Is there an artist living here? (Photo by Dan A/Flickr)

Not surprisingly, many people living in Soho and Noho are not too happy about a real estate group's plan to survey loft residents in the neighborhood to ensure that at least one person in each loft is an artist, as city law requires. DNAinfo has been following this one closely and reports:

Community Board 2 chair Brad Hoylman said he was "shocked" by the plan to survey the area roughly bordered by Astor Place, the Bowery, Canal Street and West Broadway — and said the board planned to look into whether it was legal.

"I am very concerned that this survey could amount to landlord harassment," Hoylman said. "There are laws against this sort of incursion on tenants' rights to quiet enjoyment, and I hope that city officials take the appropriate action to protect them."

The group, billing itself as the SoHo/NoHo Action Committee, wants to prove that artists no longer reside in many of the artist-zoned lofts, and aims to have the rule stricken. Some potential loft buyers who are not artists have reportedly balked at pulling the trigger on such homes, fearing their lack of certified artistic talent would result in them getting the boot if the city decided to enforce the law.

Soho, once known as Hell's Hundred Acres. (Photo by Dan A/Flickr)

If you reside in a SoHo or NoHo loft, some people may soon be knocking on your door hoping to ask some questions about your occupation. Various real-estate types have established a group called the SoHo/NoHo Action Committee aimed at determining whether the lofts in those neighborhoods, which are legally mandated to house an artist, do, in fact, comply with that rule, DNAinfo reports. The organization plans to hire surveyors (it's aiming to raise $25,000) to determine that. Door-to-door knocking is one of the tactics on the table.

The group's goal is to prove that artists no longer reside in many of the lofts and have the artist-in-residence regulations stricken from the books. Right now, it seems, many potential buyers are hesitant to pull the trigger on artist-zoned lofts in the area, since they're afraid someone from the city government will enforce the regulations, giving them the boot. (That said, quite a few people are believed to be skirting the rule.) CurbedNY reports that about 200 lofts are covered by the current rules. Here's DNAinfo:

Prudential Douglas Elliman luxury real estate agent Leonard Steinberg, a supporter of Baisley's committee, said he recently had a non-artist client pass on buying a $15 million home in SoHo rather than try to buy illegally.

The city needs to change with the times, Steinberg said.

"These rules are government stupidity," he said. "I'd say 80 percent of people who live in SoHo now are not artists, but the government has a problem redefining the neighborhood."

The artist-in-residence guidelines were established in the 1970s to encourage artists to live and work in the area, which was far less tony at the time. (Oddly, "interpretive" artists like dancers, musicians and actors do not fit the bill.) One broker said that the law now hurts artists:

Real estate broker and certified artist Susan Meisel said the artist-in-residence rules now hurt the very people they were designed to protect. Aging artists sometimes have trouble selling their properties, she said.