Some 2,000 tenants of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village will be spared mid-lease rent hikes as part of an agreement between the owners of the 11,000-unit rental complex and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, his office announced today.
CWCapital Asset Management, the special servicer that controls the complex, notified tenants of the rent increases in May. However, some tenants complained that leasing agents misrepresented the meaning of a rider on their lease agreements, according to City Council member Dan Garodnick, who lives in the complex and forwarded the complaints to the attorney general.
Under the deal, tenants who already moved to terminate their leases can withdraw the termination. The deal also applies to tenants who don’t have any documented proof of misinformation from leasing agents.
“It is our understanding that verbal assurances will be treated the same way as written evidence, but there does need to be some sort of description,” a spokesperson for Schneiderman told Town & Village, which first reported the news.
Leasing agents told some 39 tenants that they wouldn’t get a rent hike, according Gardonick. However, CWCapital told Town & Village that there had been only 10 cases of misrepresentation.
Tenants must file an affidavit — along with any documentation of statements made by leasing agents — to the Attorney General’s office by June 30. If they miss the deadline, they will have to pay the higher rent.
The dispute arises out of a long-running case over the unlawful deregulation of some units at Stuy Town; a New York state judge approved a settlement in April, but the tenants and owners continue to spar over how it is being implemented. [Town & Village] —Zachary Kussin