are expected to rally on the steps of City Hall today and demand that lawmakers suspend taxes on home heating oil to help offset the skyrocketing prices.
"Anything short of legislative intervention and we could face unprecedented numbers of tenants consistently without heat this winter - not because owners would ignore their obligation, but because they would be unable to afford heating oil costs," said Joe Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents about 25,000 landlords.
But city housing officials said they will go after landlords who do not provide heat for their tenants, regardless of the cause.
"Landlords have a legal responsibility to provide adequate heat," said Carol Abrams, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
"If a landlord can't or won't provide adequate heat, the city will step in to restore heat to the tenants," she added. "We do take every landlord who gets a heat violation to housing court."
Under the city's housing code, landlords are required to keep apartment temperatures at a minimum of 68 degrees once it drops below 55 degrees outside between 6a.m. and 10 p.m.
Those regulations change between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. When the temperature drops below 40 degrees outside, the inside temperature must stay 55 degrees or warmer.
Meanwhile, tempers flared at a state Senate hearing on soaring gas prices yesterday as representatives from the oil industry, service stations, and others hurled blame amid accusations of price gouging.
The Senate will mull a proposed tax cap during a special session next week.
"The bottom line is that consumers are continuing to pay the price at the pump," said Sen. Nick Spano (R-Westchester). |
