Tenant Group Tags NYC Landlord In Civil Suit On Allegations Of Illegally Inflating Allowable Rents In 20 Regulated Residential Buildings Thru "Phantom" Individual Apartment Improvements, Abusing Real Estate Tax Breaks

In New York City, the New York Daily News reports:

• A class action lawsuit by Harlem tenants accuses their landlord of illegally jacking up rents and abusing city tax breaks in more than 20 apartment buildings.
  
  The Manhattan Supreme Court filing charges Big City Properties LLC and Big City Realty Management with “a scheme designed to inflate rents over and above the amounts which they are legally permitted to charge.”
  
  The lawsuit, with 28 named plaintiffs, charges the companies abuse the city’s J-51 program by taking the offered tax breaks without providing tenants with rent-stabilized leases.
  
  Rent hikes based on a system known as individual apartment improvement — installation of new doors, counters, cabinets, for example — were levied despite a lack of actual work in the apartments, charged the lawsuit brought by the law firm of Newman Ferrara.
  
  “J-51 offenders are not only cheating on their taxes, but also robbing our city of affordable housing,” said Aaron Carr, founder of the nonprofit Housing Rights Initiative.(1)

For the story, see Harlem tenants accuse landlord of illegally hiking up rent in over 20 buildings in class action lawsuit.

---------------------

(1) Housing Rights Initiative is a non-profit community organizer that targets, investigates, and fights fraudulent real estate rental practices, improving the conditions of rental properties, and connecting tenants to legal support.