The state Division of Housing and Community Renewal is investigating Chinatown landlord Marolda Properties for allegedly forcing tenants out of rent-controlled apartments.
Tenants accused the landlord of withholding services such as refusing to renew leases and kicking off unjustified eviction proceedings. The Tenant Protection Unit served a subpoena to Marolda earlier this month, claiming “abusive behavior.”
“No New Yorker should be forced to live in fear of harassment by their landlord, and today we are taking an action that will help protect thousands of New Yorkers from this kind of abuse,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement provided to the New York Daily News.
Marolda owns rental properties on the Lower East Side and in Chinatown. The landlord sold a five-building portfolio at 260-268 Elizabeth Street for $33.5 million in 2012, as previously reported. [NYDN] — Mark Maurer