Moving backward in real estate

To the editor:

Having served on a co-op board and also having an expired New York real estate license, I am surprised how little attention has been paid to the upcoming New York Local Law 97 legislation.

The city is now “grading buildings” as they do restaurants as concerns their measured energy efficiency. I have no idea on what these criteria are, and doubt that anybody else does either. The fact is that the great building spike in New York City residential building occurred between 1930 and early 1960.

Having worked part-time in building maintenance, I know there is only so much they can reasonably do to make these older buildings more “energy efficient.” The only cost-effective measures being, in most cases, changing the windows, and installing regulating valves on radiators.

The larger, better-built buildings of the 1950s and ‘60s might help cut costs by installing solar panels on their roofs to provide electricity to the “common areas” like hallway lights, laundry room machines, elevators of their buildings. That’s the most all of these older buildings can reasonably do to become more energy-efficient.

However, forcing buildings to change their gas boilers, water heaters, apartment cooking stoves to electric would incur huge expenses for rental landlords, co-op/condo building owners, a massive increase in expenses that would have to be passed down in increased rent or maintenance costs.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen little discussion or debate about this strange new mandate that could potentially cost New York City renters, co-op, and condo owners huge increases in their living expenses. As an apartment owner, former board member, former building maintenance worker, I have heard little discussion of this issue from The Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums. 

Hopefully you will put a little spotlight on this bill before the rest of us are driven out of New York City because of its intolerable rising cost of living expenses caused by imbecilic governmental regulation.

Lou DeHolczer