As a person who has recently been "priced out of Hoboken", as you put it, I feel compelled to respond to this. The rent for my old apartment in Hoboken was increased by about 8% (well over the 3 or 4 % increase per year that is usually stipulated by rent control laws) when the lease was renewed on December 1st (I moved out in November) and although I did move out, I wasn't the primary person on the lease (that was my roommate), so technically he would've had to move out before they could've increased the rent as much as they wanted to. Although I knew that what they were doing was probably illegal, I was moving out of there anyway because I thought the current rent that I was paying was too much before the increase and it was really my roommate's call, so I didn't do anything. Plus, I didn't want any legal headaches.
Also, it's not that strange that people get priced out of Hoboken. I know a lot of people who have had to move from Hoboken to the surrounding towns (usually Jersey City; me included) simply because the rent is so high. Of course, many people initially moved to Hoboken from Manhattan for the cheaper rent and easy access to Manhattan, but as rents have gone up to almost Manhattan-like levels, people who can't afford (or don't want) to pay that much $ have to move. It's pretty simple really and quite unfortunate. :-(
Matt
mustafa said on 12/18/2001 7:44 AM
>Yes, apartments here are rent controlled. If your rent was increased more than a few percent per year without a city document authorizing it for property tax increase, you are probably being overcharged. Call City Hall.
>Rents can be jacked up in between tennants, however. The legal yearly increase is set by the city and is usually a few percent.
>
>This is one of the reasons I moved here from Manhattan - consecutive rent increased doubled my rent in 5 years. One of them was a 24% increase. Its strange when people talk about being priced out of Hoboken - many of the people moving here were priced out of Manhattan.
