33,000 SROs in NYC go for cheap!

Following that long drawn-out blog I just posted, I thought I would post a short, sweet story about an old SRO law in NYC that allows people to request a lease from the landlord.  Once the lease is requested, the individual can become a "permanent tenant," even if they have only been there one night.  According to the story, "the very act of requesting a lease gives you statutory tenancy."  Wow!

The story tracks a woman who requested a lease and now lives as a "permanent, rent-stabilized resident, paying $398 a month for a room in a classic pre-war building in one of Manhattan's priciest neighborhoods" (Upper West Side).

Thanks to Drake University Law School student Eric Manning for pointing this out.

Jon Rosenbloom