A Woman Talked About How Her Landlord Tried to Raise Her Rent by $700 in New York City

Rents are crazy all over the place right now and you better believe that those monthly prices are getting jacked up in one of the most expensive places in America, New York City.

Actress, writer, and comedian Grace James lives in the Big Apple shared a video on TikTok where she put her landlord on blast for raising her rent a whopping $700 per month in South Williamsburg in Brooklyn.

James was already paying $2,500 a month for her apartment and her landlord’s reasoning was “it’s what the apartment’s worth.”

In her TikTok video, James shared photos of her building that clearly hasn’t been updated anytime lately…

And FYI, the average rent in Brooklyn as of May 2022 was $3,250, which is 18% higher than last year.

Check out the video James posted.

@justgracejames #greenscreen hey haha…. don’t move to nyc right now #fyp #comedy #comedyvideo #nyc #healthadepopit ♬ Its what the apartments worth – Grace James

James told Buzzfeed that she felt “devastated and powerless” when she learned about the rent increase from her landlord.

 

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A post shared by Grace James (@justgracejames)

She added,

“Several of my neighbors are long-term residents, which led me to think and hope that our property managers cared about retaining good tenants. I’d been naïve to the reality of how faceless we are to those who own our buildings. I told my friends, ‘I wish our landlords could see us scrambling to figure out what we’re going to do. I wish they could see how a single piece of mail turned our lives upside down.'”

James decided the best thing for her to do was move back to Texas.

She said,

“I’ve wrestled with my disappointment in not being able to stay and fight, but I take comfort knowing how many more people are aware of their rights just by way of having seen my video. I also plan to talk to everyone in my building about my increase so they’re prepared and have the resources they need to unionize.”

Are these out-of-control rents across the country ever going to come down? Let’s hope so…

And now we want to hear from you!

Has your rent gone up lately? Or is it staying steady?

Talk to us in the comments and share your story!