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Old May 15th, 2016, 02:46 AM
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Apartments in New York

Travelling with family of 8 to New York in October looking at an apartment in Harlem. Not sure about areas in New York to stay and wondering about Harlem area.
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Old May 15th, 2016, 02:54 AM
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Or if anyone has stayed Ina great apartment for between three and four hundred dollars a night for 6 adults and 2 teenagers would really appreciate your advice.
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Old May 15th, 2016, 04:12 AM
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Almost all short term apartment rentals in NYC are ILLEGAL.
NYC is cracking down on this, so more tourists are finding their booking cancelled at the last minute.
There are legal apartment style hotels, such as the Beacon, Radio City Apartments, Affinia properties, and others.
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Old May 15th, 2016, 09:03 AM
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You do not want to break the law by staying in an illegal apartment and risk:

Having it cancelled before you get here
Arriving to find it isn;t available and you have to find a hotel on the spot
Risking being scammed of all you have paid

Renting apartments for less than 30 days is illegal in NYC and the city is cracking down on the people doing this. More than 1,000 Air BnB apartments have already been pulled form the market and the number being shut down is increasing all the time, esp since the city is encouraging legal tenants to report these illegal listings (since it compromises the security of the building). there is a special city team working on this and finding apts as quickly as possible, fining the landlords and shutting them down - putting the apartments back into long-term rental by locals.

If I were you I would not want to do business with a criminal in locating lodging but stick with hotels which comply with city fire and safety laws.

There are a bunch of hotel that are apartment style - listed above. If you provide your specific dates and nightly budget people ca help you identify options.

Finally - have you checked the apartment you are looking at - to see if it actually exists (check google street view) and how many good reviews it has. Do not believe any representations from the landlord or agency unless they guarantee you that the apartment is legal (they won't do this).

As for Harlem there are some streets that are quite pleasant and others not so much. You really need to provide a specific address for info. If the renter will not provide a specific address - that is a good sign it's a scam.
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Old May 15th, 2016, 12:03 PM
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There are some legal places in Harlem on VRBO. My son and family are staying in one in December but it only sleeps 4. These are normally places where the family own the house, and are renting out another floor which has been converted to an apartment. When you look at the fee, it will include tax.
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Old May 15th, 2016, 04:11 PM
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The above is legal only if the house has been zoned as a 2 family house - which is VERY rare in Manhattan. If the owners are renting out 2 or more apartments it is still illegal.

I would not believe any owner unwiling to provide official city documentation of the status of the building.
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Old May 15th, 2016, 04:39 PM
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They are renting out one apartment nytraveller.
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Old May 15th, 2016, 05:45 PM
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I can recommend this 3 bedroom apartment in Central Harlem:



https://www.flipkey.com/new-york-cit...ntals/p216183/
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Old May 16th, 2016, 09:31 AM
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Since short-term apartment rentals in NYC are generally illegal, I'd go with a cheaper hotel. Rooms at the Country Inn & Suites in Long Island City can accommodate 4 people each and are usually under $150 and include free breakfast.

I realize that a hotel of any kind doesn't give you the same feel as an apartment, but it just seems foolish to me to take the risk during the highest of high seasons, when you'll have few options indeed if this doesn't work out. Also, apartments that can accommodate that many people in NYC are exceedingly rare.

You could get two rooms at Radio City Apartments, which despite the name is a hotel. It's an older reliable property with a great location that books up far in advance.
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Old May 16th, 2016, 09:52 AM
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ek -

This apartment is actually in Hell's Kitchen - not Harlem - and I can't tell if it's legal or not.
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Old May 16th, 2016, 09:58 AM
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The map on the flipkey show's Hell's Kitchen and the listing title says Midtown. But if you read the entire description it says Harlem. I read a few of the first couple of reviews and they also said Harlem. A bit odd.
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Old May 16th, 2016, 11:28 AM
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The apartment is in Harlem regardless of the map.
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Old May 16th, 2016, 12:57 PM
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Thank you , so even those apartments on Tripadvisor which are we have used to book apartments in otherAll very confusing as countries is not reliable even with their current reviews? All very confusing as we have found most hotel rooms for 4 have two double beds and because of our 4 teenagers we are travelling with they do not appreciate not having their own bed.Some of the apartments on trip advisor did have bunk beds.
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Old May 16th, 2016, 01:02 PM
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Sorry should have reread more closely , should have read So even those apartments which are on Tripadvisor are not reliable even with their current reviews? We have used Tripadvisor to book apartments in Paris and Hawaii and it has been exactly as advertised.
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Old May 16th, 2016, 01:12 PM
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nelsonian on May 15, 16 at 8:39pm
That is a lovely apartment.
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Old May 16th, 2016, 01:13 PM
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Sorry, that was ekscrunchy.
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Old May 16th, 2016, 01:28 PM
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Apartments are perfectly legal in some places, not in others. It depends on the law in each place. Paris is also now cracking down on rentals too as most are illegal there too. One of the major issues is that many apartment rentals don't bother to pay tax and as one would imagine, that doesn't sit well with officials. Paris has other concerns [not enough affordable apartments for people actually living in Paris full time since it is far more lucrative to rent to short term vacationers].

You can book, you can go and you can be lucky and not have issues. But...maybe not. You have to decide if you are willing to take the risk.
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Old May 16th, 2016, 02:30 PM
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It doesn't matter on what website you find the apartment; that doesn't change the law.
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Old May 16th, 2016, 04:46 PM
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The hotel search engines are worldwide and they just take listings as they are sent in . They don;t check to see if the hotels are as advertised and if apartments rentals are legal or not - since the laws differ all over the place.

(I have a friend who lives in a beach community in which occupation by more than 3 unrelated adults is illegal. They used to get lots of college groups/20s groups in the summer and didn't want them in a family neighborhood - way too much noise, public drunkenness, drunk driving, etc)

In NYC the issue is these apartments were intended for middle income and working families and the landlords are illegally renting to tourists to get more income and depriving locals of housing (we have a huge housing shortage of affordable units).
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Old May 16th, 2016, 06:07 PM
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That is true of some, but not all, rentals in NYC.
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