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Woman Accused Of Turning Her Rent-Stabilized Nolita Pad Into A Hotel
By
Lauren Evans
Published Jul 24, 2013
Modified Jul 24, 2013
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By
Lauren Evans
Published Jul 24, 2013
Modified Jul 24, 2013
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Amy Parness is the tenant from hell—at least according to her landlord, Ken Podziba, who has shelled out more than $20,000 trying to prevent her from renting out her rent-controlled Nolita apartment for $220 per night.
According to Podziba, Parness is one of hundreds of people looking to profit from her enviable living situation—a $1,400 one bedroom apartment at 250 Elizabeth Street—which she rents out to travelers on websites like Airbnb and Roomorama, which is illegal in New York under the city's multiple dwelling law.
It's one thing to rent out your place for a few nights while you're on vacation, like East Village resident Nigel Warren did last September. (He was slammed with $2,400 fine from the city, the fairness of which is debatable.) But it's quite another to convert your digs into a full-time hotel while you reside permanently in Montclair, New Jersey, like Amy Parness does, an infuriated Podziba alleges.
"It really abuses the rent control system," he told us. "This person is living in New Jersey. It's a business for her. It's disgusting."
So committed to her "business" is Parness that she allegedly remodeled the interior of the apartment to make it more hospitable to travelers, illegally installing amenities like a bar sink, track lighting and even a washing machine. Podziba fears the building, a former tenement, won't be able to support the drastic changes being made.
"I'm afraid for the health and safety of the building," he said.
Podziba has shelled out $20,000 to try to capture Parness, who was awarded the coveted apartment by Podziba's father because he knew and respected Parness' uncle, a former Manhattan Supreme Court judge.
This connection to the legal system, then, is particularly ironic, since Parness was found to have lied to her attorneys, claiming that one of the renters was her step-brother, when in fact he was a Stanford University student renting the apartment for the summer for $4,000 per month. He said in a statement that he had never met Parness.
Howard Stern, a lawyer with the Rent Stabilization Association, says Podziba's case would appear to be in his favor—but that doesn't necessarily mean that's how it will go.
"The only thing the owner can do is take the tenant to housing court," Stern said. "And housing court is not a system that is geared to help owners—it's geared to protecting tenants. It's not a fair system." (BYO tiny violin for the poor landlords.)
Stern attributes this unfairness to the political nature of the city's legal system—the city is home to millions of tenants, but only around 25,000 owners. He added that "no city politician wants to piss off a tenant, because tenants vote."
"[Attorneys] should be able to say, based on the law and evidence, that the judge overseeing the case will enforce the law and evict the tenant," he said. "But as a practicing attorney, I can tell you...the decision doesn’t necessarily match what the law is."
Parness, whose business, Sparkle Labs, lists the Elizabeth Street address as the company's headquarters, could not be reached for comment.
Tagged
airbnb
housing law
rent stabilization
Lauren Evans
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