By:KEITH GRANT
Tenants in Long Beach apartment buildings will not suffer damaging rent hikes as result of a judge's finding, city officials say.
Residents of some local buildings have feared that the recent finding would end rent stabilization and lead to major rent increases, forcing many elderly and long-time tenants out of buildings.
City officials, though, insist that will not happen regardless of the impending judgment the court is expected to issue in the suit that pitted the city against several landlords.
"There has been no indication to us that rent stabilization in Long Beach is going to end," said City Manager Bruce Nyman.
Landlords of some local buildings had sued the city, arguing that rent stabilization should have effectively ended in 1996 when vacancy rates in buildings with 100 or more units briefly exceeded 5 percent. State law stipulates that if the vacancy rate of such buildings is less than 5 percent, the local government can declare an "emergency" and institute rent stabilization, which Long Beach did beginning in 1974. But when that 5-percent threshold was allegedly broken in the spring of 1996, rent stabilization effectively ended for over 800 affected units, the landlords say. The landlords are now seeking damages in the tens of millions of dollars
The finding issued last month by Judge Eli Wager, acting as a Special Referee for the state Supreme Court in Mineola, found a vacancy rate in excess of 5 percent for March through June 1996. However, his finding does not shed light on the fate of rent stabilization. The city and attorneys for the landlords are naturally taking opposing positions on that issue while both sides await a final judgment from Wager.
Though the finding appears to favor the landlords, city officials believe the judgment may prove insignificant.
"It may only apply to those few months in 1996," Nyman said of the damages.
Regardless, though, the city manager believes tenants have nothing to fear. The judgment, he says, may have to do with damages, alone, and not impact rent stabilization. Furthermore, whichever way the judgment goes, Nyman expects an appeal will follow and drag the issue on well past 2001.
"I don't think there's going to be any final ruling on this for a year or two," he said. "It's fairly safe to say the tenants are safe for the foreseeable future. There's no reason for anyone to panic."
About 200 panicking residents filled City Hall on Tuesday, March 6, for a public hearing called to discuss the vacancy rates of the buildings in question. Corporation Counsel Corey Klein asked that speakers come forward only if they had specific information on vacancy numbers, which very few did. Some, though, stepped forward with anecdotes of difficulties in finding an apartment in Long Beach over the past five years.
Cy Weber, a tenant at 10 Monroe Blvd., said he had gone to "every broker in town" several years ago and could not find one who had available apartments.
"I can't give you specific numbers because I couldn't get any, myself," he told the council.
Herbert Rubin, a lawyer for the landlords from the Wall Street firm of Herzfeld & Rubin, drew jeers from the audience when he took the microphone and charged that rent stabilization in Long Beach had ended.
"The power of the city of Long Beach with regard to rent regulations is guided by the [state] statute," Rubin said. "The statute says that once the number of vacancies exceeds five percent, the city must declare an end to the emergency."
As Rubin began to lecture the council on state law, he was interrupted by Klein and asked if he had any specific information on vacancy numbers. Rubin told Klein he was trying to give him that information, then proceeded to accuse the city of trying to make a retroactive declaration of emergency.
"You have no power to do that!" he told the council as residents yelled for him to "get off the floor."
At the close of the hearing, council members assured residents that the rents will not be affected by the court finding.
Denis Kelly said, "As far as we're concerned, rent stabilization is alive and well in Long Beach."
