ANOTHER INCORRECT RULING BY RENT BOARD

The Mile Square Taxpayers Association has protested the Hoboken Rent Leveling Office’s recent declaration that apartment owners are required to reduce rents because the consumer price index declined.
The Rent Control Ordinance does not speak to declines in the CPI, it only states that rent increases are limited to increases in the CPI.
In a letter to the Rent Leveling Officer Suzanne Hetman, Mile Square also called into question the discretion of the Rent Leveling Board in broaching the matter, noting that “the legal status of the Board is unclear,” as a result of unfilled vacancies.
“Once again, we have the Hoboken Rent Leveling Office exceeding its authority by interpreting the rent control ordinance and providing an erroneous reading,” says Charles Gormally, attorney for Mile Square Taxpayers Association. “Two judges are already deciding cases originating as a result of prior misguided actions that have cost the City of Hoboken millions of dollars in litigation costs, lost rental revenue and lost tax revenue. This is just another case of ineffective controls and a purely political posture regarding administration of the ordinance.”
Testimony from an expert economist in one case highlighted research done on records pertaining to 1400 rent controlled apartments that showed ineffective custody of records; inconsistent application of policy; conflicting policy; poor record keeping and other instances of arbitrariness, capriciousness and neglect on the part of the office.
“Property owners are regularly accused of criminal conduct as a result of following the Rent Leveling Office’s policies, only to have the Rent Leveling Office arbitrarily alter its policies and make them effective retroactively,” says Mr. Gormally. “And in litigation, the Rent Leveling Officers admit easily that they have performed their duties in such a way that it is impossible to be in long term compliance with their policies.”
“Even for Hoboken, the gross incompetence of the Rent Leveling Office is a shocking failure of government: pander to the voters no matter what the equities or what the ramifications. It is why Hoboken finds itself under the control of a state monitor, among the other obvious consequences of its style of governing.”