{"id":338285,"date":"2026-09-04T18:58:47","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T18:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/338285\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T18:58:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T18:58:47","slug":"class-action-lawsuit-claims-blackstone-overcharged-manhattan-rent-stabilized-tenants-by-30-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/338285\/","title":{"rendered":"Class action lawsuit claims Blackstone overcharged Manhattan rent-stabilized tenants by $30 million"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blackstone, the trillion-dollar asset management company that\u2019s been buying up large swaths of real estate<\/a>, has overcharged thousands of Manhattan tenants in rent-stabilized apartments by more than $30 million, a new class action lawsuit<\/a> alleges.<\/p>\n

Under shell management companies BREIT Operating Partnership, Beam Living and 8 Spruce, a group of tenants who brought the suit claim Blackstone has spent the past few years misrepresenting true costs of rent and illegally jacking up rents \u2014 sometimes over 50% \u2014 on renewal leases for up to 3,500 tenants in an 898-unit rent-stabilized building it owns at 8 Spruce St.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Blackstone landlords] entered into leases with [tenants], which incorrectly, falsely, and illegally, misrepresented the amount of rent [landlords] were lawfully permitted to collect,\u201d says the tenants\u2019 suit, filed by the Housing Rights Initiative (HRI).<\/p>\n

Blackstone did not respond to a request for comment.\n<\/p>\n

The company, which purchased<\/a> the building in 2022 for $930 million, opted to participate in a city tax credit program for the Manhattan building called 421-a, which provides financial benefit to landlords and developers on the condition they agree to stabilize their building\u2019s apartments. 8 Spruce and building owners have received more than $115 million in tax credits since its agreement to make all apartments in the building rent-stabilized, a commitment the suit says it blatantly disregarded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lawsuit charges, however, that Blackstone allegedly tried to get around the stabilization laws by offering tenants a lease at a lower net rent, including a few months free, on a pricey unit. <\/p>\n

For example, the suit says, Blackstone would list an apartment at $2,960\/month with a \u201cdeal\u201d giving tenants the first four months of the lease \u201cfree,\u201d making the net rent $1,973\/month. Then, when it came time to renew the lease, the lawsuit alleges, Blackstone landlords would \u201cpull\u201d that rent concession \u2014 a practice also illegal under city law \u2014 and calculate rent increases based on what the company said was the \u201cactual,\u201d higher rent number. <\/p>\n

That, the Housing Rights Initiative (HRI) said, forced tenants to accept rent increases \u201cfar beyond\u201d what would be legally permitted under rent-stabilization laws if they wanted to remain in their apartment, with tenants sometimes agreeing to a more than 50% year-to-year increase on a stabilized unit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The HRI said the practice not only hurts tenants, but also the city\u2019s 421-a program. Tenants\u2019 lawyers argued that Blackstone is essentially pocketing taxpayer dollars and not holding up their end of the bargain of providing stabilized units. The building has drawn attention<\/a> in the past for being a luxury tower to which the city provided the landlord tax credits and refinancing packages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLandlords who cheat on affordable housing tax benefits are screwing both taxpayers and tenants,\u201d said Aaron Carr, HRI\u2019s executive director. \u201cThis is why it is imperative that New York State proactively and systematically enforce the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Any current and former tenant who\u2019s lived in the building since September 2020 may be eligible to join the suit, HRI said. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

The tenants are seeking a court order barring Blackstone from raising rents in a way that\u2019s out of line with rent-stabilization laws and the tens of millions they are owed in rent refunds and reductions and additional damages.<\/p>\n

They are also asking the court to appoint an independent entity to audit the building\u2019s rent-stabilized units and correct all leases to comply with rent-stabilization laws. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blackstone, the trillion-dollar asset management company that\u2019s been buying up large swaths of real estate, has overcharged thousands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[14433,2907,2710,75,84,83,9,24,63,127060],"class_list":["post-338285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-blackstone","tag-housing","tag-law","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-rent-stabilzied"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}