Sham Washington Heights Co-Op Will Return To Rent Stabilization

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Dozens of apartments in a Washington Heights rental building will return to the rent stabilization system decades after the building was illegally converted into in sham co-op, Attorney General Letitia James announced recently.

Landlord Labe Twerski settled with the state to provide rent stabilized leases at affordable rates to tenants living in 4395 Broadway, a rental building located between West 187th and 189th streets, state officials said. Twerski was accused of violating the state's rent regulation system by converting the building into a co-op in the late 80s, acquiring all the building's shares and renting units out at market-rate prices, state officials said.

Twerski's management of the building constituted a scam because it deprived tenants the chance of home ownership while circumventing the state's rent regulations, officials said.

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"My office is dedicated to preserving and promoting access to affordable, rent-stabilized housing for the people of New York," James said in a statement. "Landlords should be on notice that they cannot circumvent our state’s rent stabilization laws through the use of sham co-ops. We will always crack down on landlord greed and protect the rights of tenants."

Fifty-nine apartments at the Broadway building will re-enter the rent stabilization system, state officials said. Twerski will be forced to register each unit with the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal as part of the settlement.

A second building owned by Twerski's co-op corporation will also be registered with the state. The landlord will be required to offer 31 rent-regulated leases at 448 Central Park West on the Upper West Side, where he conducted the same sham co-op conversion as in the Washington Heights building.

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