AG Wants Work Stopped At UWS Apartment Building Pending Fraud Investigation
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The state attorney general is blocking a Manhattan landlord from converting an Upper West Side apartment building into luxury condos pending a fraud investigation.
Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman alleges Newcastle Reality ran roughshod over tenants, using fraud and harassment to get most of them out of 101 W, 78th St., 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck reported.
AG Wants Worked Stopped At UWS Building Amid Fraud Allegations
"Developers who purchase occupied buildings with an eye to converting them to condominium or cooperative ownership cannot run roughshod over New Yorkers who rent their apartments," Schneiderman stated. "In attempting to clear the building of tenants to make a conversion easier and more lucrative, these developers violated the law and stripped tenants of their rights."
According to a press release from Schneiderman's office, "the developers submitted a fraudulent offering plan to the Attorney General's Office, distributed the false plan to tenants at the building, made false filings with the City's Department of Buildings, and wrongfully entered into buyout agreements with tenants to induce them to vacate their apartments during the conversion process."
There are currently 11 out of 44 tenants remaining at the site, including Steven Shatz and his wife, who have lived in a rent-stabilized unit in the building for 30 years.
"I'm not happy with the landlord because she has never wanted to work with the tenants," he said. "I'm angry about it, I wish she would've been more cooperative, but she clearly had her agenda and we have ours. Ours is to stay and hers is to make money."
Schneiderman announced a court order effectively barring all construction work at the century-old landmark as the investigation continues.
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