New York Rent Controls: Actress Paid the Cheapest Rent in New York’s Greenwich Village—$28.43 a Month

This is how the New York rent control rules work for very long-term NYC tenants.

MarketWatch explains:

When Patricia O’Grady moved into the top floor of a Greenwich Village walk-up in 1955, she and her three roommates helped sweep the hallway in exchange for a discounted rent of $16 a month.

The unit was bare, no more than floor and walls, so the girls, all aspiring actresses, slowly improved it themselves, installing a sink and other modest amenities. While her roommates moved on, O’Grady never left the unit, and for that she received the ultimate New York City prize: unbelievably affordable rent.

Until March, when O’Grady, 84, was fatally struck by a car just a few feet from her home, she paid $28.43 a month for the apartment.

“I consulted with an attorney to find out if this rent was possible,” recalls Adam Pomerantz, who bought O’Grady’s building, which also houses his business, Murray’s Bagels, in 2002.

It was legit, he found, but using a rent-control-formula worksheet, he was able to increase her rent a whopping $1.98 — it had previously been $26.45.

O’Grady was always early with her payments, Pomerantz says, in part because, despite the fact that his tenants can hand in their rent downstairs at the bagel shop, O’Grady insisted on mailing her check...

Sticking it out in the unit was no easy feat. In addition to the lack of most modern conveniences, past landlords also tried to force O’Grady out. “A fire was set at some point,” with the intention of evicting rent-controlled tenants, says Roberta, “Everybody else left except her.”..

[S]he had credits in the 1976 films “Next Stop, Greenwich Village” and “Taxi Driver.” ...

With O’Grady gone, Pomerantz will be gutting and renovating the apartment, renting it out as a two-bedroom in the $5,000 range.

-Robert Wenzel