Will the landlords who challenged rent control have to sell their UWS home?

The only thing that last month’s rent control lawsuit changed is the lives of the Upper West Side landlords who tried to bring the case to The Supreme Court, according to the New York Post. As a result, the landlords, James and Jeanne Harmon, may have to sell their townhouse, the focal point of the legal proceeding.

The couple said that costly legal fees are the reason behind the potential home sale. They’ve already had to put off their retirement because of the case and say they have become pariahs in the neighborhood around their home, at 32 West 76th Street. “We feel total uncertainty about the future at age 69,” said James, a former federal prosecutor who represented himself in the case.

As The Real Deal previously reported, the Supreme Court declined to hear James’ case to challenge the constitutionality of his need to subsidize tenants who live in his building, late last month. He claimed they could afford market rates. He has three rent-stabilized tenants in the building who each pay $1,000 per month.

“I think we could do OK if we could just get the market rent for those apartments,” Harmon told the Post. [Post]