A local housing activist is accusing landlords at two Kingston properties of raising rents on tenants in apparent violation of the city’s rent control guidelines. Meanwhile, nearly a third of Kingston properties covered by the Emergency Tenant Protection Act have applied for deregulation, claiming they are not subject to the law.

In August 2022, the city opted in to the ETPA. The law, which applies to rental properties with six or more units built before 1974, allows municipalities to impose caps on rent increases through a locally appointed Rent Guidelines Board. In October 2022, the city’s newly formed RGB took the unprecedented step of ordering rents at ETPA properties rolled back by 15 percent. The rent rollback was tied up in court until earlier this year when an appellate court panel unanimously upheld the move. (The local landlords advocacy group that brought the legal action has requested, but not yet received permission to take the case to New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals). But, while the rent rollback has been held up by the legal action, a rent freeze at ETPA properties that began on Aug. 1, 2022 remains in effect.

Jenna Goldstein is a tenant organizer for the progressive activist group For The Many. Goldstein said she’s documented apparently illegal rent hikes at the Fairview Gardens Apartment complex and 58 St. James St. Both properties are covered by the ETPA. Goldstein said that there are likely more instances of illegal rent hikes, but with affordable housing in short supply, many tenants feared losing their leases if they complained. Others, Goldstein said, did not know their rights.

The state Division of Homes and Community Renewal oversees ETPA enforcement. But, Goldstein said, the notices tenants received from the agency informing them of their rights under the law were full of legalese and difficult to understand.

“The problem with this process is that it requires a high level of understanding of housing law which most tenants don’t have, and why would they?” said Goldstein. “The ETPA really depends on landlords following the law and that’s not happening.”

Marcie Kobac is litigation director for Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, a public interest law firm that provides free representation to income-qualified tenants facing eviction or other housing issues. The firm has also signed on to the city-sponsored “Right to Counsel” program for tenants. Kobac declined to discuss specific cases, but she said rent hikes in violation of the city’s rent freeze at ETPA properties were occurring.

“Since Aug. 1, 2022 no rent increases have been permitted in Kingston,” said Kobac. “But I have seen it happen in more than one ETPA building. I can’t go into specifics but it is definitely happening.”

Goldstein, meanwhile, said some landlords are attempting to get around the rent freeze by adding surcharges or other fees. One woman at Fairview Gardens, Goldstein said, had a $30 monthly surcharge added to her bill for “appliances.”

“The ETPA is really clear that you cannot charge for an included service,” said Goldstein. “These are just flagrant violations, but [landlords] don’t care.”

Goldstein said that part of the problem was that DHCR’s enforcement capabilities outside of the five boroughs of New York City and Westchester are limited. Since 2012, DHCR has operated a Tenant Protection Unit to monitor ETPA properties and enforce the law. The unit conducts audits and inspections at ETPA properties, maintains data to guide investigations and employs attorneys to take on landlords who violate the law. But the TPU does not have an office dedicated to the Hudson Valley. That puts the onus on individual tenants to go through the complaint process to address the illegal rent hikes and other ETPA violations.

Kobac said that even when landlords are found in violation, any proposed remedy only applies to the individual tenant, not the entire property.

“One complaint doesn’t affect anybody else,” said Kobac.

While some Kingston landlords try to get around the rent control law, others are trying to scrap it entirely — at least as it applies to their properties. Documents filed in a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by a coalition of landlords in the Northern District of New York to challenge recent changes governing how communities can qualify for ETPA protection show that 10 of 33 ETPA properties in Kingston have applied to DHCR to be released from ETPA oversight. At Fairview Gardens, for example, owners argue that portions of complex built before 1974 should be exempt from ETPA regulation.

In an email to Kingston Wire, city Director of Housing Initiatives Bartek Starodaj said the city has received few complaints of illegal rent increases. But in one recent case, Starodaj said, he helped a tenant file a complaint with DHCR. In other cases, tenants are referred to Legal Services of the Hudson Valley through the Right to Counsel program.

“DHCR is responsible for adjudicating any complaints and ETPA residents should file their complaints directly with them,” wrote Starodaj. “If more oversight or assistance from DHCR is needed to ensure tenants’ rights are being upheld, we will advocate that position to DHCR.”

Emails to Fairview Gardens management and DHCR were not returned. Efforts to reach the owners of 58 St. James St. were unsuccessful.