What’s the matter Jonathan, you don’t like that mixer behind your head? 😀 Thanks again for participating and providing such valuable insight for my readers. You’re a class act…even in the kitchen.

Dear Jonathan Miller/Matrix,

Forgive me if I am using this posting feature inappropriately; my notices are bouncing back from your email addresses. I am trying to find some difficult-to-unearth information, and wonder if you might be able to point me in the right direction. I am a journalist who writes for the New York Times, New York Magazine, Time Out New York and loads of other publications. But this is a personal question regarding a housing dilemma.

My husband and I are tenants in the top floor of a 26-floor commercial building on Eighth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. We are Artists in Residence in a building whose top three floors were rezoned and rented to residential tenants sometime in the 80s, I believe. Our landlord has been trying to evict my husband, who has lived in the building since 1994, for the last four years, along with three other tenants living on the 24th, 25th and 26th floors. The case has been postponed several times, but looks as if it will finally go to court next week. It looks as if we will be discussing settlement figures. Indeed, we and the other three tenants involved in the case have of late been discussing them a lot.

Here is the question: We’ve been told that one figure that can be a powerful determiner of settlement limits is the difference between the value of the building if sold with us in it (if a buyer were to purchase the building and take us on as tenants, i.e. “problems”) or with us out. We were told it would be wise to hire an appraiser to give us an idea of how much our presence brings down the building’s value. Alas, we are told that this could cost upwards of $6K for a full appraisal, and since we are already burdened by legal fees, we are hard-pressed to go through with it. We haven’t been able to find anyone who would do a partial assessment.

Might you be able to tell me the name of someone who would able to give me an idea of such figures? Or are there appraisers in New York who do pro bono work to support tenants protected by the Loft Law? We are in danger of losing our homes—and in my husband’s case, a window that is the subject of a now 13-year-long photography project. If we go, we are hoping to be able to force the landlord to compensate us properly for the loss of our home as well as opportunity costs related to the art work, which will have to end abruptly. We would like to come to the table with some solid figures that say, It’s worth this much to the landlord to get us to leave. Do you have any tips?

Many thanks for any help you can provide.