Hudson Heights Tenants Sue Landlord for Deregulating Rent-Stabilized Units
(DNAINFO) Amy Zimmer and Carolina Pichardo | September 22, 2016 — Tenants believe they’re owed rent overcharges because their landlord illegally deregulated apartments.
A group of tenants living in a building on West 180th Street are accusing their landlord of a “fraudulent scheme to overcharge tenants and illegally deregulate the apartments,” according to a lawsuit expected to be filed in New York Supreme Court on Thursday.
Twelve of the tenants of 854 W. 180th St., a pre-war building overlooking the Hudson River, are seeking to recover rent overcharges from LIV Hudson Heights LLC and adjust their leases to reflect what they believe their legal rent should be.
The tenants first thought something was amiss when they realized a large number of rent stabilized units had been deregulated at their 49-unit pre-war building, and many new tenants were asked to sign waivers acknowledging they weren’t entitled to any protections under rent stabilization laws.
This spring they reached out to the Housing Rights Initiative, a nonprofit that investigates rent fraud in rent-stabilized buildings. Their data analysis uncovered a pattern of aggressive deregulation and massive rent increases at the six-story building — which the group believed was achieved by illegal means.
With help from Housing Rights Initiative, tenants did a deep dive into their rent histories — requesting a list from the state’s Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) of all of the rents paid by past and current tenants for their units from 1984 to the present.