Astoria landlord in deep doo-doo

From DNA Info:

A Queens landlord was indicted Monday for stealing tens of thousands of dollars from prospective tenants for rent on apartments that were deemed uninhabitable after the space was illegally converted into a nine-family building, according to the Queens District Attorney's office.

Hinyoung Limtung, 55, is facing charges for allegedly pocketing $44,050 from would-be renters for apartments at 31-70 Crescent St., near Broadway, in Astoria — despite the fact that a vacate order had been issued at the property for unsafe and illegal conditions.

According to the Queens DA, the Department of Buildings had issued the vacate order in December of 2012 after an inspection found the two-family building had been illegally converted into a five-family building, and that the first and second floors had no sprinkler system and no secondary means of egress.

A second inspection of the building in February of 2013 found tenants still living at site, despite the vacate order, and that the property had been illegally converted again, this time into a nine-family dwelling, the Queens DA said.

Officials say Limtung collected rent from 10 prospective tenants between December 2012 and April 2013, despite the vacate order.

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Suit against scamming tenant thrown out on technicality

From Curbed:

Even after her landlord hired a private investigator to out her illegal short term rental activities, a resident of 250 Elizabeth Street has managed to avoid getting evicted. Why? Because of a technicality. Before all the Airbnb drama, landlord Ken Podziba actually filed a separate lawsuit against tenant Amy Parness back in 2011 over unauthorized alterations made to her $1,400/month rent-stabilized apartment. And, in housing court, it's not possible to pursue two cases against the same defendant at the same time.

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Couple renting out rent stabilized apartment as hotel

From WPIX:

When something intended to be helpful ends up being overused or abused, it’s called adverse selection in professional parlance. The way in which a couple has used New York City’s rent stabilization program gives adverse selection a whole new meaning, according to their landlord, and that meaning is unbelievably negative. The couple is accused of using their rent stabilized apartment as a hotel room or bed and breakfast, and reaping six-figure, untaxed profits as a result.

“I think this is for her a business,” said Ken Podziba, referring to his tenant, Amy Parness. Podziba, along with his sister, Susan, own 250 Elizabeth Street, an eight-apartment rental building. It’s nestled among designer boutiques where shopping is by appointment only, and very hip cafes and restaurants in one of the city’s hottest neighborhoods. It’s an ideal location for a widely sought-after bed and breakfast.

The problem is, according to Podziba, Parness has been running the b-and-b out of his apartment, which she’s supposed to be renting at a rate intended to promote affordable housing. ”And she’s not paying the IRS,” Podziba told PIX11 News, “so she’s profiting 100 percent.”

For the last 12 years, Podziba said, Parness has rented an apartment on the third floor of his building. For at least the last four years of that period, she has listed the apartment as the NoLita Nest on airbanb and other bed and breakfast listing websites.

Online, the apartment is displayed as a home away from home for tourists, who pay anywhere from $220 to $260 or more per night for the one bedroom, one bath railroad apartment.

The landlords were able to confirm their suspicions about their tenant’s activities when they learned that Parness was having unlicensed contracting work done to the apartment. A climb up the stairs to the floor where she’s renting reveals a notable absence on one of the walls. Where an entry doorway had been for over a century, there is now only a wall, and at the other end of the third floor landing, where there had once been only a wall, there’s now a deep green wooden door. The door contrasts sharply with all of the black, metal fire code-compliant doors in the five-storey walkup.

PIX11 News knocked on the green, wooden door, and a woman answered, without opening. Her description of herself was consistent with that provided by Podziba. Her boyfriend is renting the apartment for the summer, she said.

They’re paying $4000 per month, according to the landlord. Parness is renting from him for $1400 per month. So when the apartment is not being used as a bed and breakfast apartment, Parness is renting it out at a nearly 300 percent profit.

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