Dunaway sued over UES rent-stabilized pad

Few situations could bolster rent-stabilization opponents’ case like an Oscar-winning actress paying $1,048.72 per month for her Upper East Side rental apartment while living in California. The New York Times reported that an anonymous landlord has filed suit against Faye Dunaway for allegedly paying rent-regulated prices on an apartment in which she does not actually reside.

The apartment is a one-bedroom in a century-old walk-up building on East 78th Street between First and Second avenues that Dunaway began renting in 1994. But the 70-year-old actress, who won an Oscar for her performance in the 1976 film “Network,” pays a mortgage on a home in West California, has her automobile registered there and was hit with three moving violations in California between May and December 2010. After investigating to determine where she actually lived, the landlord requested Dunaway move out when her lease expired at the end of July. Neighbors told the Times that they had seen the actress only a handful of times over the last two years.

Earlier in her career, Dunaway famously lived in the Gwathmey Siegel & Associates-designed Eldorado at 300 Central Park West. [NYT]