New York Attorney General Letitia James and New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas today filed a lawsuit against Zara Realty Holding Corp. (Zara Realty), its principals, and affiliated entities for repeatedly violating rent stabilization laws and overcharging rent-stabilized tenants in Jamaica and Elmhurst, Queens. The lawsuit alleges that Zara Realty illegally took advantage of tenants who paid their rent through New York City Department of Social Services (DSS) housing subsidy programs and brazenly disregarded rent reduction orders issued by HCR’s Office of Rent Administration. Zara Realty would then sue tenants who did not pay these unlawfully inflated rents, putting multiple tenants at risk of eviction. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) and HCR’s Tenant Protection Unit (TPU) are seeking a court order to stop Zara Realty from charging or collecting illegally inflated rents and force them to refund all tenants who were overcharged.
“While hardworking families are battling an affordable housing crisis and fighting to make ends meet, Zara Realty shamelessly took advantage of vulnerable tenants,” said Attorney General James. “New Yorkers should not have to worry that their landlords are willfully deceiving them just to line their own pockets. Let this be a warning: any landlord who tries to cheat their tenants and evade our rent stabilization laws will be hearing from my office.”
“Our Tenant Protection Unit is fighting for New Yorkers every day by protecting them from predatory landlords who try to illegally overcharge their tenants and defy our State’s rent laws,” said HCR Commissioner Visnauskas. “The message from our office and Attorney General James is clear – if landlords fail to abide by the rent laws, if landlords seek fraudulent rent increases, or initiate unlawful evictions – we will not hesitate to take action on behalf of millions of rent-regulated tenants in New York.”…