Extell is the devil

created by: landlordssuck 09/08/2007 02:35PM

So, our evil corporate landlord Extell(heretofore, "the devil") has decided that, even though we hold a 2-year lease, we have to move so that he can plow the building and build a huge high rise with a pool for uber rich people. So he's threatening to sue us for all sorts of things we didn't do and start eviction proceedings against us. The devil thinks, or says he thinks, that there are all sorts of other people living here that we haven't met, namely Peter Sharon and Sathiko Motomura, both of whom get junk mail here because they were tenants eons ago (I think they are hiding under the floor boards), and are therefore in violation of the rent stabilization by way of an illegal sublet. The devil says we have no proof that they don't live here, and no proof that my roommate, the primary lease holder, does. Never mind that she was in the apartment when the agent of the devil came by, never mind that all of her bills come here. Never mind that she does, in fact, live here. Their iron-clad proof is the fact that her checks still have her old address. Evidently, that is grounds for eviction. I'm not sure why the burden of proof is on us. Actually, I am fairly sure it isn't, legally. As a matter of fact, I think we can sue them for harassment for violating "quiet enjoyment" of the apartment. But again, we have no money, so we're easy prey. Hence, the devil is serving us with all sorts of papers to get us out. I got the first one my first day here. Right after I almost killed myself lugging all of my shit up to a third floor walk up, in August, with no A/C. Our option, to "avoid a messy court battle" is that my roommate can accept a whopping $6000 to move to another apartment, which she has to find herself, and cannot afford. I am not on the lease yet, and therefore have no rights and do not have to be bought out. I am named on the suit as an illegal inhabitant, even though I am not, and they called me "Gaquetta" in the notice, which is just uncool. We can't afford an attorney to make him stop these shenannigans. The devil knows this. Or rather, the legion of the damned know this. It's a huge company whose website boasts how well they serve their "clients." By "clients," they mean the extremely wealthy people who will live in their middle class-free utopia. Not us. Now, it's not that I don't like rich people, and don't think they deserve even nicer luxury apartments than they already have, and it's not even that I don't think this building should be razed - it's that I don't think it's okay to harass people with valid leases by threatening phoney law suits to accomodate profit-making. No matter how much profit can be made. Wait the two years or don't buy the building. The leases were in effect when they bought it. They knew that. They should have to wait. They, unlike all of the residents, can afford it. Moving is almost impossible, because, in addition to the physical problems of getting stuff in and out of an apartment on a major Manhattan street, in order to qualify for an apartment in New York, you need to make 40 TIMES the monthly rent in your annual salary. In order to rent an apartment that is the same rent that we pay now, you need to make $64,000 a year. If you don't, you need a guarantor who makes 80 TIMES what it rents for. That's $128,000. Seriously. In addition, you have to pay the agency 10 percent of your ANNUAL rent just for giving the place to you. That would be almost $2000 just as a finder's fee. So, if we could find a place that is the SAME rent as we pay now, it would cost the $2000 finder's fee, first and last month's rent and deposit, which brings the total to $6800, not including the movers, the truck, or the time lost from work while moving. All because the devil wants to make even more money that he already has. I don't think the recession is affecting the devil at all. Just us chickens. The devil's first offer to "avoid the messy court battle" was $3000. Now, beyond my belief that the supply and demand profit system with no controls is inherently faulty, eliminating all of the housing for the people who service your city is a BAD IDEA. What they are building is an insular city for extremely wealthy people that no one else can enter. It's like the Emerald City, only not happy. They are not shy about admitting that this is their goal. They want it all shiny and pretty, with no poor people to ruin the view. Except the ones making their food, taking care of their kids, driving their taxis, and serving their chardonnay, not to mention entertaining them in the nightclubs, bars and theatres. My point is basically that just because you CAN make money in a certain way doesn't mean you should. At some point, you have to (or should have to) consider the human cost of a profit-scheme and do what you can to minimize the impact of your schemes. But that is what you get in America -- profit is the only thing that matters and if there is money to be made, goddamn it, someone will make it. We call it entrepreneurship. We pay $1600 a month for an apartment that, in any other city, would be considered a SLUM. I know, minimum vacancy and all of that, but at some point, it becomes extortion rather than just "market value." But we were happy to pay it, feeling ourselves lucky to live in a neighborhood in easy commuting distance to the city. And now we have to move before the lease is out or suffer a "messy court battle." I am not asking for a spacious apartment with park views. I am not asking the devil not to build his high rise. I am asking him and his agents of evil to allow us to stay until the lease runs out and not harass us about it. Doesn't seem to me like it's asking too much. But the devil thinks it is, and he sent his agent here today to harass us AGAIN. Extell is evil. If they buy your building or already own it, be very afraid. They are doing this to the entire block between 79th and 80th on 1st Ave.