Stop MSTA’s Full-Vacancy-Decontrol Initiative: VOTE “NO” on November 5th, 2013
Rent Control in Hoboken is under IMMEDIATE THREAT
VOTE “NO” on November 5th 2013
Tenants Beware: The Mile Square Taxpayers Association (“MSTA”) is a group of wealthy and politically connected Hoboken landlords and developers. A few years ago they hired a two-man hit team to destroy Rent Control (“RC”).
This hit team is attorney Charles Gormally, from a law firm in Roseland, NJ (Brach Eichler), and Public Relations mouthpiece Ron Simoncini, who runs a PR/Marketing company in Secaucus (Axiom Media). Their history is that they’ve gone from town to town in NJ destroying RC.
Simoncini is at every city council meeting, hounding and filibustering the council with never-ending lies and distortions.
Gormally was responsible for getting a judge to allow him to have the wording of the interpretive statement to the RC question on last November’s ballot changed, so that a counter-intuitive “yes” vote was needed to vote *against* their RC-weakening changes. This was a completely cynical move to trick the voter.
THE EXACT SAME WORDING OF LAST YEAR’S RENT-CONTROL VOTE WILL BE ON THE BALLOT AGAIN THIS YEAR ON NOVEMBER 5th, 2013, on Hoboken Public Question #1.
Now they want to take it all the way.
Specifically, they submitted signatures to the city clerk for an anti-RC initiative. This initiative will be on the ballot in the election on November 5th, 2013, to be voted on by the Hoboken voters, AGAIN.
The intiative’s items:
<h2>1</h2> PERMANENT VACANCY DECONTROL FOR 1-4 BUILDINGS. When a tenant vacates either a condo or a building with 4 units or less, that unit will be permanently exempt from RC.
This means that if you currently rent a unit in a building with 4 units or less, including condos, your unit has rent control only as long as you live there.
If you currently live in an owner/occupied building with 3 units or less, the landlord can ask you to leave in 60 days without cause. Although that’s always been true, if this gets passed, and your landlord believes that s/he can get more rent for your unit, your landlord is going to want to get you out as soon as possible.
<h2>2</h2>THE SKY’S THE LIMIT. Their 2nd item is worded somewhat differently, but it’s basically the same thing: For larger buildings, complete Vacancy Decontrol instead of the current Vacancy Decontrol once every 3 years with a 25% limit.
Once a tenant moves out, the landlord can charge whatever he wants. They call this made-up rent a “mutually agreeable level between the landlord and the propsed tenant,” but all it really means is if a “proposed tenant” doesn’t agree, that proposed tenant won’t get the apartment.
It also says these RC-exemptions can only happen “upon the voluntary, un-coerced vacation” of the previous tenant, but then says the determination of no harassment is A STATEMENT BY THE OWNER OR MANAGER.
Don’t just believe us: you can read the initiative yourself on the MSTA website:
http://hobokenmsta.com/
Think this doesn’t affect you because you already pay 2 grand a month? Think again: THEY KNOW THEY CAN GET $3500 A MONTH, or more!
If your rent is below the maximum an owner can charge, that gives them A LOT OF MOTIVATION to get you out. The lower your rent, the greater their motivation.
IN SHORT, they want:
* To eliminate rent control altogether for smaller buildings (1-4 units) (Goodbye unless you’re VERY rich);
* Complete vacancy decontrol in larger buildings (5 & up) — Each time a tenant moves, the rent goes up to whatever the landlord can get — no limit at all!
Do you think the landlord might have a reason to get you out of your affordable rental home?
Do you feel that “bulls eye” on your back?
This will be the effective end of rent control in Hoboken.
We need a massive townwide tenants organization to fight this, not just a few volunteers.
If you care about your rental home, vote “NO” on “HOBOKEN PUBLIC QUESTION #1” on election day, November 5th, 2013.
Please friend us on Facebook, join the discussion, and help us organize:
https://www.facebook.com/hobokenfairhousing
BECOME A MEMBER OF HFHA
To the thousands of tenants out there who benefit from the work of HFHA, we need you to JOIN US!
PLEASE REMEMBER: When your moment of crisis comes and you call or e-mail us, we cannot help you if you don't join. We simply don’t have the resources!
NOTE: Hoboken Fair Housing Association does not provide legal representation or legal advice of any kind.
If an HFHA member’s situation calls for an attorney, or if a member wants one, HFHA can refer members to experienced attorneys who specialize in landlord-tenant law.
