Friday, February 20, 2015

Crackdown on the greedy

From the Daily News:

City and state officials are set to launch a coordinated crackdown on greedy landlords accused of trying to harass tenants from their rent-stabilized apartments.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Mayor de Blasio will announce on Thursday an aggressive new effort to go after property owners who use illegal tactics to force out tenants paying lower rent.

The campaign comes in response to “a significant uptick in complaints regarding tenant harassment” — especially in gentrifying neighborhoods, officials said.

Schneiderman has opened 10 investigations into allegations of landlord harassment in the last year — triple what his office had done in any prior year, officials said. In the last 18 months alone, the AG has fielded more than 200 complaints of “systematic harassment” by landlords, mostly in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

So there were 200 complaints in 18 months out of about 1 million rent-stabilized apartments. The AG needs 10 investigations for this?

J said...

Anonymous, 200 complaints of "systematic harassment." It extends beyond complaints about the hot water heater not being strong enough. The linked article describes two recent investigations that should give you a better sense of what they're describing.

In the last year, the Daily News has reported that Schneiderman is investigating two major Manhattan landlords.

One landlord, multimillionaire Steven Croman, hired an ex-NYPD cop who allegedly harassed and intimidated tenants, barging into their apartments and following them to work.

Schneiderman filed a “cease and desist” order against the former cop, Anthony Falconite. The matter is pending.

Schneiderman is also looking at landlord Meyer Orbach, who runs 2,000 units mostly in Manhattan. Tenants say Orbach regularly files frivolous lawsuits to get them out of his buildings. That investigation is also ongoing.

JQ said...

now the officials notice?

Troll said...

And how many cases of people in rent stabilized and rent subsidized apartments illegally renting out on Airbnb have there been? There is one in the NY Post today. This blog had one of a woman renting out her 4 bedroom apartment on Central Park West.

Greedy isn't only for the landlords.

Anonymous said...

Lawbreaker vs lawbreaker___

Its the airbnb generation vs scumbag landlords in a steel cage death match

Anonymous said...

none in Queens.....

so typical. a cop is the strong arm for the slumlord.

Queens is the most corrupt borough with regard to tenants rights and housing.