52 landlords are still flouting 421a rent rules: officials

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman released a list of landlords with properties that benefit from 421a tax abatements but allegedly don’t offer rent-regulated leases to tenants.

The officials’ list covers 509 units in 59 buildings, mostly in Brooklyn and Queens, owned by 52 different entities, the names of which mostly appear only as LLCs, according to a news release.

The buildings include 194 Wallabout Street in South Williamsburg, which is listed as being owned by an entity associated with Simon Dushinsky’s Rabsky Group. Rabsky was recently accused of abusing preferential rent rules at its Driggs rental building in Williamsburg. The company has denied those claims.

Also listed was 165 West 9th Street, owned by Alan Lapes, who, as of 2013, was the city’s largest operator of for-profit homeless shelters.

The governor, mayor and AG also announced that 128 other landlords of 421a buildings, who were targeted in the Real Estate Tax Compliance Program, have agreed to register their properties – 1,823 units total – and offer rent regulated leases.

Landlord Aron Kapelyus was among those who recently settled with the city. He operated 10 different entities which owned a combined 134 apartments in 10 buildings in Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant. He agreed to offer rent stabilized leases for the first time, and pay $103,500 to the city’s Affordable Housing – AG Settlement Fund.