They call it progress; yes, they do. But behind their lie, lies the delicious scheme only the rich can concoct. When is enough enough? Landlords shell out $20,000 grand to oust a tenant subletting an apartment for $200 a night. The apartment, which is rented for $1,400 a month, will soon become vacant and probably rented to the next tenant for $2,500 a month. Therefore, the $20,000 shelled out by the landlord (which seems like a lot of money) will be collected in less than two years. Insane--both landlord and greedy tenant who was caught.
I doubt the Founding Fathers envisioned such insanity when they created this great nation. The irony here is that the apartments in the story below are about six blocks from the spot where George Washington marched his army into Manhattan to celebrate in a tavern right after the last British ship evacuated New York City.
They call it progress-- jacking up $75 a month rents to $2, 500 a month-- but "progress" is a misused word. It's sad to see the greedy swoop down on areas that were set aside as low-income housing and turn them into playpens for the wealthy. "O Say Can You See" what is really going on here, Francis. "The land of the free and the home of the brave" has become hijacked by the greedy--legally.
Truly, I'm beginning to believe that the United States of America is approaching the time right before its finest patriots gathered arms to free themselves from King George III. I am starting to believe if George Washington and John Adams were around today, they would probably be considering another revolution. What is happening in America is despicable. America is at war with the wrong people.
(N:( problem. NYC has one of the best homeless programs in all of the country. Its shelters can accommodate many.)
tenant was illegally renting out apartment as a NYC ‘hotel room’ - use private eye posing as tourist to out sublet
By JULIA MARSH
Last Updated: 7:27 AM, July 22, 2013
Posted: 12:36 AM, July 22, 2013
EXCLUSIVE
Two Nolita landlords went the extra step to nail a tenant they suspected of illegally renting out her pad online to strangers — by hiring a private eye to pose as a tourist to catch her in the act.
Building owners and siblings Ken and Susan Podziba shelled out $20,000 for the ploy — and say it was well worth the dough.
They found that tenant Amy Parness has been flagrantly flouting a recent legal ruling that declared short-term online sublets illegal, by pulling in $4,500 a month for her rent-stabilized one-bedroom pad — for which she pays $1,400 — according to Manhattan Housing Court papers.
Parness — the 38-year-old niece of a retired Manhattan Supreme Court judge — rents out her walk-up unit for $220 a night to strangers through travel Web sites, the court documents state.
Meanwhile, Parness, who owns the Web site SparkleLabs, which sells gadgets to tech geeks, lives with her Parsons professor husband, Ariel Churi, in Montclair, NJ, the Podzibas said.
In May, a judge ruled that such online hotelier practices violate city codes and state law. Still, industry leaders estimate 3,000 New Yorkers rent out their apartments to visitors, making an expected $1 billion in profits this year.
The Podzibas said Parness reaped a total estimated $500,000 from illicit rentals in the past four years.
They said in court papers seeking her eviction that she not only rents out her own apartment, but had handled the subletting of two other tenants’ pads in the eight-unit building, taking a cut for her services.
“She’s the tenant from hell,” Ken Podziba said.
Parness — who allegedly uses her middle name, Magdalena, on the Web sites — is the leaseholder of Apartment No. 3 at 250 Elizabeth St., but the Podzibas say they have documented evidence that she lists the unit on Airbnb and Roomorama.com as a “Nolita Nest” at 250 Mott St.
When the private investigator, posing as a tourist, queried her about the discrepancy, Parness claimed it was an error by the travel sites, legal papers say.
Her apartment is fully booked through the end of the summer, online records show.
On July 9, Parness’ lawyer told Housing Court Judge Sheldon Halprin that Parness’ stepbrother was staying in the unit through August.
But the Podzibas seemed to have caught her in a lie — they confronted the tenant, who admitted in an affidavit that he’s a Stanford University student interning in New York for the summer.
“I’m not a friend or relative of Magdalena,” the tenant said in the statement, adding that he rented the place through Airbnb.
Parness replied to e-mail messages but declined to answer questions about the apartment.