It is well known that New York’s legal system lets problem tenants avoid eviction for a year or two (or four).
But problem landlords also take advantage of the courts to steal money, albeit in smaller amounts.
Gothamist reporter David Brand illustrated the issue in a story about landlord Ches Parnes keeping a $4,400 security deposit from tenant Alice Liao and her roommate, although they left their Greenpoint apartment spotless.
Parnes owns at least eight buildings in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Fourteen complaints have been filed to the state attorney general by his tenants, at least three of whom took him to court. Two were awarded judgments and none has received any money back.
It’s safe to say this is a pervasive issue. Tenants file about 2,000 cases a year in Brooklyn small claims court over withheld deposits. That might seem like a small number for a borough with more than a million renters, but the vast majority of victims don’t go to court.
Few lawyers bother with such small cases, which are time-consuming and costly for tenants to pursue — and even if they win a judgment, collecting it is extremely difficult. The AG’s office can’t do much to help.
The easy thing to do about such injustices is to blame the immoral people who cause them — bad landlords and bad tenants. That feels good but accomplishes nothing. The fact is, if a system allows people to steal with impunity, some of them will.
At any moment, New York City has roughly 170 elected officials. If any has ever tried to fix the stolen deposit problem in the past 30 years, I haven’t noticed. Maybe Parnes will finally return the deposits of tenants whose plight was picked up by Gothamist, but getting your complaint into the media is a long shot.
Parnes asked Gothamist for a list of tenants who claimed they were owed deposits. Three days later, he still had no explanation, other than to say, “Probably most of them, if they didn’t receive it, it’s because I had a reason not to give it to them.”
A few hours after this story was published, Parnes called me back to say one of the tenants in the Gothamist story moved out on the third of the month, three days late, leaving him unable to rent the unit until the following month, but he forgot to go to court and lost the case. “It was stupid for me not to go,” he said.
Parnes said he owns 13 buildings with 133 apartments, and keeps security deposits from about 5 percent of tenants who move out. Some leave holes in the walls, or move out after the 30th of the month, or don’t grant access to brokers trying to show the apartment.
“I’m losing a full month of rent, or half a month,” he said.
The most plausible solution to avoiding disputes is a website where tenants and landlords can air their grievances, so renters can avoid deposit-stealing landlords and landlords can avoid nonpaying tenants. However, numerous attempts to establish a “Yelp for landlords” (or tenants) have fallen short. I looked at Brick Underground, StreetEasy, JustFix, ApartmentRatings.com, OpenIgloo, and others, including numerous sites that no longer exist.
The Gothamist writer told me three of Parnes’ former Greenpoint tenants posted Google reviews about losing their deposits, but I could not locate the reviews, perhaps because they did not name him.
It’s crazy that Americans can find hundreds of user reviews about consumer products, movies, books and countless other unimportant things, but none that tell me whether someone like Ches Parnes returns security deposits. Until one website gets traction, landlords will continue to keep them.
What we’re thinking about: How many of Luigi Mangione’s 36 first cousins, 18 aunts and uncles and two parents recognized him from the photos police released but failed to inform authorities? Send your thoughts to eengquist@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: The East End town of Riverhead requires owners to live in their homes for three years before they can create an accessory dwelling unit. An owner urgently needing the extra income he would get from an ADU is SOL.
Elsewhere…
The usual panic generated by proposed housing development on Long Island is not justified, if Mineola’s experience is any indication. Mayor Paul Pereira said his village has added 1,200 homes in 12 years, mostly near its train station, without any of the school overcrowding, traffic congestion and parking problems that opponents feared.
“We have enough in our rearview mirror to realize that the schools did not explode with new students,” Pereira said, according to Newsday. “Quite the contrary, the schools have gotten a windfall of money. Our traffic is actually better because these are people who are taking the train.”
The village has another 900 homes in the pipeline.
Applications for home mortgages to purchase homes in the U.S. have increased year-over-year every week except for one over the past three months. The Mortgage Bankers Association credits lower mortgage rates, sustained housing demand and gradually increasing inventory in many markets.
You might recall reading the origin stories of developers Jonathan Rose, Robert Levine and Ian Bruce Eichner in The Real Deal. Have one to pitch?
The best origin stories are about “make or break” deals that, had they gone south, might have doomed the dealmakers’ real estate careers before they got traction, but by succeeding, put them in a position to build a career. Email candidates to ny-news@therealdeal.com.
Closing time
Residential: The priciest residential sale Thursday was $6.65 million for a 3,216-square-foot condominium unit at 100 Barclay Street in Tribeca. Tara King-Brown of the Corcoran Group had the listing.
Commercial: The largest commercial sale of the day was for 77 Water Street in the Financial District. The deed was recorded for $11.1 million and the assignment of leases for $84.4 million. TRD reported on Vanbarton Group’s $95 million purchase of the building in September.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $39.5 million for a 6,358-square-foot condominium unit at 25 Bond Street in Noho. Nick Gavin of Compass has the listing.
— Matthew Elo