NOT EXACTLY EVICTED

On Thursday we received our renewal lease in the mail. And we received a brutal lesson in NYC real estate.

My husband and I moved into this apartment in 2005. At that time our rent was $1200/month. In the past 4 years our rent has increased to $1385/month, each year increasing by the city-mandated percentage.

On Thursday we opened our renewal lease to find that our new rent will be $1725/month.

Ummmm...what???

Geoff called the NYC housing authorities to find out if it is legal for the landlord to increase the rent so much. And here's where that brutal lesson comes...

If you are in a rent-stabilized building and paying "preferential rent" - your rent is lower than the listed market value - the landlord may increase the rent to the market value upon renewal of your lease. No warning necessary. No explanation necessary.

It feels like a slap in the face.

This is our home. We've been good tenants. Our rent is always on time, we help our neighbors, we don't complain about the shitty state of the building. We have even brought other tenants into the building when apartments became available.

But here's the magic of the world in play - yesterday during the rainstorm, the windows in our kitchen & bathroom started leaking into the apartment...as they often do when it rains, because our management company has not, in almost 5 years, been able to fix this problem.

What incredible timing!!

It was a little bit like the universe reminding us that we do not want to continue living in this shithole. I was so angry that the landlord would hike up our rent...until the dripping started.

Those drips nudged me into a place of acceptance & peace.

Thanks for the memories, 171. I'm happy to leave you behind.