Mamdani Faces Lawsuit Over Rollout of Second-Home Tax
Some New York City homeowners are arguing that they have been improperly targeted by the tax on high-end second homes, also known as pieds-à-terre.
A group of New York City homeowners filed a lawsuit on Friday arguing that the city had mishandled the rollout of a contentious new tax on the second homes of wealthy out-of-towners.
The lawsuit claims that officials did not sufficiently narrow the pool of properties that might be taxed before publishing a data set on the Department of Finance’s website listing homes that “may be subject to the charge.” Nearly one million properties were included.
The lawsuit also criticizes a decision to send letters to the owners of roughly 17,000 properties informing them that they might be taxed and must apply for an exemption by Aug. 21. Some owners who are full-time city residents erroneously received letters, according to the lawsuit.
These moves, according to the lawsuit, sowed confusion and violated the law that created the tax, which includes language directing the city to “make an initial determination” on an annual basis that a property is a second home.
The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Staten Island, does not seek to invalidate the tax. Instead, it asks the court to force the city to take down the data set, which includes owners’ names and addresses, and to start the rollout again with a more accurate list of properties.
