A user on TikTok has sparked discussion after revealing that his landlord pressured him to move out of his new apartment so he could convert it to a four-bedroom rental.
In a video with over 32,000 views as of Saturday, TikTok user Jake Clay (@jakeclaynyc) says that his landlord is paying one and a half month’s rent in addition to moving costs for him to switch to a bigger apartment, even though he’s only lived in his current apartment for three weeks.
According to Clay, his landlord originally reached out to him asking if he wanted to move from his new rental, a two-bedroom in New York’s West Village with a year-long lease, due to the location’s construction noise.
Clay thought this request was odd, so he opted not to answer the question. Later, he says the landlord emailed him saying that the plumbing in his unit was poor, and thus, he suggested that Clay move to another apartment he was offering. Clay continued to not respond to the landlord’s requests.
Eventually, the landlord revealed the true reason that he wanted Clay to switch apartments.
“We want to knock the walls down and turn your place into a four-bedroom,” Clay recalls the landlord saying.
“I basically got bribed to leave my current place,” Clay says.
While some users were concerned that the landlord may attempt to increase the price on the new rental, Clay says that he “negotiated a 2-year price.”
In the comments section, users speculated as to the landlord’s true purpose behind this request.
“Last time someone did this to my friend it was bc they were actually getting evicted the next monthhhh,” a commenter said.
“Sounds like your landlord is Frankensteining a rent stabilized apartment,” stated another.
This commenter is referring to a quirk in New York real estate law. According to Curbed, a landlord can argue that a renovated apartment qualifies as a new apartment—thus removing its rent-stabilized status.
“The state’s 2019 rent laws eliminated almost every way a landlord could take a building out of rent regulation, but left in place a loophole around what’s called ‘substantial rehabilitation,’ which is when a landlord has replaced at least 75 percent of ‘building-wide and individual housing accommodation systems,” writes author Clio Chang. “It was originally meant to encourage the renovation of mostly vacant, dilapidated buildings, but now it’s just another way that landlords are trying to flip their aging buildings to market rate.”
Regardless of the reason, Clay seems content with his new apartment.
“Like I think I’m ok [with] it,” Clay summarized in a comment.
The Daily Dot reached out to Clay via email.
Update 11:25am CT, Nov. 11, 2023:
In an email to the Daily Dot, Jake said that his previous apartment was not rent-stabilized, to his knowledge.
“We later found out they knocked down the walls to turn our old 2 bedroom unit into a 4 bedroom,” he explained.
As for his new living situation, he’s enjoying the experience.
“New apartment is great,” he stated.