Finding an affordable (and clean) apartment in New York City is nearly impossible. It's the worst part about moving to this fabulous city. I just heard an interesting story about someone getting evicted from their rent stabilized apartment. I can't go into too much detail (or name names) because there's an investigation going on!

Some rent stabilized leases stipulate that the apartment must be the primary home of the lessee for at least six months of every year. If the lessee doesn't occupy the premises as such, they can be evicted. There may be other reasons for eviction, like if the apartment is used as a place of business.

Unfortunately, it's in the interest of the property owner or management company to find out if someone is breaking these lease terms and evict them. Then they can rent the apartment for a lot more money.

A friend of mine received an eviction notice for breaking the terms of the lease. The property management company hired a private investigator who confirmed the actual lessee (not my friend) was not occupying the apartment. They knew where the lessee was living, where their car was registered, and other information that gave the landlord a strong case for eviction.

So my friend came home to find an eviction notice from the property management company along with a list of findings from the private investigator. My friend's apartment has been on rent control for 30 years and the rent is probably 25% of the market rate.

It must be a big business to kick people out of their apartments and re-rent them for four times the price.