On Saturday (July 13), around 300 small landlords in New York gathered at the “Crossroads of the World” – the red steps of Times Square in New York City to protest the unfair laws imposed by the state of New York and the city on landlords, with 95% of them being Chinese small landlords.
The organizer of the event, founder of the organization “Equal Rights for Tenants and Landlords”, Tan Yingying, first introduced the current plight of small landlords in New York to the audience and friends from around the world.
The biggest problem faced by small landlords in New York City is encountering “professional tenants”. These are tenants introduced by professional property rental agents who after paying one or a few months’ rent, refuse to pay rent but also refuse to move out.
At this point, the only recourse for landlords is to take these tenants to court. However, small landlords complain that the court’s processing time is too long, and there is a “Legal Aid Association” in New York City that provides free legal services specifically to tenants, funded by the city government. Some tenants who intentionally don’t pay rent will come up with various reasons to delay court proceedings to consume the time and money of small landlords. Small landlords are lamenting about this.
Several small landlords interviewed in previous reports from our newspaper participated in the protest rally in Times Square on Saturday.
One of the landlords, Tom Diana, whose property has been occupied by a tenant for 7.5 years, expressed that his case might be the longest running case in the New York State Supreme Court. Since the death of a disabled tenant 8 years ago, the tenant’s caregiver has occupied his property for over 7 years without paying rent, and has changed lawyers for free 10 times.
Diana said, “The lawyers from the ‘Legal Aid Association’ would just tell the judge in the past: she is not ready to appear in court.” He further added, “She (the tenant’s caregiver) no longer bothers to work because she doesn’t pay rent, so there’s no need to work”, “She receives endless free lawyers at the taxpayers’ expense.”
Another landlord, Raymond, who had previously dealt with a professional tenant with 6 luxury cars such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW, shared a piece of good news; the marshals finally appeared at his tenant’s place the day before and evicted the tenant. Upon hearing this news, the fellow suffering landlords applauded in celebration.
Raymond stated that he encountered a pure “professional tenant”, who stopped paying full rent after just one month of residence, and only paid a small amount each month.
Under current New York laws, individuals residing in a property for more than 30 days are entitled to the rights of a “tenant”, protected by all aspects of state and city laws. In simple terms, landlords cannot simply evict tenants.
Raymond said, “Although the professional tenant has been evicted, the damage to our property and mental well-being has already been done.” He added, “They clearly have no financial issues, but they delayed the court proceedings 5 times, all at the expense of the taxpayers.”
After the rally, Raymond advised landlords to conduct background checks when renting out properties, as some intermediaries are unreliable.
A daughter of a 94-year-old landlord who faced a gypsy tenant, Ms. Xu, also attended the rally. Their court date is set for August, and her elderly mother no longer sits on a small stool in front of the tenant’s door urging for rent every day, as they are all waiting for the court’s decision.
During the rally, small landlords occasionally chanted slogans such as “Landlords’ lives matter too” and “Our property rights matter”.
The organizer and small landlord, Chen Hongyao, stated that under current New York laws, landlords pay all taxes but have no rights, hence he demands “fair laws”.
“We don’t want laws that favor either side, we just want fair laws!” he declared. For instance, in eviction cases, “We don’t want 1 year, 2 years, or even 5 years, 7 years! We demand a maximum of 6 months!”
Tan Yingying also suggested that New York City should at least limit the number of times tenants can change free lawyers, so they can’t delay endlessly; furthermore, landlords should not be obligated to find the next residence for a professional tenant, as this would encourage more people to become professional tenants.
Around 300 people showed up at the center of Times Square that day, with some landlords stating that many small landlords who have suffered at the hands of professional tenants have not yet come, as they believe “protesting won’t help”.
A small landlord from Flushing, Mr. Ma, encouraged landlords to persistently evict tenants who do not pay rent until they are successfully evicted; another white speaker said that New York small landlords now have only two choices, “either stop renting out their properties altogether, or vote out these politicians”.