STRATCO was formed in 2012

as a response to the glaring need in the market for a specialist who can provide white-glove service in the landlord-tenant relationship. Our clients are owners who don’t have the time, resources, experience, and knowledge on how to navigate the dynamics of a building community and the rent regulatory laws.

STRATCO functions as an intermediary

between property owners and tenants in re-creating a community established on harmony, respect, transparency, and trust. STRATCO works hand-in-hand with property owners, management, contractors, and legal counsel to ensure that the client is abiding by all applicable laws, codes, and regulations. STRATCO is committed to ensuring all residents in their clients’ buildings are being provided the needed services and human connection while bridging the gap of opposing goals of landlord and tenant relationship. STRATCO is not an attorney and does not provide legal advice, it provides design and human relations in oftentimes a neglected aspect in the landlord/tenant relationship. STRATCO is not a private investigation firm.

STRATCO abides by all regulations

associated with NYC and NYS laws and codes. STRATCO is committed to honoring the dignity and lives of New York’s residents. STRATCO is committed to having its clients operate with the highest operational standards and ethics. STRATCO is committed to having the building ownership, management, and tenancy establish a high level of trust, mutual respect, and cohesiveness by project completion.

STRATCO’s Rent Regulatory Advisory's list of services:

  • Lease File Audit
  • Building Tenancy Analysis
  • Tenant Relations Strategy And Execution
  • Litigation Management
  • Tenant Buyout Services
  • HCR Due Diligence & Risk Assessment Reports
  • HCR Annual Rent Registration
  • TPU Audit Protection
  • IAI Documentation & Compliance Assurance
  • Annual Rent Registration Filing
  • CONH Application Filing & Data Gathering
  • Comprehensive Analysis And Preparation For All L&T Related Items

Engaging Regulatory Officials

STRATCO has in-depth experience in working with:

  • HPD: With a property management certification with HPD, we expedite building-wide violation cure and compliance. We educate our clients on how to abide by local laws and codes. We liaise with HPD inspectors and owners to remove violations and operate violation-free buildings.

  • DOB: Assist in obtaining building permitting and Environmental Control Board (ECB) violation removal. Collaborate and partner with an extensive network of general contractors and sub-contractors, such as GCs, architects, engineers, plumbers, electricians, mason, water consultants, electric consultants.

  • City Council: Influence, lobby and engage with the NYC legislative body on strategic decision-making to adopt policies that contribute to advantageous results and an overall enhancement in our industry market niche.

  • City Planning: Advise and provide policy analysis to the committee on planning on the physical and socio-economic framework affecting neighborhood economic development.

  • DHCR: Assist in collecting leases, rent registrations, historical rents on rent-regulated apartments. Mitigate rent overcharges exposures and provide the forensic accounting needed to verify individual apartment improvements (IAI) and major capital improvements (MCI).

Establishing Positive Building Culture

Demographical Reach

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Our team of professionals consists of experienced and passionate researchers, analysts, and consultants, each of whom has vast knowledge and expertise of NYC real estate market and housing laws.

We take pride in our deep pool of culturally diverse team members who all hail from different educational backgrounds, nationalities, and ethnicities.

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Collectively, our staff is fluent in six different languages: English, Spanish, Farsi, Hebrew, Cantonese, Mandarin.

Tenant Engagement – Case Study

The Situation:

  • The client purchases a 420-unit building containing a mix of RS & FM tenants.
  • This building is more than 3x larger than any other building in the client’s portfolio.

The Challenges:

  • 80% of the tenant base does not speak English.
  • Many of the tenants are elderly and concerned about the impact of the upcoming renovations.

Tenant Engagement – Case Study

The Situation:

  • The client purchases a 290-unit historic building in midtown.
  • 1/3 of the building is RS while the remaining tenants are all FM.

The Challenges:

  • The landlord is having a difficult time relating to and communicating with the two opposite cultures which comprise the tenant base.

The Solution:

  • STRATCO consultants coordinate town hall-style meetings with tenants to gain an understanding of their needs.

Cultural Reach & Understanding

As shown in the table below, residents living in rent stabilized units are more likely to have a language, educational attainments, and demographic differences that most owners do not know to address.  Thus leading to unnecessary conflict, and disputes that can be prevented.  Understanding the demographics and unique challenges in your building may be utilized to create a meaningful plan, thus leading to a collaborative win/win solution.

Tenants in Renter-Occupied Units
Rent Stabilized Private, Non-Regulated
Estimate Margin of Error Estimate Margin of Error
Race / Ethnicity
White, Non-Hispanic 24% +1.5% 33% +1.6%
Black, Non-Hispanic 22% +1.6% 19% +1.6%
Hispanic 42% +2.0% 28% +2.0%
Asain, Non-Hispanic 11% +1.4% 17% +1.4%
Other, Non-Hispanic 1% +0.5% 3% +1.0%
Median Age 34 +2.0% 31 +2.9%
Educational Attainment
Less than High School 21% +1.1% 16% +1.2%
High School Diploma 27% +1.4% 22% +1.0%
Some College 20% +1.1% 18% +1.0%
College Degree or Above 33% +1.4% 43% +1.5%

Source: An analysis based on the 2017 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey (NYCHVS). Sociodemographics of Rent Stabilized Tenants

NYC’S Regulatory Evolution

Recently, there has been an influx of legislations strengthening the regulations in place to further protect tenants from harassment, rent overcharge, and rent increases therefore increasing the risk landlords pose by not operating their properties correctly.

Cool Timeline

2019
2019-06-14

Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019

The "Housing Stability and Tenant Protection act of 2019"; extends and makes certain provisions of law permanent relating to rent control and rent stabilization; repeals provisions of law relating to rent increases after vacancy of housing accommodations; relates to vacancy of certain housing accommodations;  relates to vacancies in certain housing accommodations and repeals various provisions..Read More
2018
2018-10-12

Expansion of CONH Program

The Certification of No Harassment (CONH) Pilot Program requires buildings that meet certain criteria to certify that no tenant harassment has taken place before being granted construction permits to significantly alter their properties.
2018-04-26

Settlement of the Altman Case

The Court of Appeals decision unanimously declared the apartment in question to be exempt from rent stabilization and vacated a $165,000 overcharge award.
2017
2017-11-30

Predatory Equity Bill

The legislation requires the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to compile a “Speculation Watch List” of rent-regulated properties with sales prices that are unusually high in comparison to similar sales in the area. City officials feel that such transactions could hint that investors seek to raise rents in the buildings by displacing current tenants.
2017-08-30

18 New Laws Strengthening Legal Protections For Tenants

18 pieces of legislation cracking down on tenant harassment. The new laws solidify New York City’s commitment to tenants against landlord harassment, including by making it easier for tenants to take abusive property owners to court, increasing penalties and enforcing against dangerous and illegal construction.
2017-02-12

UATC Program

The Universal Access to Free Legal Services for Tenants Facing Eviction in Housing Court provided an additional $93 million provides all NYC tenants facing eviction access to free legal advice and low-income tenants with full legal representation.
2015
2015-09-03

3 New Laws Protecting Tenants From Harassment

The new laws prohibit aggressive buy-out tactics and put in place new protections. The goal of the three new measures is to protect tenants from harassment and mandates written disclosures to tenants.
2015-06-25

Rent Act Of 2015

This act primarily changed the method for calculating rents on vacancy leases; high-rent deregulation; Major Capital Improvements (MCI's); and applicable penalties.
2012
2012-01-01

Tenant Protection Unit

In 2012, to increase compliance with the 2011 laws and further protect rent-regulated tenants, Governor Cuomo created the Tenant Protection Unit (TPU) to act as a proactive law enforcement officer within New York State Homes and Community Renewal. The TPU preserves affordable housing by detecting and curtailing patterns and practices of landlord fraud and harassment.
2011
2011-01-01

Rent Act Of 2011

New York State enacted the greatest expansion of rent regulations in 40 years. Major changes: Frequency of vacancy increases, Individual Apartment Improvements, High-Rent/Vacancy Deregulation, and High-Rent/High-Income Deregulation.
2008
2008-01-01

Tenant Protection Act

TPA of 2008 will create a new umbrella of protection for tenants who are being harassed by their landlords.
1993
1993-07-07

Rent Regulation Reform Act

The Act deregulated vacant apartments and occupied regulated apartments, which became vacant, that rented for $2,000 or more per month. In addition, rent-regulated apartments that are occupied by tenants with combined household incomes in excess of $250,000 in each of two immediately preceding years are deregulated upon application by the owner, at the expiration.
1983
1983-01-01

Omnibus Housing Act Of 1983

The next major revision of the rent regulation laws occurred in 1983 with the passage of the Omnibus Housing Act. This Act had only a limited impact on the operations of the Rent Guidelines Board, however, and its main features, including the transfer of administration of rent regulations from the City to the State.
1974
1974-01-01

Emergency Tenant Protection Act

The legislature hereby finds and declares that a serious public emergency continues to exist in the housing of a considerable number of persons in the state of New York, that such emergency necessitates the intervention of federal, state and local government in order to prevent speculative, unwarranted and abnormal increases in rents.