at Gotham West, be sure to sign the suspicious low-income lease rider that Gotham West management is sending to tenants in low-income (income-restricted) apartments. Specifically, these riders are coming from Alany Coello, Compliance Specialist, and are made to look like they are part of the annual financial certification. They ARE NOT a legitimate element of the annual financial certification. But Gotham West management is trying to coerce tenants into signing the riders by misrepresenting through trickery that the riders are a requirement of the annual certification.
These riders contain a new Reassignment Right for the landlord which says in effect that the landlord can move you out of your apartment and into another apartment when your lease comes up for renewal. For example, if your home is in the 550 building, you might end up being uprooted and moved to the 510 building or possibly even to another one of Gotham Organization's properties like the dilapidated Atlas building on Sixth Avenue. The point is that Gotham wants you to give them permission to treat you like chattel — a tax credit that they can move around from place to place when it benefits them.
Lease renewals are legally required to be offered with the SAME terms and conditions as the original lease. If you will look at the Low Income Rider on your original lease, you will NOT SEE any Reassignment Right that says the landlord can move you around like a homeless person in a shelter. There SHOULD NOT be such a term in the renewal rider. But Gotham wants to TRICK you and COERCE you into giving them permission to move you out of your home and into a unit that they think is more appropriate for a low income person. Further, they want to be able to harass you by threatening to move you out of your apartment if you don't comply with all of their requests or, good heavens, aren't wearing stylish clothes that give the appearance of wealth.
SHAME ON DAVID PICKET, OWNER OF GOTHAM WEST AND GOTHAM ORGANIZATION, FOR TRYING TO CHEAT AND TRICK TENANTS OUT OF THEIR APARTMENTS.
Don't be fooled and don't sign the rider. If you begin receiving communications from Gotham that say things like "if you want to stay in your apartment" or "if you want to remain here" or "we will have to end your lease" as coercion to sign the rider, see an attorney at Housing Conservation Coordinators on 10th Avenue, call Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal's office, call Corey Johnson's office, call State Senator Brad Hoylman's office, start calling housing lawyers who will want to assess how big of a case they can make out of your problem. In the instance of this new rider, it would seem that a big, profitable case might be waiting for someone.
Don't sign away your rights. Don't let your neighbor sign away his or her rights.
By the way, on December 7th from 9:30-4:00, the 14th Annual West Side Tenants' Conference will be held at Fordham School of Law at Lincoln Center. Don't let this opportunity pass by. RSVP on the HCC website or phone 845-367-7003 or email jfurlong@hcc-nyc.org.
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