City Settles With Buildings In Largest Airbnb Sting: City Hall

NEW YORK, NY — The city and three landlords wrapped up in one of the largest illegal short-term rental stings to date reached a seven-figure settlement deal, city hall officials said.

Owners of buildings at 123 E. 54th St., 207-215 E. 57th St. and 230 E. 30th St. have agreed to pay the city $1 million on top of nearly $200,000 in fines for their involvement in a scheme that brought in $21.4 million in revenue from illegal short-term rentals between 2015 and 2018, city officials said.

The landlords also agreed not to advertise or book any of their units for short-term rentals in the future, to cooperate in the ongoing prosecution of remaining defendants in the city's lawsuit and to consent to unannounced inspections.

Property management firm Abington Properties — which managed 123 E. 54th St., 207-215 E. 57th St. and 230 E. 30th St. and an additional 11 buildings used for illegal short-term rentals — was included in the settlement.

"We’re encouraged that as a result of its lawsuit, these building owners and managers took their responsibility seriously and amicably agreed to a permanent injunction to keep their buildings – including all 14 Abington Properties – as safe and code-compliant permanent residences, and we look forward to the agreement being judicially approved," Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement spokesman Christian Klossner said in a statement.

The settlement was filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

City lawyers will continue the lawsuit against the alleged ringleaders of the short-term rental scheme, a real estate firm called the Metropolitan Property Group, and other building owners involved, city officials said.

In January the city filed a lawsuit accusing the Metropolitan Property Group of using 18 different corporate entities to list 130 apartments in 35 Manhattan buildings for illegal short-term rentals — primarily on the site Airbnb. Five brokers from the firm set up created more than 100 fake accounts on Airbnb to set up 250 rental listings on the site at a time, according to the lawsuit.

The city's lawsuit claimed that landlords involved the scheme "could easily, but refuse to, properly monitor the persistent, unlawful short-term rentals taking place in their buildings."

Metropolitan Property Group's operation resulted in 13,691 short-term rental transactions involving more than 75,000 guests, city officials said. Executives from the firm denied the allegations when the lawsuit was filed.