WILLIAMSBURG— A real estate company run by former New York Attorney General and Gov. Eliot Spitzer illegally overcharged tenants at an apartment building in Williamsburg by calculating rent increases on the wrong amount, a class-action lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, accuses Spitzer Enterprises of violating state rent-stabilization laws at 420 Kent Avenue, at the corner of Kent Avenue and South 8th Street, which includes 857 units.
New York's rent-stabilization system limits how much landlords can raise rents for covered apartments. The city's Rent Guidelines Board, a panel that sets annual rent increases for rent-stabilized homes, determines the maximum increases landlords can apply to qualifying leases.
Over the past decade, the board has never approved an increase greater than 3.25 percent for a one-year lease.
The lawsuit alleges Spitzer Enterprises used the higher legal rent instead of tenants' lower preferential rents when calculating increases, potentially leaving residents paying more than the law allows.
Residents could be owed $30 million, according to the Housing Rights Initiative, a nonprofit that investigates potential housing violations.
The estimate covers alleged rent overcharges from 2020 through the filing of the lawsuit, according to the analysis.
"This is not the only building where this is happening," Assemblymember Emily Gallagher said. "This investigation shines a light on a sweeping systemic failure, as landlords treat real estate like a get-rich-quick-scheme, instead of honoring the responsibility to provide quality housing for their tenants."
In Downtown Brooklyn, a similar lawsuit filed last month accused two different properties of violating New York's rent-stabilization laws by using temporary rent concessions to raise tenants' rents beyond legal limits.
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