Late last week, two tenants at 10 Hanover Square in Manhattan’s Financial District sued their landlord, UDR Inc., alleging violations of New York State’s rent laws.
Lucas A. Ferrara, senior partner of Newman Ferrara LLP, is representing the tenants, Bruce Hackney and Timothy Smith, who believe their landlord violated the 421-g tax benefit program -- which provides significant tax breaks to landlords in exchange for providing tenants rent-stabilization protections.
The lawsuit claims that Hackney and Smith failed to receive a rent-stabilized lease or appropriate renewals for their apartment, and further asserts that they are entitled to an adjusted stabilized rate for the balance of their tenancy.
The building, which has over 500 units, has no apartments registered as stabilized according to public records.
This was all “part of a fraudulent scheme to deregulate the apartments in the building,” according to the suit’s allegations.
As reporter Eddie Small of The Real Deal noted in a recent piece on the case, “landlords who receive 421-g benefits need to provide their tenants with riders explaining what the tax credit is and when it expires.” He added, “If the riders aren’t included the tenants are entitled to rent-stabilized leases for as long as they live in their apartment.”
“Unfortunately, this is just more of the same old, same old,” Ferrara said to The Real Deal. “Yet another major landlord caught red-handed, sidestepping New York City’s rent regulation because of its avaricious motivations.”
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If you believe you are rent regulated or would like to consult with one of our attorneys regarding your rights under the rent stabilization laws, call us at 212-619-5400.
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To read the full piece in The Real Deal, please click here.
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