Queens tenants sue state agency over handling of notorious landlord
/
Tenants in three Queens neighborhoods are suing the New York State Division of Homes and Community Renewal for greenlighting rent increases from Zara Realty, a notorious Queens landlord.Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
Tenants in three Queens neighborhoods are suing the state after it greenlit rent increases requested by their landlord, who the tenants say inflated the costs of building improvements to justify the allegedly unfair rent hikes.
The tenants, who live in buildings owned by Zara Realty – an already notorious landlord that has landed itself on multiple bad landlord lists – in Jamaica, Flushing and Elmhurst, say that the landlord has applied for rent increases to cover the costs of MCIs, or major capital improvements. However, the tenants argue that Zara has taken advantage and inflated the costs of the improvements to justify higher rent increases. They’ve appealed the rent increases several times for more than half a decade, but have yet to get an answer to their appeal from the state.
Now, the tenants are suing the New York State Division of Homes and Community Renewal, which signed off on the MCI rent increases, to finally get an answer to those appeals.
On Friday, Zara Tenant Association members, supporters and Queens elected officials rallied outside the DHCS office in the heart of Jamaica as they announced the lawsuit.
“DHCR has improperly approved countless MCI increases of hundreds of dollars per month across all Zara buildings, displacing hundreds of families over the years, despite the fact that MCI applications are riddled with violations and discrepancies,” said Doug Ostling, a Zara tenant leader. “Tenants have appealed these bad decisions, but have been waiting for the DHCR to decide appeals for as long as seven years. We are done waiting.”
“In the last decade, Zara has raised rents and buildings across Jamaica and Elmhurst by hundreds of dollars per apartment, approved and stamped by DHCR, acting in direct opposition to the needs of tenants and allowing landlords like Zara to drive up the cost of living and squeeze working class New Yorkers,” Ostling added.
According to Ostling and his fellow Zara tenants, the Queens-based landlord has applied for the rent increases in order to pay for improvements to the buildings, like elevator, facade and lock improvements. However, they have done so to the detriment of the tenants themselves.
Gladys Perez, a resident at 88-05 171st St., in Jamaica, says that Zara applied for four MCI’s, two of which were approved, to make building improvements.
“The first thing we realized is they inflated the cost of work,” Perez said through an interpreter.
“First they reported to the Department of Buildings in the city that the facade only cost $55,000, but in the end, they actually ended up reporting more than a million and a half dollars to the MCI application – from 55,000 to a million and a half.”
The difference in reporting allowed Zara to hike the MCI rent increases, tenants allege.
On top of that, Perez says she believes that the improvements have actually failed to better the quality of life for tenants.
“Not only is it inflated, they say they put in new elevators, well, they break all the time,” she said. “They say they put in a new boiler, no hot water, and no heat during the winter. They say they put in new doors, and the new doors are keeping us out of our apartments.”
For years, tenants have accused Zara of installing new doors and locks and then charging tenants up to $200 for keys to the apartments they already rent. Zara has also required tenants to show birth and marriage certificates in order to get their new keys, tenants claim.
In Flushing, Zara has allegedly made similar moves. They recently filed two MCIs that if approved, could raise 25-year tenant Nahida Begum’s rent $200.
“That is basically an eviction,” she said.
Zara Realty, which is based in Jamaica and owns over 2,500 rent stabilized apartments in the borough, already has a troubled reputation in Queens.
In 2019, Zara was sued for harassment practices by the state attorney general for allegedly illegally charging new tenants for building keys and demanding excessive security deposits and advance rent payments. Zara also allegedly violated rent-regulation laws by charging broker’s fees through a third-party LLC.
The lawsuit is ongoing, court records show.
Several Queens elected officials joined Zara tenants on Friday, to call out the landlord as well as DHCR.
Queens-based Zara Realty has allegedly jacked up rents in many of their local buildings by allegedly inflating improvement construction costs to the state. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
“Zara has habitually been the worst real estate owner in Queens,” said State Senator Leroy Comrie. “They continue to find new ways to rip people off, to overcharge people, to make people's lives untenable and to harass tenants.”
“[Zara] should submit the documentation properly and be honest with your tenants so that you can have a building that's a happy home for people that are struggling to maintain property,” he added.
Other elected officials made similar calls, including Senators Jessica Ramos, John Liu and Toby Ann Stavisky, as well as Assemblymember Alica Hyndman, a former Zara tenant herself who once brought the landlord to court over what she says was forged documents.
“If you say that they're fraudulently submitting MCIs for increases, I believe you,” Hyndman said.
Zara, in return, has vehemently denied the allegations made by the tenants.
“Zara Property Holdings refutes baseless statements by the anti-landlord lobbying organizations as misleading the public once more,” a spokesperson for Zara said in a statement.
The real estate holding company argued that DHCR has inspected all MCIs they have submitted, and that the state-agency has approved and sided with the landlord on every application between 2016 and 2021.
“After losing on the merits, these lobbyists are seeking to subvert a lengthy review process that the State of New York already has in place,” the landlord said. “It is categorically false for these anti landlord lobbying organizations to claim otherwise.”
The spokesperson said that a reason for some of the rent hikes were because of upgrades required under newly approved climate action laws like Local Law 97 and the New York State Climate Act.
“These mandatory upgrades are subject to state housing agency review and authorization, ensuring that improvements meet regulatory standards,” the company said. “Without the ability to invest in such critical infrastructure, buildings citywide would inevitably fall into disrepair.”
Despite several comments going after Zara itself, the lawsuit and rally on Friday were directed at DHCR, who both tenants and officials say aren’t doing their job.
“The state agency…has been enabling and rewarding unscrupulous and abusive landlords like Zara Realty far too long at the expense of working tenants like ourselves,” said Ostling. “DHCR does not care.”
The state officials at the rally said that lawmakers in Albany have recently discussed reigning in the agency.
“DHCR is an agency that needs to come under some control,” said Comrie. “I can assure you that in our conference, we are complaining about DHCR every opportunity that we get. We are very unhappy with the way the agency is run.”
Liu said that the landlord has been able to jack up rents due to DHCR’s “inactions, inattention and insensitivity.”
“If this does not get action from DHCR, we're going to have to look at legislative remedies,” Liu said. “We're going to have to look at the budget, we're going to have to see exactly what this department is doing, because they are failing far too many of our constituents, far too many New Yorkers, far too many honest rent paying, hard working tenants.”
A lawyer for the tenants said that they would be filing court petitions soon.
A spokesperson for DHCR said the agency cannot comment on active litigation.
