Court Orders DOB to Revoke Permit and Compel Owner to Remove Floors in Upper West Side Condominium Development

Advocates applaud decision while developers find decision deeply flawed. On February 15, 2020, the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development and the Municipal Art Society of New York,  won an Article 78 case regarding the construction of a 668 foot, 52-story condominium building located at 200 Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. New York County Supreme Court Justice W. Franc Perry’s ruling requires the Department of Buildings to revoke the building permit … <Read More>


REBNY Challenges Department of State’s Memo Prohibiting Broker’s Fees

Real estate community in state of confusion over 2019 Rent laws. On February 10, 2020, the Real Estate Board of New York Inc. (“REBNY’”), the New York State Associations of Realtors (“NYSAR”) and a host of residential real estate brokerages were granted a temporary restraining order, blocking the New York State Department of State’s guidance on broker commissions. The TRO comes in conjunction with their Article 78 filing seeking to invalidate the memorandum’s entire section … <Read More>


Governor Cuomo Signs Sweeping Rent Control and Rent Stabilization Reforms into Law

The law places limits on various mechanisms through which landlords of rent-regulated units can raise rent and provides many other protections for tenants. On June 14, 2019, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed into law the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, which Cuomo called “the most sweeping, aggressive protections in state history.” The legislation extends and strengthens rent protections for tenants across the state and went into effect before the expiration of the … <Read More>


Landmarks Calendars Bay Ridge’s First Historic District

Historic district designation would ensure protections for the largely intact, over 100 year-old, block of limestone row houses.  On  March 26, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to calendar a proposed historic district in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn. The Bay Ridge Parkway – Doctor’s Row Historic District would be comprised of 54 row houses built in the early 1900s on Bay Ridge Parkway between 4th and 5th avenues. Constructed in … <Read More>


U.S.A. v. NYCHA: Judge Pauley Rejects the Proposed Consent Decree

The New York City Housing Authority’s efforts to settle with the U. S. Attorney over NYCHA’s mismanagement of public housing came to an abrupt end on November 14, 2018 when U.S. District Court Judge William H. Pauley III rejected the proposed consent decree. The U.S. Attorney had charged NYCHA in a civil complaint with fraud, deception and filing false lead inspection reports. The complaint also charged NYCHA with systematically tolerating dangerous and unhealthy contamination of … <Read More>


City Not Liable For Accepting False Deed

Owner’s house was fraudulently listed on the City register by a stranger who broke into the house and took possession. Jennifer Merin was left a house by a testamentary gift. The house is located at 226-08 141st Avenue in Queens County. In March of 2014, Darrell Beatty, without Merin’s knowledge, filed a fraudulent real property transfer report and a fraudulent deed with the City register that gave the property to himself. Beatty then broke … <Read More>