Help Niall and Family Keep Their NYC Home

This is a desperate attempt to save my home of 17 years, a rent-stabilized apartment in NYC and home to myself, my daughter, and our cat.

Our building has been under the protection of the NYC Loft Law since 2012. As the Loft Law forces building owners to bring the building up to residential code, we have lived through multiple owners who, rather than do the necessary work, employed tactics to drive tenants out, up the value of the building, and flip it again, passing the responsibility on to the next buyer. During COVID, we began a building-wide rent strike as encouraged by our counsel, as we were experiencing extreme harassment. We had our gas cut, the elevator out of service for years, fires, and floods. Those that didn't give up and leave during that time stayed because we knew what we had and the promise that one day these things would be addressed.

In 2021, the building was sold again, and these buyers had the resources and the interest to finally begin legalization work. But their agenda was to drive all remaining tenants out to make market-rate apartments.

They appealed to the Loft Board to entitle them to the rent we withheld and were granted that in good faith, but many of us, myself included, no longer had those funds after going through two years of COVID without steady work. We appealed this decision as it appears to ignore the written law. The building has many ongoing violations, no C of O, and has continued to make living difficult.

Despite this, I was taken to housing court and pressured to sign a stipulation agreeing to pay back the arrears within the month to avoid eviction. I don't have all the money and am doing this as a hail mary. I'm hoping there are some that come across this who are in a comfortable position to help. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely,

Niall