An Upper West Side single-room occupancy hotel was hit with a barrage of city fines following a judge’s ruling that the short-term rentals it was offering were illegal.
The Imperial Court Hotel at 307 West 79th St received over four dozen fire and building code citations from the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement Monday.
The violations target the hotel’s short term rentals, as well as safety infractions such as the inadequate exists, and the lack of fire alarm and sprinkler systems.
A total of 57 of the building’s 227 rooms were being rented illegally, including through web services such as Airbnb, officials said, the New York Daily News reported.
The hotel’s owners, Ron and Michael Edelstein, had argued their property had rented rooms on a short-term basis for decades and were therefore grandfathered into the state’s 2010 Multiple Dwelling Law, which forbids single-room occupancy rentals of shorter than 30 days.
A judge ruled against them earlier this month. The Edelsteins are appealing the decision, and have ceased accepting short-term tenants. [NYDN] – Ariel Stulberg