The mythical life of a rent-controlled tenant paying one of the lowest rents in all of New York City is examined in covetous detail in the NY Post today. Patricia O'Grady, 84, lived in a cold-water flat, meaning no hot water, at 498 Sixth Avenue. When building owner Adam Pomeratz tried to install heat, he said she told him, "What you’re doing to me is torturing me. Please leave the apartment as is. I’m at peace."

According to the Post, O'Grady moved into the building 1955 with two roommates, paying $16/month in total rent. Pomeratz, who owns Murray's Bagels, at 500 Sixth Avenue, bought the building in 2002, and found O'Grady was paying $26.45. After verifying that the rent was in fact correct, Pomeratz increased it to $28.43 "using a rent-control-formula worksheet."

On March 12, O'Grady, an actress, was crossing 6th Avenue near 13th Street when she was struck by a car. She died from her injuries three days later. Her obituary described her career in theater, noting, "Ms. O'Grady often said that she 'made a life in the theater without making a living in it,' (A quote not original with her) and this was made possible by her Village apartment where she lived for over 60 years and paid under $30 per month rent! A friend once dubbed it a 'dump with character,' and as primitive as it was, it enabled her to do exactly what she wanted to do."

Her sister Roberta told the Post about living the apartment in the 1960s, "We would heat the water on the stove and then pour it into the old-fashioned washtubs against the wall... A fire was set at some point [to scare away the rent-controlled tenants]. Everybody else left except her."

Rent-controlled apartments are a rarity in NYC. The city's website explains, "The rent control program generally applies to residential buildings constructed before February 1947 in municipalities that have not declared an end to the postwar rental housing emergency... For an apartment to be under rent control, the tenant (or their lawful successor such as a family member, spouse, or adult lifetime partner) must have been living in that apartment continuously since before July 1, 1971. When a rent controlled apartment becomes vacant, it either becomes rent stabilized, or, if it is in a building with fewer than six units, it is generally removed from regulation."

Now, "Pomerantz will be gutting and renovating the apartment, renting it out as a two-bedroom in the $5,000 range," the Post reports.