AG James Stops New York City Landlords That Harassed Rent-Stabilized Tenants

New York Attorney General Letitia James on August 5 announced a settlement with Ink Property Group LLC (Ink) for violating rent stabilization laws and illegally harassing tenants. Ink — managed by Eden Ashourzadeh, Alex Kahen, and then-Public Advocate James’ 2016 Worst Landlords List offender Robert Kaydanian — bought dozens of rent-stabilized buildings in low-income communities of color with the intention of illegally deregulating affordable housing for profit. Through a variety of illegal activities, Ink forced out rent-stabilized tenants so their units could be offered at market rate. Ink also intentionally submitted false documents to financial institutions, lying about rents and occupancy to obtain loans. As part of the settlement, Ink will pay up to $1.75 million to preserve affordable housing, and over $400,000 in restitution to tenants. Ink will also bring at least 28 apartments that were illegally deregulated back into rent stabilization, making them permanently affordable. Ink is also required to install a monitor and external property management company to ensure compliance with rent stabilization laws and manage their buildings, which will be overseen by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG). “As New Yorkers faced soaring rents and struggled to find affordable housing, Ink tried to get rich quick by preying on vulnerable tenants and their families,” said Attorney General James. “Lying and cutting corners to evade rent stabilization is one of the oldest tricks of the trade, but Ink’s years of exploiting our hardworking neighbors without consequences end here. These tenants organized and fought back, and because of their efforts, they will be compensated for the suffering they’ve survived. My office will continue to fight for tenants and to preserve affordable housing by ensuring bad actors like Ink are held accountable.” Between 2014 and early 2019, Ink bought 32 multifamily buildings in New York City, primarily in north Brooklyn and other predominantly low-income communities of color. Ink also served as property managers for 12 additional buildings. The company implemented a strategy of purchasing small- to mediumsized apartment buildings with units that were primarily rent-stabilized. Ink would then engage in a campaign to force out all the rent-stabilized tenants — first illegally approaching tenants with buyouts, then repeatedly and persistently subjecting tenants to harassment, and in some cases, creating hazardous conditions so tenants were forced to leave because their apartments were no longer habitable. Ink even provided monetary commissions to employees who successfully convinced tenants to move out, offering up to $5,000 for each buyout. Once the rent-stabilized tenants were pushed out, Ink would renovate the units with cosmetic updates and rent the apartments at the highest rate the market would allow. Ink ignored the Individual Apartment Improvement (IAI) system set forth in the Rent Stabilization laws, instead treating every new vacancy as an unregulated unit, regardless of whether the renovations made met the criteria to achieve deregulation. Ink also failed to appropriately document any IAI calculations and repeatedly failed to file annual rent registration statements with the New York State Department of Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) for the majority of buildings in their portfolio. The registration statements that were filed often contained misrepresentations and false information about many of the

Brooklyn, NY USA August 5, 2022. NY Attorney General James goes after Ink Property Group for illegally harassing tenants and secures $1.75 Million for impacted tenants. Editorial credit: Steve Sanchez Photos / Shutterstock.com

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Landlords That Harassed RentStabilized Tenants/ continued from page 7 apartments’ occupancy and regulated status. Despite the renovations, buildings averaged more than 1,000 open housing violations, including 115 of the most hazardous violations for conditions such as lead-based paint and broken window guards. Some of the violations that remain open today were issued as early as 2017. One tenant, Maria de la Rosa, lived in her rent-stabilized apartment in Brooklyn for more than 30 years before Ink bought the building. Not long after, Ink employees approached her, repeatedly and aggressively offering buyouts, even after she explicitly refused. Ink succeeded in displacing nearly half of Ms. de la Rosa’s neighbors, but then left the vacant units to fall into disrepair to such an extent that conditions impacted Ms. de la Rosa’s health and safety. Since Ink acquired the building, she has dealt with cracks on the walls, leaks, and rats. As Ink continued to grow their portfolio, they submitted false rent rolls to financial institutions to successfully obtain more favorable loans or refinance their mortgages. The false documents reported inflated rents and fake leases — often with family, friends, and associates listed as “renters” — to feign high profitability. A four-year investigation conducted by OAG with assistance from HCR found Ink repeatedly and consistently committed various fraudulent acts for their own gain, and violated the New York State Rent Stabilization Code, the New York City Rent Stabilization Law, and the New York City Housing Maintenance Code. As part of the settlement announced today, Ink will pay up to $1.75 million to Attorney General James’ Affordable Housing Fund with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), which finances the preservation and creation of affordable housing in New York City. Ink will also pay $400,000 in restitution to tenants who were harassed by Ink to vacate their apartments and $2,500 each to tenants who were forced to live in hazardous conditions intentionally created by construction. At least 28 apartments will be reregulated as determined by independent counsel engaged by the monitor, and tenants who were previously overcharged for these units will also receive overcharge awards at amounts yet to be determined. These funds are to be disbursed by the monitor and the new independent property manager will take over management of 15 buildings that Ink currently owns and manages. “Ink Property Group’s illegal activities have caused tremendous pain for their tenants, many of whom are people of color,” said U.S. Representative Nydia Velázquez. “Housing discrimination and landlord mistreatment of tenants is unfortunately not a rare occurrence, which is why I introduced the Landlord Accountability Act which would help to prevent the despicable actions taken by Ink. I will continue to fight in Congress to provide federal protections for tenants and I thank to Attorney General James for leading the effort to ensure financial repercussion for Ink and helping secure restitution to impacted tenants.” “Landlords in our city take advantage of loose regulations to illegally harass tenants, implement excessive rent increases, and pursue evictions without due cause, but we’re not taking this lightly anymore,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. “As a Council Member — and working with St. Nick’s Alliance, I led the creation of the North Brooklyn Housing Taskforce that pursued some mismanaged Ink Proprieties, the group Attorney General James is reaching a settlement with today for their poor actions against tenants. Thank you to Attorney General James for her leadership around this issue, letting landlords and property groups know that we will hold them accountable for unfair treatment of tenants.” “We must crack down on every predatory landlord that is harassing tenants, eliminating affordable housing, and destabilizing our communities,” said New York City Council Member Lincoln Restler. “This settlement secured by our Attorney General Letitia James is exactly the type of aggressive accountability we need every time against bad landlords.” “The settlement is a crucial and important landmark that sends a strong message to shady LLCs like Ink Property Group, who believe that they can come into our neighborhoods to target and displace low-income communities of color,” said New York City Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez. “This decision is a reminder that tactics like harassing tenants, and falsifying financial documents has real consequences and that these exploitative behaviors cannot rein free in our city.” “Despite New York's robust housing laws, landlords such as Ink Property Group routinely betray the public's trust by warehousing units, exploiting and harassing low-income tenants, and evicting families in a relentless pursuit of profit,” said New York City Council Member Sandy Nurse. “Thanks to the leadership of the attorney general, St. Nick's Alliance, and tenant leaders who faced these abhorrent conditions, Ink Property Group will be held accountable, and tenants will see some justice. Let today be a message to similar landlords: Don't harass our constituents and don't warehouse in a housing crisis.”l

Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act/ continued from page 1 District 10, spoke to us about the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act. A bill sponsored by Senator Sanders helps homeowners in New York save their homes from foreclosure by eliminating specific mistreatment measures lenders have used in courts. "The American dream is anchored on the idea of freedom of choice and [buying] a home," said Sanders. "To buy a home is the pinnacle, the top of the American dream; you have arrived with that!" The issue of foreclosure is when a bank or a financial institution tries to get or take back a home based on what they say or failure to abide by the terms of the mortgage," said Sanders. "Now, with that in mind, [the] system for many years [was] that the banks have had six years to convince courts on this." But a February 2021 decision from the New York Court of Appeals, Freedom Mortgage Corporation v. Engel, removed the statute of limitation and reopened hundreds of foreclosure cases homeowners thought they had won because lenders missed a critical deadline. "Now, the only other part of the law with no statute of limitation is murder," said Sanders. "[Mortgage Corporation v. Engel] inadvertently puts foreclosure at the same weight as it does murder. And any rational person would say that foreclosed even at his worst is nowhere near the situation in murder." The Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act would revert to the six-year window to prove their case; otherwise, the case is dismissed. The bill would provide clarification to correct recent judicial decisions. These decisions have undermined longstanding legal precedents to excuse financial institutions from the effects of longstanding statutes of limitations principles. In a video posted on Senator James Sanders' YouTube channel, Governor Kathy Hochul's constituents and New York City homeowners ask her to approve and pass the bill. Despite the circumstances, homeowners calmly tell their stories, explaining how they have been dealing with foreclosure for years. "I commenced by sending a payment to them, however late. Those payments were returned. I was subsequently served with a summons on complaint pasted onto my door," says an NYC resident fighting from foreclosure. "That's an action that was first filed in 2010 and was discontinued in 2013. we're now talking about 12 years of painful litigation." Brian Figeroux, Esq. of the Law Firm of Figeroux & Associates reminds homeowners of New York, "An attorney that you hire, you retain, is an attorney obligated by the law to serve your best interests. And if that attorney is not serving your best interest, you have the grievance committee and other forms of restitution." "If you have been delinquent for years on your mortgage and have a Supreme Court action, you should not be representing yourself in court. If you are negotiating a loan modification, you should not be doing it alone," said Figeroux. The "Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act" passed the Senate on May 3, 2022, by a vote of 52-10. On March 23, 2022, the Assembly version of this bill introduced by Assemblymember Helene Weinstein passed the Assembly by a vote of 107-40. The next step is for the bill to be signed by Governor Kathy Hochul. One by one, homeowners struggling with foreclosure ask Governor Hochul to please sign this bill into law. They do not ask for any handout or relief; they only ask for a level playing field to be able to fight for their homes. Now it sits on Gov. Kathy Hochul's desk, but supporters of the bill say they don't believe she is on board. Her office said she is still reviewing the legislation. One could ask why Governor Hochul has ignored her constituents if it is them who decide who wins campaigns, not the banks. l

Governor Kathy Hochul's constituents and New York City homeowners ask her to approve and pass the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act.

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Parents: Making Visitation Work

BY FATHERS.COM

Visitation. Even the word sounds ominous, like something you might do with a prisoner. If you’re a divorced dad who gets the kids maybe twice a month, I know this is one of the greatest challenges you face. You don’t have free access to your kids, and when you do see them, there’s pressure to make the most of your time together. Unfortunately, kids sense that pressure and it changes things. If you feel uncomfortable without always having something to do together, that might be a clue that there’s a larger issue that you and your kids need to discuss. But generally, in time, you can settle into a workable routine. Let me offer a few suggestions that may help smooth out a tough situation, borrowing from Kenneth Parker and Van Jones in their book, Every Other Weekend. First, give it some time. There are adjustments to make for you and your children. You’ll all have to take on slightly different roles, and make some changes. Be flexible in how you relate to your kids. Second, stay loose. You may be tempted to cram your weekends full of hectic video arcades, all-day amusement parks, exhausting zoo trips, loud pizza palaces and on and on. But remember to leave room for just hanging out together, or give your children choices of what they’d like to do. Capitalize on shared interests, or hobbies you can do together, where you’re free to relate to one another instead of being entertained. Eventually, as you all get used to the arrangement, you’ll spend more time camping, beachcombing, bicycling, playing board games, doing hobbies, and watching TV together. The artificiality or the feeling that you’re having a “fathering appointment” will fade soon enough. Next, set aside a place in your house that’s just for your child, whether it’s a room, a corner, or a bookshelf. She needs to feel a connection to you and your house; she needs a regular reminder of the special bond between you two. Fourth, don’t force your values on your kids. By all means, talk about your beliefs and what’s important to you, but also realize that your kids may be getting a slightly different message from their mother. Unless they’re doing the kids harm, you’ll probably have to live with her ground rules. Don’t put down her system—it will create a lot of confusion for the children. This is especially important in the areas of entertainment, behavior, household rules, and traditions. Finally, be flexible and cooperative with your children’s mother. If she needs to change the arrangements this month, don’t refuse just to spite her. You aren’t obligated to do everything she wants you to, but your kids will benefit from seeing the two of you cooperate. And let me add this warning: The time may come when a child says, “I don’t want to go with you this time, Dad.” Your first thought might be, I’m losing my daughter, but you can’t listen to that voice. What’s really happening is that your child is changing, and that means the relationship is changing, too. As a child grows, she acquires new interests, relationships, and commitments. Sometimes she’ll have other important things going on, and it’s time for a dad to be flexible and understanding. It does no good to force her to come with you or make her feel guilty about it. Instead, just keep lines of communication open. Tell her, “Sweetheart, it’s hard because it seems we get so little time as it is. But I can live with that. I want you to know that I need to stay connected with you. You’re my daughter and I love seeing you.” Then, stay as involved as you can through whatever means are available — regular phone calls, e-mail, and letters. Maybe there will be other opportunities to spend time together. The most important thing is that your child and her well-being is still a top priority. How you’re involved may change, but as a committed dad, you’ll find a way to make it work.l