Lawsuit to Stop East Harlem Rezoning

New York just passed a sweeping re-zoning of East Harlem in December 2017. Now, tenant advocates are suing to wipe the East Harlem Rezoning off the books, arguing it may cause thousands to be pushed out of rent-regulated apartments.

“From Brooklyn now to El Barrio, the city continues to employ a flawed methodology that ignores the realities facing rent-regulated tenants and the consequences of land-use decisions on their rents and livelihood,” said Jennifer Levy, of Legal Aid’s Civil Law Reform Unit, according to coverage in Patch. Legal Aid filed its suit Jan. 17, 2018, in state supreme court.

City planners assume that neighborhood residents who live in rent-regulated apartments will be protected from displacement, as property values rise in the neighborhood. The Legal Aid Society disagrees.

New York has recently created a series of new tools intended to protect rent-stabilized tenants from being harassed by property owners eager to raise rents.

For comments, questions or concerns, please contact our New York commercial real estate editor Bendix Anderson