NYC sues Manhattan slumlord over short-term rental scheme fueling city’s housing crisis

Mayor Adams’ administration took legal action Tuesday against a Manhattan slumlord accused of using his Midtown building as an illegal short-term rental pad — and advocates charge it’s only the tip of an iceberg of thousands of similar schemes that are fueling the city’s housing crisis.

Standing outside the four-story building on East 51st Street, Adams said his administration is suing Arron Latimer, a licensed real estate broker, and two other defendants over allegations that they raked in nearly $1 million in proceeds from illegal short-term rentals at the location between January 2018 and March this year.

Latimer and his co-defendants would create dozens of fake accounts on popular lodging sites like Airbnb to advertise stays at the building — running afoul of city laws prohibiting most types of short-term rentals, according to the administration’s lawsuit. In total, Latimer and his co-defendants have had more than 6,500 guests stay at the illegal units, the suit charges.

“When I talk about law and order, I’m talking about law and order not only from violent crime, but also from those who believe they’re going to have a disorderly rental market in our city,” Adams said. “This administration is going to tackle crime and corruption in our business sector just as we tackle street crime.”

[ Airbnb rentals could be required to register with NYC says Manhattan lawmaker Ben Kallos ]

Adding insult to injury, the city’s lawsuit accuses Latimer and the other defendants of racking up “numerous” code violations at the building, like inadequate fire alarm and fire sprinkler systems, and Airbnb guest reviews describes the location as “astonishingly dirty,” with complaints of mold, soiled linens and blood stains.

Latimer could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The city is seeking tens of thousands of dollars in fines against Latimer and the others involved in the scheme, said Christian Klossner, executive director of the city’s Office of Special Enforcement, which conducted the investigation into the slumlord. Klossner said the city may also seek to recover all illegal proceeds generated from the building.

Tom Cayler, the chairman of Coalition Against Illegal Hotels, said the 51st Street building is just a piece of a sprawling illegal puzzle.

Cayler’s group, which has been documenting short-term rental issues in the city for nearly two decades, estimates that there are upward of 30,000 illegal short-term rental units across the city. Turning all those units into affordable permanent housing could help the city tackle the homelessness crisis, Cayler said.

“So 30,000 units — we can house all our homeless,” Cayler said.

The action against Latimer and his co-defendants comes ahead of the city’s short-term rental registration law being set to take effect January 2023.

The law, adopted by the City Council last year, will require all rental hosts in the Big Apple to register their dwellings with the municipal government and prohibit platforms like Airbnb from processing transactions by unregistered hosts.

[ City sues Manhattan developer over alleged illegal Airbnb rentals in three buildings ]

The law could sharply limit the availability of Airbnb listings in New York City, given the large number of illegal units.

Airbnb, which has previously fought short-term rental registration laws in court, welcomed the city’s legal action against Latimer and his co-defendants and said it banned them as hosts on their platform “months ago.”

“We commend Mayor Adams for taking swift action on illegal hotel operators who flout the rules,” said Airbnb spokesman Nathan Rotman. “Airbnb currently shares information with the city, and looks forward to working with the city and state to build an effective and transparent regulatory framework to differentiate between the responsible hosts who should be protected under the law and operators of properties like this who have no place on our platform.”