On Saturday, July 13, about 300 small landlords in New York City gathered at the “Crossroads of the World” – the red steps of Times Square, protesting against the unfair laws towards landlords by the state of New York and New York City, 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 to the audience and friends from all over the world the current plight of small landlords in New York.
The biggest problem faced by small landlords in New York City is encountering “professional rent delinquents”. These are tenants introduced by professional real estate rental agencies who after paying rent for a month or a few months, 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 proceedings take too long, and in New York City, a “Legal Aid Association” specifically provides free legal services to tenants, funded by the city government. Some tenants who intentionally refuse to pay rent will make various excuses to delay court proceedings to consume small landlords’ time and money, much to the distress of the landlords.
Several small landlords interviewed in previous reports by this publication attended the protest rally at Times Square on Saturday.
One of the landlords, Tom Diana, whose property had been occupied by a tenant’s caregiver for 7.5 years, said his case is likely the longest-running case in the New York state Supreme Court. Since the death of his disabled tenant eight years ago, the tenant’s caregiver took over his property, resided there for over 7 years without paying rent and replaced 10 lawyers for free.
“Diana said the lawyers from the ‘Legal Aid Association’ in the past told the judge, ‘she was not prepared to appear in court.’ ‘She (the tenant’s caregiver) doesn’t bother to work now because she doesn’t pay rent, there is no need to work,’ he said, ‘They are provided with endless free lawyers using our taxpayers’ money.'”
Another landlord, Raymond, who had faced a rent delinquent with six luxury cars like Mercedes and BMW, shared some good news. Just a day before, court bailiffs finally appeared in front of the delinquent at his home and evicted him. Upon hearing this news, fellow landlords celebrated and applauded for him.
Raymond said he encountered a pure “professional rent delinquent” who stopped paying full rent after only one month of occupancy, only paying a small portion monthly.
Under current New York laws, individuals who have resided in a property for more than 30 days are entitled to “tenant” rights, protected by various state and city laws. In simple terms, landlords cannot evict tenants at will.
“Even though the delinquent was evicted, the damage to our property and mental well-being has already been done,” Raymond said, “filing for eviction five times with taxpayer money, even though it’s clear they have no financial problems.”
After the rally, Raymond suggested landlords should conduct background checks when renting out their properties because some intermediaries are unreliable.
Another landlord, a 94-year-old woman whose mother faced Romani rent delinquents, Ms. Xu, also attended the rally. The court date for their case is in August, and her elderly mother is no longer sitting on a small stool in front of the delinquent’s door every day demanding rent. The family is awaiting the court’s decision.
Small landlords at the rally occasionally erupted into chants such as “Landlords’ lives matter too” and “Our property rights matter too.”
The organizer and small landlord Chen Hongyao stated that under New York laws, landlords are burdened with all tax obligations but have no rights, thus demanding “fair laws”.
“We do not want laws that favor either side, we just want fair laws!” He said. For instance, regarding the time spent on 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 suggested that at the very least, New York City should limit the number of times tenants can switch to free lawyers, not allowing them to endlessly prolong proceedings; additionally, landlords should not be responsible for finding the next residence for delinquent tenants, as it would essentially encourage more people to become delinquents.
Approximately 300 people gathered at the center of Times Square that day, and some landlords mentioned that many small landlords who have suffered from rent delinquents did not attend because they believe “protesting is futile.”
A small landlord from Flushing, Mr. Ma, encouraged small landlords to persistently evict rent-delinquent tenants until they are out. Another Caucasian speaker said that New York small landlords currently have only two options, “either stop renting altogether or vote out these politicians.”
(Made the article longer by adding more detailed descriptions in English, while maintaining the essence and key information from the original Chinese report.)