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Airbnb Host Evicted From Rent-Stabilized Hell's Kitchen Apartment
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 20, 2015
Modified Feb 20, 2015
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Rabi Abonour/Gothamist
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 20, 2015
Modified Feb 20, 2015
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A Housing Court judge has evicted a Hell's Kitchen tenant who was double dipping with his rent-stabilized apartment by renting it out on Airbnb.
According to the Post, tenant Henry Ikezi was only paying 2/3 market value for his apartment at 450 W. 42nd Street while listing it online for $649 a night. While Ikezi claimed he lived there with his wife and child while tourists also temporarily stayed over, Judge Jack Stoller wrote in his decision that Ikezi and his family actually live in a million-dollar-plus home in Jamaica, Queens, and he was just using the apartment to rent out.
When faced with evidence of what he has been doing, Ikezi had an excuse:
Ikezi, 35, who the ruling says flips houses for a living, claimed to the judge that he couldn’t recall whether he had ever charged anyone to stay in the apartment.
Confronted with his Airbnb ad touting the unit’s “skyline views” in “the hippest, hottest, most happening neighborhood in Manhattan,” Ikezi claimed it might be an upstairs neighbor’s pad with similar furnishings.
"This decision reinforces what tenant advocates and I have been saying all along — almost all NYC residents who list their homes on sites like Airbnb are violating the terms of their leases and putting themselves at risk of eviction," state Sen. Liz Krueger said in a statement.
According to the ruling, which is reportedly the first to outright evict a tenant in a rent stabilized apartment, Ikezi must leave the apartment by Feb. 28 or he'll be forced out. The ruling could be cited in future cases against people using Airbnb.
Krueger and Council Member Jumaane D. Williams released a joint statement applauding Stoller for the ruling:
With a housing vacancy rate of only 3.12%, steadily increasing rents, and widespread income stagnation, New York City is in a housing crisis. Short-term apartment rental websites like Airbnb account for more than 14,000 illegal rentals in the five boroughs, reducing the number of units available to regular New Yorkers, and making the crisis that much worse. We applaud Judge Stoller for making it clear that using Airbnb to profiteer off of rent-stabilized apartments violates this city's Rent Regulation Laws.
Illegal hotels are a fundamental problem not just in New York City, but across the country. As elected officials who have fought to end our city's affordable housing crisis, we were discouraged by the acknowledgment during a recent city council hearing that illegal hotel platforms such as Airbnb have made no effort to regulate themselves or comply with city and state laws. But Airbnb is not the only culprit. These so-called "sharing" sites put their own profits above the safety and quality of life of our communities, all while encouraging their 'hosts' to violate their leases and Rent Regulation laws, putting themselves at risk of eviction.
We hope to combat such behavior by bolstering and expanding the resources and strategies of city agencies to enforce existing laws and penalize violators, putting those who are converting housing into illegal hotels out of business. Combating the scourge of illegal hotels is a vital part of the broader effort to ensure that the Mayor's Affordable Housing Plan reaches its 200,000 unit goal, and that New York City remains affordable for all.
Back in December, an Upper West Side woman accused of earning thousands of dollars by renting her rent-controlled duplex on Airbnb was ordered to stop by a Manhattan judge; last month, apartment sharing websites including Airbnb were taken to task by City Council members who argued that the company is a money-grubbing corporation that compromises tenants' safety, endangers an already limited housing stock, and flouts state law.
Tagged
airbnb
eviction
hell's kitchen
Henry Ikezi
housing court
rent-stabilized
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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