Man Turned Stabilized Chelsea Apartment Into Illegal Hotel: City

NEW YORK, NY — A man is being sued by the city for converting apartments, some rent-stabilized, in four buildings into illegal hotel rooms and renting them out on websites such as Airbnb, according to a lawsuit filed by the city.

David Schuchter De Oliveira leased apartments in four Manhattan buildings — two in Hell's Kitchen, one on the Upper West Side and one in Chelsea — before illegally altering the homes, sometimes splitting up one apartment into as many as five different hotel rooms, the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement claims in its lawsuit.

Schuchter leased apartments in three rent-stabilized buildings and one unregulated building, according to the lawsuit.

Schuchter listed the rooms on Airbnb once the apartments were split up and flooded the site with at least 57 different short-term rental listings posted from six separate accounts. In the listings Schuchter would not disclose that rentals shorter than 30 days are illegal in New York City and would lie about the quality of the accommodations.

One tourist who stayed in Schuchter's Upper West Side rental told city officials that she paid $60 per night to stay in a kitchen with a bunk. The woman, who was visiting her son receiving treatment for leukemia, was forced to place her suitcase on the stove.

Schuchter has been evicted from three of the buildings where he ran his scheme and is currently in the process of being evicted from the fourth, city officials said. The buildings where Schuchter rented apartments are located at: 321 W. 47th St., 714 Amsterdam Ave., 352 W. 46th St. and 340 Ninth Ave., city officials said. The only apartment that was not rent-stabilized was the unit in 340 Ninth Ave., officials said.

Check out the full lawsuit below:

Photo courtesy Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement