Brooklyn Landlord Agrees To Settlement On Rent-Stabilized Apartments
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Brooklyn landlord accused of trying to push out tenants in rent-stabilized apartments has signed an agreement with the state's Tenant Protection Unit to end the alleged harassment.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday that landlord Yeshaya Wasserman agreed to end the reported harassment and intimidation of tenants in Flatbush and Crown Heights.
"Everyone deserves a safe, affordable place to live and this administration will not tolerate landlords who seek to harass and bully tenants out of their homes," Cuomo said. "We created the Tenant Protection Unit
to make it clear to all landlords that the State would hold them accountable for their actions. This settlement is tough, fair and should serve as a reminder that our administration is not afraid to stand up for all New Yorkers."
According to the agreement, Wasserman will now have to change his policies and procedures so that they are in compliance with rent laws and create a $60,000 fund to compensate mistreated tenants.
An independent monitor will also evaluate the landlord's practices over the next three years to ensure the agreement is being followed through on, state officials said.
The monitor, paid for by Wasserman and approved by the Tenant Protection Unit, will audit all rents set by the landlord following a vacancy to ensure that affordable apartments remain in the system where appropriate.
In October 2013, the Tenant Protection Unit served Wasserman a subpoena demanding documents and records from Homewood Gardens Estates in the Prospect Lefferts Garden neighborhood and seven other properties following complaints from tenants who said Wasserman failed to cash rent checks, pressured them to vacate their apartments and subjected them to frivolous housing court proceedings.
The Tenant Protection Unit said Wasserman's practices mostly affected long-term tenants, most of whom are African-American or Caribbean-American.
In April 2014, tenants of Homewood Gardens filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the complex and Wasserman, claiming he discriminated against them and was trying to force them out of their rent-stabilized apartments to collect higher rents from younger, white tenants.
That case, brought by South Brooklyn Legal Services, is separate from Wednesday's agreement with the Tenant Protection Unit, state officials said.
Tenant and immigrant advocacy groups praised the agreement as an important continued effort in protecting the rights of tenants.
"We are delighted to have worked with the TPU to fight this type of discriminatory and abusive behavior in Brooklyn neighborhoods to protect long-term tenants and communities. Harassment by landlords that violates the law will not be tolerated," said Edward Josephson, director of litigation at South Brooklyn Legal Services. "Now, all tenants who suffer at hands of bad landlords have another protector in Governor Cuomo and his Tenant Protection Unit."
Gov. Cuomo set up the Tenant Protection Unit in 2012. Since then, the agency has recaptured more than 33,000 units that landlords had failed to register and restored them to rent regulation.
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