Court upholds rent controls for thousands of units at sprawling Manhattan apartment complex

Court upholds rent control at NY apartment complex

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s top court is upholding rent controls on thousands of units at one of the nation’s largest apartment complexes.

The Court of Appeals, in a 4-2 ruling Thursday, upheld the claim by tenants of Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village that Tishman Speyer Properties illegally deregulated rents on their apartments.

The tenants claim rents on about 3,000 apartments in the middle-class enclave were hiked significantly to market rates and they want to recoup about $200 million in alleged rent overcharges.

The court majority says landlords could not deregulate those apartments while receiving a city tax benefit designed to encourage renovations.