Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today filed a lawsuit against Marolda Properties, Inc., a Manhattan property management company that manages rent-regulated apartment buildings in the New York City metropolitan area including in Chinatown and the Lower East Side, and affiliated landlords that own the buildings.
The lawsuit is the result of a joint investigation between the Attorney General’s Office and Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Tenant Protection Unit.
The lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court, alleges that Marolda Properties and the other defendants improperly sought to evict rent-regulated tenants by serving notices and bringing proceedings in housing court falsely alleging that the tenants no longer occupied the premises as their primary residence. The lawsuit also alleges that defendants refused to renew tenants’ legally-required leases, overcharged and failed to account for rent paid by tenants, did not conduct necessary and proper repairs and renovations, and engaged in other harassing, deceptive and retaliatory behavior.
The affiliated landlords named in the lawsuit include Green Leaf Associates, LLC, Forsyth Green, LLC, Forsyth Blue, LLC, 83-85 Baxter Street, LLC, 7 Rivington Street, LLC, 90 Elizabeth St., LLC, Ludlow 65 Realty LLC, 13-15 Essex Street, LLC, 145 Ave. C., LLC, and 100 Forsyth Associates, LLC.
Read the full release from the AG's office here.
145 Avenue C (649 E. Ninth St.) sold in 2011 for $9.7 million. An entity named Ninth and C LLC is listed as the building's owner, according to public records. At the time of the sale, a resident told us that Marolda Properties would manage the building. Ninth and C LLC has an address in Houston.
11 comments:
This is good news for tenant's right but I can only imaging how many people were illegally evicted from their homes which will never get justice.
I don't understand why any settlement would not compensate the harassed former tenants. I know they've had to move on. But still they hve skin in the game and should receive damages.
If landlords who illegally drive out regulated tenants KNEW they'd have to pay damages/settlement to each of those tenants, it might make some of the owners think twice about how they conduct their businesses.
"Ninth and C LLC has an address in Houston" - why is this even allowed?!? What the hell do a bunch of Texans care about tenants in New York, except for what they can squeeze out of them financially? They have no connection to the city, no feel for it, and see it as nothing more than a cash cow. Absolutely shameful.
Good to see justice approaching. The likes of Marolda, Croman, and Daniel / ADRE have been harassing tenants for too many years. There is hardly a punishment too severe for those who terrorized tenants in pursuit of profits. The unspeakable suffering had gone of for too long. Compensation can hardly heal the physical and mental wounds. Putting criminal clans out of business and behind bars would make the city a safer place. Attorney-General Schneiderman is to be applauded for taking these steps to defend justice for many thousands of New Yorkers.
One charged, but many more to go after. Yes, bring those Marolda, Croman, Daniel ADRE and the torturers of tenants to justice. During the Bloomberg and Guliani years, crooked landlords were harassing with impunity, making tens of thousands of New Yorkers suffer for years. May times change now...
Marolda Properties has been harassing tenants and openly breaking the law for years. Fred Marolda is in the vanguard of landlords who converted residential apartments into illegal hotel rooms, defied J-51 tax abatement rent stabilization regulations, illegally denied renewal leases to tenants and on and on ad nauseam. So many lives have been horribly affected by these criminals, but our elected officials look the other way.
Our elected officials have known about Marolda's "activities" for years. Despite desperate pleas from affected tenants, elected officials claim their "hands are tied" or levy pathetically small slap-on-the-wrist "penalties" on these criminals. For an eye opening view of Marolda's history in one building, read "Motel Sucks" in the Village Voice from Dec. 18, 2007. It will be a cold day in hell before Schneiderman et al will force the Maroldas of this city to compensate tenants who have been damaged by their criminal behavior.
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/motel-sucks-6419999
I guess when landlords don't contribute to the mayor re-eclection campaign they get dragged into court finally.
To put this into context: Yes, a long overdue step toward justice. But the fact that such arrests are so rare shows the authorities' still pervasive failure to protect tenant rights. Compare the few times police goes after landlords to the 29,198 arrests (in 2015) for "fare beating" or "theft of services", when someone hops a turnstile or tries to ride a train without paying the $2.75 fare. Isn't there a gross imbalance?
Gojira,
Do you know why people can own property in a state they don't live in?
The Constitution.
Also pretty humorous considering how many major employers are based in NYC and own property throughout the country (and world).
The case pursued by the General-Attorney against Marolda might be just the tip of an ice-berg, since the charges are based on just some of their buildings but not yet on others where tenants had suffered very similar harassment over many years. Time to bring those Marolda, Croman, Daniel ADRE, Silverstein et al to justice. This city needs stronger protection of tenants.
Post a Comment