Gramercy Park SRO used as Hotel Ruled Unlawful

Owner of eight-story building had been used as a hotel since the 1950’s. An eight-story building located at 225 E 17th Street in Manhattan, was operated as a transient hotel with 155 rooms. Buildings charged that the hotel use was in violation of the building’s certificate of occupancy which specified single room occupancy with 163 single rooms and one community kitchen.  Buildings relied on the certificate of occupancy issued on August 16, 1968.


Owner Fined $1200 for SRO Use

Owner leased space to non-profit providing services under contract with the State Department of Mental Health. The current certificate of occupancy for a three story building located at 101-36 104th St., Queens, provided for three residential units, one per floor. The owner of the building leased the third floor to Promoting Specialized Care and Health, a non-profit. The non-profit, under contract with the New York State Department of Mental Health, provides assistance to individuals with … <Read More>


Fined $47,400 for unlawful conversion

Owner converted two-family Queens home into a six-family residence.  Jimming Zhao owns a residential building located at 143-10 Beech Avenue, Queens with a certificate of occupancy for a one or two-family dwelling. On October 17, 2016 an inspector from the Department of Buildings visited the premises and found the residence altered and occupied by six families. The second floor had four single room occupancies and the first floor had two single room occupancies.


HPD’s Lien for Shelter Upheld

HPD provided temporary housing for tenants and then filed liens against the tenants’ former landlords for expenses in providing the temporary housing. The Court of Appeals issued one opinion involving two separate cases concerning expenses incurred by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development for temporary shelter. In 1995 the Fire Department issued a vacate order affecting two tenants of a building in Brooklyn owned by David Rivera. HPD provided the tenants with temporary … <Read More>


HRA Clients Get Rent Protection

Landlord attempted to evict three HRA clients residing in single-room-occupancy facility. In 2013 the owners of a single-room-occupancy facility at 25 West 24th Street, Manhattan, entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Human Resources Administration to set aside 30 units for clients referred by the agency. The referrals would register their attendance automatically by swiping their HRA benefits card at the facility. The landlord submitted monthly bills to HRA, and could also collect … <Read More>


Appellate Court Upholds AirBNB Law [UPDATE: Court of Appeals Denies Leave to Appeal]

Court found that DOB letter of objection exception to the Multiple Dwelling law was no longer valid. On March 17, 2016, New York Appellate Court reversed a Lower Court’s Decision and thus denying Grand Imperial LLC’s Petition for a Letter of No Objection to rent its property for shorter than the legally required time period. Grand Imperial LLC owns a Single-Room Occupancy building, located at 307 West 79th Street on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, … <Read More>