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MEMBERSHIP MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Joseph Strasburg President The members of RSA all share the common belief that a fair market will always yield the greatest rewards to its participants and to society in general. This truth is what we stand for and what we work toward every day at RSA. We advocate for our members in order to give voice to the thousands of New Yorkers who own manage and maintain the buildings that house the residents of our city. We know that the interests of our members are not very different from those of the tenants who live in their buildings. We defend and protect those interests against a contentious legislature burdensome bureaucracy and negative public perception. Whether working with the Mayors ofce HPD DHCR or the Rent Guidelines Board RSAs ability to unify and amplify the voices of our members delivers a powerful message. We educate our members and work to protect them from governmental and judicial encroachment wherever it exists. By developing and providing best practice solutions we help our members run their businesses more efciently and moreprotably. If you share these common beliefs and nd value in our mission then I encourage you to learn more about all of the exciting work we are doing at RSA. We believe membership with RSA is incredibly valuable for property owners and managers alike. I hope you will agree. WELCOMEWELCOME WELCOME WELCOME Regardless of the regulatory status of your building RSA works tirelessly to protect the real estate industry from anti- owner legislation and harmful regulation. Property owners must stand together to effectively advocate for regulatory change. The diversity of our membership offers a unique opportunity to connect with professionals throughout the real estate industry at our educational seminars and ourmonthlymembershipmeetings. RSA Rent Stabilization Association of N.Y.C. Inc. is the largest trade association in New York City exclusively dedicated to protecting and serving the interests of the 25000 property owners and agents responsible for approximately one million units of housing. RSAs members range from owners of a single multi-family building to large multi-family complexes cooperatives and condominiums. Our broad representation has allowed us to develop a powerful base for our lobbying programs and the resources to provide a wide assortment of products and services to our members. ADVOCACY Protecting the interests of property owners is RSAs 1 priorityandourorganizationalwayshasaseatatthetable. Lobbying for changes in the laws and regulations that affect your bottom line is the highest priority to RSA. Our lobbying efforts span every agency and facet of New York State and City government. From the State Legislature in Albany to the DHCR ofce in Queens to the New York City Council RSA is there to advocate for and protect the interests of property owners in the City. We depend on the inputofourmemberstoassistusaswecraftourlegislative and regulatory agendas at the City and State level. We always look to provide opportunities for our members to interact with legislators both City and State to ensure that theirvoiceisheard. ADVOCACY CounselingSupport Experienced RSA counselors are available to our members for individual assistance by e-mail by phone or in person on all matters related to rent regulation or New York City agency problems. Theircollectiveknowledgebaseovertimehasencounterednearlyeveryimaginableobstacleyour business might face. Byzantine compliance and procedural challenges have become matters of routine for our team of counselors. When matters do arise however that prove too complex for even our counselors the RSA legal team will step in to work with the member and his or her team to resolve the issues quickly.RSA counsel might reach out directly to an agency on the members behalf or to outside counsel or possibly refer the member to the RSA Legal Plan Administrator. The RSA counselor team and its legal team are the most reliable line of defense on compliance and regulatory matters for building owners and managers all over New York City. EDUCATION SUPPORT EDUCATIONSUPPORT TheRSAReporter RSA publishes its monthly newsletter The RSA Reporter 11 times a year July and August are combined. The Reporter is the authority on all matters affecting the multifamily rental marketplace in New York City. It delivers news on proposed legislative initiatives legal rulingsCity agency activitiespropertytaxissuesandtaxincentivesforpropertyownersand managersalike. The Reporter enables the RSA to communicate with its members on issues that impact their businesses. The editorial portion of The Reporter maps out the direction and the focus of the Associations lobbying and advocacy endeavors. Members are always kept apprised of where the Board and the executive team stand on a matter what they believe can be done to inluence the outcome and when necessary what they request of the member base in order to bring extra pressure to bear. TheRSAReporteralwaysdeliversthefollowingmonthscalendarof eventsnotingimportantdatesforourindustryinthecomingweeks. TheReporterisfreetomembers. RSAAnnualCalendar Every year the RSA delivers an annual calendar to each member both regular and associate. What sets the RSA calendar apart is its design. Every important date for the year is highlighted and noted from Safety Notices that must be delivered to every tenant by January 16th to the December 31st filing deadline for Labor Cost Adjustments with DHCR and every other deadline and holiday in between. The annual calendar traditionally highlightinguniqueviewsofNewYorkCityandNewYorkersisasvisuallyappealingasitis incredibly useful even in todays digital age. MonthlyMemberMeetings The RSA holds member meetings every month at its 123 William Street location in downtown Manhattan. The meetings are a great forum to discuss what is happening within our industry the opportunities that exist common threats our members face and industry standard best practices that help our members to run their business more efficiently. The open exchange of ideas is very much encouraged. The monthly meetings often include guest speakers from government and industry offering insight on a wide variety of topics. Meetings are conducted in an open forum fashion with ample QA time allotted for all topics covered.The executive and legal teams attend the meetings and are available to answer any specific questions a member may have. Members are required to rsvp their attendance and sign in on arrival. Light refreshments soft drinks coffeetea and water are served. Members find tremendous value in networking with other real estate professionals at these hosted events. Website The RSA website is the portal through which members can access their account information pay their annual dues request RSA services and even add properties to their RSA membership account. Once logged in designated account administrators may add additional users or delete former ones they canalsoupdatemailingaddressesphonenumbersande-mailaddresses.On-lineaccessprovidesdues payment historiesPAC contributions and services payments too. Our website is the gateway to a wide variety of information including past issues of The Reporter information and applications for our money saving member services. Our resource page provides a widevarietyofdocumentsandformsthatourmembersrequiretomaintaintheirconstantcompliance with government regulations. Access to our calendar of events is right at your fingertips on the RSA homepage.Onthesiteyoullalsofindourblogsandcommunicationsfromourpresidentandchairman advisingourmembersofpossiblepitfallsontheroadaheadaswellasthevictorieswevewoncollectively. Visitustoday EDUCATIONSUPPORT PublicRelations At RSA we understand that the challenges that our members face are unique. Because our mission is to protect the interests of property owners we feel it is important to win the hearts and minds of the public and our public relations effort endeavors to do just that. PerhapsmostimportantlyRSAspublicrelationseffortseducatevotersduringelectionseasons. We also humanize our members in our messaging when the forces aligned against us choose the opposite of that path. It is easy to deliver a compelling narrative because we believe that our members want to deliver value to their tenants and because we know that they take a great deal of pride in the appearance and condition of the properties that they own.Our public relations efforts are truly extensions of the businesses our members run. In the court of public opinion perception is reality. It is incumbent upon RSA to see to it that ourmemberstheirpropertiesandtheiremployeesarepresentedinthebestpossiblelight.Our entire association benefits when individual members take the lead role in making our city a better place to live for the millions of people that call New York City home.Our public relations effortswillalwaysmakesurethatNewYorkersknowallofthegreatthingsRSAmembersdoto make this city the absolute best place to live. OnceyouhavelivedinNewYorkandmadeityourhome noplaceelseisgoodenough John Steinbeck SocialMedia YouTube youtube.comthersanyc RSAs YouTube channel has proven to be a testament to the consistency of RSAs message of fair markets and a level playing field for New York tenants and owners alike. It is also serves as a warehouse for the associations multimediamaterial.OurradioadsourTVspotsuniqueownertestimonials can all be found at thersanyc channel on youtube. We encourage you to like and subscribe. Twitter twitter.comTheRSAnyc TheRSAnyc is the official Twitter handle of the RSA. Our tweets point your attention to news stories official announcements and the twitter posts of others that contain information that directly impacts your business. Twitter bills itself as the window to your world and through this window we deliver the real-time updates about what matters to our members the most. We encourage you to follow TheRSAnyc for RSAs candid perspective on the news and newsmakers that should matter to you. Please like and retweet our messages to your Twitter followers so that together we can deliver the message of fair markets and fair legislation to a broader audience. Facebook facebook.comrsanyc RSA maintains a Facebook page that shares information news stories Op- Eds and a wide variety of topics that affect our members. We encourage the civil discourse that a site like Facebook provides the forum for. We do not stile dissenting opinionquite the contrarywe hope that our Facebook page will create and promote a greater understanding of the challenges that our members face as building owners as well as the genuine concerns of the rental community in general. Clear communication is a necessity in order to be understood. SERVICES SERVICES AnnualSafetyNoticeService New York City housing law requires that once each year a building owner must provide the buildings tenants with three safety notices relating to WindowGuards LeadPaint FireSafetyPlans TheRSAAnnualSafetyNoticeServicemailstherequiredwindowguardandleadpaintnoticesas well as fire safety plans to each of your tenants.RSA provides postage paid envelopes to facilitate their response and maintains proof of each mailing as well as a copy of the noticeas required by law. Tenants can reply by mail phone or online. After the notices are delivered and responses are submitted to RSA they are scanned coded and stored on RSAs secure website. OurSafetyNoticewebsiteisacompletedigitalbackoffice.Thesiteprovidesresponserateswork orders for window guard installation and lead paint inspection. It also directs on-site follow up for those tenants that remain unresponsive after multiple delivery attempts. Letters required by the New York City Board of Health listing those tenants who failed to respond can be generated on the siteprinted and subsequently mailed by the subscribing member. The RSA Safety Notice Service provides everything you need to comply with requirements of law and to protect you in the event of an unfortunate occurrence in your building. RentRegistration New York State Law requires that rent stabilized rents be registered with the Division of Housing and CommunityRenewalDHCReachyear.April1rentsmustberegisteredwiththeDHCRbyJuly31st failure to do so can result in rent rollbacks and severe financial penalties. TohelpourmembersavoidtheseobstaclesRSAoffersthefastesteasiestand most reliable way to register your buildings rents every year. RSAs Rent Registration Service has been utilized by members and non-members alike for over 30 years. RSA will digitally transfer your individual apartment and building summary information directly into the DHCR database. We print and mail annual rent registration tenant notices provide affidavits for proof of mailing and store all of this information electronically so that subscribing members can prove legal compliance at any future date.Complete peace of mind. TheOnlineRentRegistrationServicegoesastepfurtherbycreatingacompletelypaperlesssolution.The service auto-renews yearly so that subscribers can manage their properties with confidence knowing that RSA will handle the annual task with complete reliability. RSAFormsandDocuments New York City can be a difficult place to do business.Without a clear understanding of what is expected owners can face unwanted legal action. With this in mind RSA has created a marketplace for our members to visit in order to access high quality documents with best practice language. Our members can be assured that when they lease their units when they post necessary safety decals and when they deliver a legally required disclosure an RSA supplied form will deliver the most thorough and clearest language as required by law. A wide array of documents includingbut not limited torent stabilized leasesfree market leases and all related forms is available.Members enjoy discounted pricing. RSA has created a marketplace for our members to visit in order to access high quality documents with best practice language. RSAMortgageBrokerage RSA Mortgage Brokers a collaboration of RSA and the New York City HousingPartnershipisthemortgagelendingsolutiondesignedtomeet theuniquemortgagefinancingneedsofourmembersthatownsmallto midsized multi-family and mixed use properties. Over the years many RSA members have shared countless tales of difficulty they have experienced whenworkingwithmortgagelenders. Bringingourtwoorganizationstogethertobothsimplifyand expedite the mortgage lending process for our combined membership was a logical progression. Our mortgage professionals help RSA members to navigate the lending labyrinth while overcoming any pitfalls usually associated with running afoul of New York Citys extensive housing bureaucracy. Problems and challenges that most lenders cant overcome are routine speed bumps for the RSA Mortgageteam. Weknowtheneighborhoodswhereyouownpropertyweunderstandtheeconomics of buildings like yours and we present your application to lenders who share that understanding. We arrange loans for purchase and refinance alike for multi-family and mixed use for senior housingcooperatives and affordable housing programs. Wesimplifytheloanprocess.Callustoday LeaseRenewalService The RSA Lease Renewal Service is the easiest way to manage the renewal process for tenant leases. This vital service helps to remove a great deal of the risk associated with the strict timelines that must be adhered to when managing rent stabilized renewals at your properties. RSA maintains a thorough database of our subscribing members leases. Four months prior to expiration RSA will individually mail three copies of all proposed renewal leases to the member. Upon receipt the member is then required to forward those three copies of the proposed renewal leasestothetenantsinquestionforexecution.Thebuildingownermustprovidetherenewallease to the tenant at least 90but no more than 150days prior to lease expiration. Uponexecutionthetenantreturnsallthreecopiestothebuildingownersothattheagreementcan then be fully executed. The owner retains a copy for their records provides a fully executed copy to the tenant and one to the RSA Lease Renewal Service as well. The Lease Renewal Service is convenient automatic and reliable. SERVICES LegalPlan The RSA Legal Plan is designed to minimize the time and money members spend on legal proceedings. It covers administrative and Housing Court matters and in some instances Civil and Supreme Court as well. Legal Plan members receive a FREE 30 minute initial consultation for each covered matter that they raise. After the initial consultation plan members are billed at a sharply discounted fixed hourly rate for any subsequent legal advice they require. Subscribing members are also charged reduced fees for the preparation serving and filing of Housing Court petitions. The plan provides members with professional ethical and personalized advice designed to reduce litigation exposure and to resolve basic landlordtenant issues expeditiously. Enrollment is simple. Participants are assigned counsel by the Plan Administrator and may engage with their legal counsel on as many matters as their needs require remember the first 30 minutes for each individual matter is a no cost consultation. If for any reason Plan members are not satisfied with the RSA Legal Plan they may cancel at any time with 30 days notice and receive a pro-rata refund of their Legal Plan membership fee. Insurance The RSA Insurance Agency is a fully licensed insurance brokerage dedicated exclusively to the needs of RSA members. The agency was conceived to help our members do away with the inefficient and bloated policies that most agents create because they are simply not familiar with the unique demands and the necessary requirements that a multifamily policy must contain. The RSA Insurance Agency reviews member property and general liability policiesforwaystoreducepremiumswhilemaintainingappropriatecoverage.Theyfocuson minimizing exposure and delivering competitive rates. Anocostnoobligationanalysisisprovidedtoallmembers. All carriers are A.M. Best rated A or better. SERVICES ContractorReferralNetwork Some RSA members manage properties that were built more than 100 years ago others manage newly constructed buildings.Invariablythe need for a skilled tradesmana plumber anelectricianalandscaperoranyofahostofdifferentprofessionalswillbecalledoninorder to keep your property in tip top shape. With this in mind RSA has created the Contractor Referral Network. Available only to members of the RSA. We have created a database of vendors and contractors that are well established in their field of expertise and are able to deliver results in the timely manner that your business requires. Thereisnocosttomemberstousethisservice. Simply submit your request online in person or over the phone and youll be matched with three different service providers local to your property willing to provide a free estimate andor proposal for the work you require. It is a simple process that allows our membership to offer reviews and references for a wide variety of contractors and service providers throughout New York City. We have created a database of vendors and contractors that are well established in their field of expertise and are able to deliver results in the timely manner that your business requires. Referral Network. Available only to members of the RSA. We have created a database of vendors and contractors that are well established in their field of expertise and are able to deliver results in the timely manner that your Simply submit your request online in person or over the phone and youll be matched with three different service providers local to your property willing to provide a free estimate andor proposal for the work you require. It is a simple process that allows our membership to offer reviews and references for a wide variety of contractors and service providers TenantScreening Because finding the most reliable tenants is an important part of what you do RSA has partnered with the best court and credit screening agencies available and weve leveraged the sheer size of our member base to deliver the best credit intelligence money can buy at a price point that is second to none. Our tenant screening service is as thorough as it is customizable. From single dual and tri merged repository credit reports to criminal background searches with housing court histories the RSA tenant screening platform delivers comprehensive data as in-depth as your business requires using the most expedient online interface available 247 at a price that delivers real value to our members. Before you take on any new tenant let the RSA Tenant Screening Service help you to make the right decision every time. FuelSavingsProgram The RSA Fuel Savings program has just one purpose Deliver the lowest cost fuel to RSA members. Weve leveraged the buying power of the RSA member base to negotiate the lowest possible pricing with some of the largest fuel oil suppliers in the city.Each year our members purchase millions of gallons of fuel oil at prices that are at a steep discount to retail prices. Our fuel oil buying group is the largest of its kind in New York City so our members are a top priority with the fuel oil companies that are allowed to participate in theprogram. In order for a vendorsupplier to be admitted to the RSA Fuel Savings Plan they must provide will call daily pricing they must offer the option for service contracts and they must also offer the option of scheduleddeliveries. Application to the plan is simple and enrollment is FREE. Once a member is enrolled in the plan an approved supplier is assigned and deliveries can be scheduled at once. UTILITIES TECHNOLOGY EnergyandWaterAudits RSAmembersarealwayslookingforwayscutcostsandruntheirproperties moreefficiently.Inefficiencyisaneverpresentthreattobusinessowners everywheresowehavepioneeredanocostnoobligationmoneysaving utilities auditing solution that allows owners throughout the city to determineiftheirbuildingsareoperatingatpeakefficiencyandalsoif they are being billed properly for their water and energy usage. Participating energy and water auditors will visit your buildings perform a detailed analysis of the property and provide money saving suggestions. Some suggestions can be performed by a Superintendent or even the owners themselves while other suggestions could be significantly more extensive. Both the report and recommendations are free to RSA members. Call to set up your FREE audit today. UTILITIESTECHNOLOGY GasElectricSavingsProgram The RSA Energy Service Company ESCO program allows enrolled members to negotiate the lowest possible electric and gas prices with as many as 8 different ESCOs. At RSA we have created a platform that allows a variety of ESCO providers to bid on the opportunity to deliver gas electric or both to RSA members. Due to the sheer size of the opportunity that RSA members collectively represent participating ESCOs consistently deliver some of the lowest prices per kilowatt hour and prices per thermavailableanywhere. Enrollment could not be easier simply contact the RSA and supply us with your last two 2 monthsworth of gas andor electric bills.RSA will submit the request for bid on your behalf. Once responses are received well contact you with the lowest prices offered.Bothfixedandvariableoptionsareavailable. Billing can remain consistent with how you currently pay for building utilities the onlychangewilllikelybethesupplierandthenewpricing. Submit your ESCO inquiry today and you could be saving money on gas and electric tomorrow. Technology RSA and Tennetsoft.com have jointly developed what is being billed as the easiest way to manage all of your tenants data. Tennet is a robust yet inexpensive cloud based solution for building owners to use for property management.While most of the solutions available on the market today focus on the needs of the institutional sized property managerTennet was designed with smaller sized property management operations in mind. Tennet offers the most important basic services required of a property management software solution without getting bogged down with non-essential features. The most important aspects of its design is its functionality and user simplicity.Tennet is an easy to use solution that delivers only the most important features and does so with a simple and easy to understand interface. Thedesignworks. All cloud based data is secure and password protected. Any computer with an internet connection can become your Tennet work station. Tennet offers a FREE 60 day trial to members with no commitment or contractual obligation. The Tennet team will load your building data and your tenant data into the system for your trial at no cost.Members may cancel at any time. Let RSA set up a TennetSoft.com product demo at a time that is convenient for you. 123 William Street14th Floor New YorkNY 10038 TEL 212 214-9200 EMAIL inforsanyc.org WEB www.rsanyc.org