Real Estate
Developer Sued For Failed Rent-Stabilized Tenant Buyout: Report
A California-based developer backed out of a deal to buy out an Upper East Side couple's apartment and demanded they give it up for less.
UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A California-based developer who owns 12 apartments in an Upper East Side building is being sued by two tenants for backing out of a deal to buy them out of their rent-stabilized apartments, according to reports.
Married couple Avi and Fern Abramoff are suing developer Leo Pustilnikov for not paying them an agreed-upon sum of $625,000 to move out of their rent-stabilized unit in 12 E. 88th St., real estate publication The Real Deal first reported. Pustilnikov was supposed to pay the Abramoffs on April 18 but declared the deal "null and void" on May 7, according to the report.
The developer justified his decision by describing the buyout as "too generous given the existing market conditions" and instead offered the Abramoffs $400,000 to vacate.
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"He thinks that he overpaid," Slava Hazin, a laywer representing the Abramoffs, told the Real Deal. "But that’s not a reason to renege on an agreement."
Pustilnikov bought 12 of the building's 24 units last year for $10 million, the Real Deal reported.
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Read the full Real Deal story here.
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