How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
Several NYU students who live in StuyTown could soon be seeing reductions in their rent depending on the results of a long-standing lawsuit.
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The dispute, which traces back to January 2007, is based on the claim that Tishman Speyer — the multinational development company that owns the rights to the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village complex — unfairly raised rent prices and wrongfully deregulated several apartment buildings after receiving tax breaks.
The plaintiffs are seeking roughly $200 million in rent reparations, which could result in dramatically lowered rates for many individuals.
Stern sophomore John Huh lives in the complex and is eligible to receive benefits.
"I'm glad that people are taking action for something that they see is unjust," Huh said. "As a student living on a budget in New York City, a rent reduction would certainly help out a lot."
The lawsuit was most recently brought to court on Sept. 10. The arguments that day focused heavily on the ambiguous wording found in the state legislation regarding rent control, specifically the word "became."
According to New York state law, apartments receiving tax assistance from the J-51 program must become rent stabilized by virtue of receiving these tax benefits and cannot be deregulated.
Tishman Speyer's lawyer Jay Kasner argued that the deregulated apartments were already rent stabilized prior to receiving J-51 benefits. Therefore, they did not "become" rent stabilized by virtue of the tax breaks and thus were not subject to the rule.
"The answer unequivocally is no," the apartments at StuyTown did not become rent stabilized, Kasner said in his oral statements.
But the tenants' lawyer, Alexander Schmidt, argued that Kasner's interpretation of the word "became" was flawed. Schmidt said the word can be used to indicate the occurrence of an event that may have already happened.
Deliberations are still under way and rulings are expected in the next few weeks.
