By Gus Saltonstall
Following an investigation by a housing watchdog group, a major Upper West Side landlord has been sued for allegedly overcharging residents on rent and illegally destabilizing units in multiple neighborhood buildings.
The lawsuit was filed in New York State Supreme Court on Tuesday by 12 residents of four different Upper West Side buildings owned and managed by Weinreb Management. The residents accused the landlord of illegally overcharging tenants to the tune of more than an estimated $12.5 million.
One tactic used by Weinreb Management to illegally deny units their rightfully rent-regulated status was to cease registering the units as rent-regulated with the state and then renting them at market-rate prices, despite no evidence of improvements in the units, according to the lawsuit.
In other instances, units in the four Upper West Side buildings were registered as “Exempt NYC COOP/CONDO,” which would make them exempt from rent stabilization, despite no evidence that the units were ever legally co-ops or condos, the lawsuit reads.
The Weinreb Management buildings involved in the suit are located at:
- 5 West 86th Street (between Columbus and Central Park West)
- 51 West 86th Street (between Columbus and Central Park West)
- 110 West 96th Street (between Amsterdam and Columbus)
- 350 Central Park West (between West 94th and 95th streets)
According to the lawsuit, one example of the illegal tactic featured an apartment at 51 West 86th Street that was last registered with the state in 2008 at a regulated rent cost of $752.27 a month, but then was never registered as regulated again. At the time, deregulating that unit would have cost around $42,600 in improvements, but there is no evidence any such improvements were made, the lawsuit reads.
Weinreb Management did not immediately provide West Side Rag with a response to the allegations in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed following an investigation by Housing Rights Initiative into Weinreb Management, with the support of Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Councilmember Gale Brewer, and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal.
“This class action is about both justice for today’s tenants and the future of the Upper West Side,” Aaron Carr, founder and executive director of Housing Rights Initiative told West Side Rag in a statement. “Let this class action send a message to every rule-breaking landlord on the Upper West Side: if we catch you illegally overcharging tenants, the question is not whether you’ll be caught, but when.”
The lawsuit asks the judge to award all 12 of the Upper West Side plaintiffs a sum equal to or exceeding $1 million each. Additionally, by law, tenants found to have been overcharged on rent are entitled to rent refunds, rent reductions, and properly rent-stabilized leases.
“This class action suit is especially important when the median rent in Manhattan is close to $5,300 a month. It’s imperative that we enforce the laws that prevent landlords from deregulating affordable apartments,” Hoylman-Sigal told the Rag on the phone. “Rent stabilized apartments are an endangered species in places like the Upper West Side, and we need to everything we can to protect their continued existence. They are an incredibly important source of housing for lower and middle income Manhattanites.”
Upper West Siders can check if their apartments have been illegally destabilized by either reaching out to the Manhattan Borough President’s Office, or requesting their individual rent history with the New York State Homes and Community Renewal Agency.
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