Attorney General Andrew Cuomo

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s settlement agreement announced today
not only forced landlord Vantage Properties to pay $1 million, but it
put all residential landlords on notice that the state’s top law
enforcement officer wants property owners to be more tenant-friendly
than the law demands.

The deal struck with Vantage forces the controversial landlord to
adhere to a three-year oversight program that will force the company
to stop serving what Cuomo described as baseless legal notices and frivolous Housing Court
actions, he said in the statement.

Cuomo was prepared to sue Vantage over the company’s alleged
harassment of tenants following an investigation of the company, he
said.

Vantage also must pay $750,000 into a tenants’ compensation fund and
$250,000 to a legal and education fund.

Cuomo said all landlords should follow the tighter rules, which will
form a “best practices” standard in the industry. [more]

The recent ruling in favor of tenants at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village initially put the city’s landlords on the defensive, but now property owners are asking if the city might owe them money because of the decision. Frank Ricci, director of governmental affairs at the landlord trade group Rent Stabilization Association, said he has fielded calls from “dozens” of landlords asking if the city might owe them for overpayment in taxes. And in recent weeks the law firm Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman raised more questions in a bulletin, including whether the city must pay landlords for lost tax abatements. Adding to the potential chaos, Stephen Meister, a partner who specializes in real estate law at the firm Meister Seelig & Fein, said he had spoken with building owners who might want to leave the city-run J-51 tax abatement program altogether. [more]