Kushner Business Hit With Class Action Alleging Rent Overcharges
Kushner Cos. has been hit with another lawsuit regarding Jared Kushner's conduct as a landlord, this time accusing him of charging market-rate rents to tenants of an apartment building in Brooklyn that was supposed to be rent-stabilized.
November 14, 2017 at 05:43 PM
3 minute read
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Photo Credit: Lev Radin/Shutterstock.com.
Kushner Cos. has been hit with another lawsuit regarding Jared Kushner's conduct as a landlord, this time accusing him of charging market-rate rents to tenants of an apartment building in Brooklyn that was supposed to be rent-stabilized.
The proposed class action, filed on Tuesday in Brooklyn Supreme Court on behalf of tenants living at 18 Sidney Place in Brooklyn Heights, which Brooklyn Law School formerly used for student housing, is the third suit filed in recent months regarding business practices at the Kushner family's real estate holdings.
Jared Kushner, son-in-law and adviser to President Donald Trump, stepped down as CEO of Kushner Cos. in January.
The latest suit accuses the firm of flouting New York City's rent-stabilization code by offering tenants market-rate leases.
According to court papers, the building at 18 Sidney was rent-stabilized when it was sold to Brooklyn Law School. Because they were used for student housing, the units were temporarily exempted from rent stabilization laws.
Kushner Cos. purchased the building in 2014, court papers state, and began renting out properties. The plaintiffs say that rent stabilization should have resumed at that point.
The Housing Rights Initiative, a nonprofit that advocates for tenants rights found out about the alleged overcharging of tenants at 18 Sidney Place while investigating similar complaints from tenants at 89 Hicks Street, another Brooklyn property formerly used by Brooklyn Law School and added to the Kushner portfolio in 2014.
In August, the tenants at 89 Hicks Street filed a proposed class action alleging that they have been overcharged for rent.
“It fits into an overall pattern of them circumventing the law to enhance their bottom line,” said Aaron Carr, executive director of the Housing Rights Initiative.
The nonprofit has teamed up with law firm Newman Ferrara to fight on the tenants' behalf in both cases; Newman Ferrara attorneys Lucas Ferrara, Jarred Kassenoff and Roger Sachar Jr. appear on the brief.
In a statement, Kushner Cos. spokeswoman Christine Taylor said the latest suit is “without merit.”
“The previously empty apartments at 18 Sidney Place were fully renovated to bring them to fair market value in accordance with applicable NYC rent regulations,” Taylor said in the emailed statement. “Kushner Cos. has always aspired to be a leader in good management practices and how people live in general. The only predatory conduct here is that of Aaron Carr, who seems bent on attacking responsible owners in the press for the sake of sensational headlines.”
In September, two tenants living in Kushner-controlled properties in Maryland filed a proposed class action alleging that they were charged illegal fees. Last week, the suit, which was originally filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court, was removed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
Kushner Cos. is also the target of a federal probe into how it used a program that grants visas to wealthy foreigners.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Splits Among the Departments: What Might Be Ripe for the Court of Appeals
8 minute read
Recent Developments Section 1782 Litigation and the Attorney-Client Privilege
8 minute read
Preparing for 2025: Anticipated Policy Changes Affecting U.S. Businesses Under the Trump Administration
Trending Stories
- 1Pharma Company Faces Breach-of-Contract Claim Over $1.3 Million in Unpaid Invoices
- 2KPMG Law Seeks Alternative Business License, Shaking Up Legal Status Quo
- 3Pittsburgh's Reed Smith, K&L Gates Join Fight to Save Nippon Steel-U.S. Steel Merger
- 4Milbank, Wachtell, Ropes and Pittsburgh Duo Aim to Save Nippon Steel-U.S. Steel Merger
- 5A Top Connecticut Lawyer Has Resigned
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
