A judge in New York state has denied a group of tenants the right to sue their landlord for accepting tax breaks only to skirt state rent stabilization laws by reporting initial rents higher than those charged. Kings County Supreme Court Justice Ingrid Joseph rejected the October 2020 complaint Thursday, saying state agency policy holds that landlord MD CBD 180 Franklin LLC was not obligated to include one- or two-month rent concessions into initial 2016 rent calculations for its 118-unit. New York’s Department of Homes and Community Renewal, a fact sheet from which a recent New York Times article quotes, makes clear that “a rent concession for specific months of a lease term” will not affect the initial legal regulated rent.
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