{"id":353268,"date":"2026-09-22T07:06:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T07:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/353268\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T07:06:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T07:06:33","slug":"brooklyn-firm-illegally-denied-renters-housing-ag-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/353268\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Firm Illegally Denied Renters Housing, AG Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

BROOKLYN, NY\u2014 A Brooklyn real estate firm illegally denied housing to 203 applicants after finding records of their previous landlord-tenant court cases, according to a settlement with the New York attorney general’s office.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn High Rise LLC, a brokerage that handles apartment rentals and building sales, agreed to pay $352,250 in penalties and restitution after an investigation found it used housing court records in tenant screening despite a New York law banning the practice.<\/p>\n

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The settlement also requires the firm to stop seeking housing court records, remove certain questions from its rental applications and repay some applicants who paid deposits to hold apartments.<\/p>\n

How Did The Firm Use Housing Court Records? <\/p>\n

Between July 2019 and September 2025, Brooklyn High Rise obtained tenant screening reports from Weimark Credit Information Services, a screening company whose reports included landlord-tenant court records, according to the settlement.<\/p>\n

The firm processed about 2,558 rental applications during the period. About 1,015 contained landlord-tenant court information.<\/p>\n

The attorney general’s office found that 203 applicants whose reports contained those records later had their applications denied after Brooklyn High Rise reviewed their court histories.<\/p>\n

New York law has prohibited landlords and other housing providers from using an applicant’s past or pending landlord-tenant court involvement as a reason to deny housing since 2019. The law also creates a presumption of an illegal denial when a landlord obtains such records and then rejects the applicant.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn High Rise admitted the attorney general’s findings.<\/p>\n

The firm stopped requesting landlord-tenant court records from Weimark around Sept. 5, 2025, after receiving a subpoena from the attorney general’s office, according to the settlement.<\/p>\n

What Other Rental Practices Did The Investigation Find? <\/p>\n

Brooklyn High Rise also required applicants to pay deposits of $500 to $750 to hold apartments while their applications were being processed, according to the settlement.<\/p>\n

New York law limits residential rental application fees to $20, or less when an applicant provides a qualifying tenant screening report. The attorney general’s office found the larger “good faith deposits” violated the law.<\/p>\n

The firm told applicants the deposits would be applied to their first month’s rent if they signed leases or refunded if their applications were denied. <\/p>\n

But its online application also said applicants could forfeit the money if they failed to complete paperwork within a deadline, failed to sign a lease within five days of approval or withdrew their applications.<\/p>\n

About 300 applicants who withdrew their applications or were denied housing between January 2020 and December 2025 did not receive their deposits back, according to the attorney general’s office.<\/p>\n

The firm has removed the deposit requirement.<\/p>\n

What Will Applicants Get Back? <\/p>\n

Brooklyn High Rise must place $150,000 into a restitution fund for applicants who paid deposits that the firm did not return.<\/p>\n

Applicants who applied through the firm’s website between January 2020 and December 2025 and later withdrew their applications or were denied housing can submit claims.<\/p>\n

Payments will generally total $500. Applicants who can show they paid a $750 deposit can receive up to $750. Each household can file one claim.<\/a><\/p>\n

The firm must contact eligible applicants and post information about the fund on its website and social media accounts. <\/p>\n

The fund will remain open for three years or until the money runs out, whichever comes first.<\/p>\n

Another $202,250 will go toward penalties for violating the state’s tenant-blacklisting law. The firm must also pay $50,000 to a New York City affordable-housing fund, with another $52,250 due by Dec. 31, 2027.<\/p>\n

What Will The Firm Have To Change? <\/p>\n

Brooklyn High Rise must stop requesting landlord-tenant court records or rental histories as part of its screening process.<\/p>\n

If prohibited court records accidentally reach the firm, it must have the applicant submit a new screening report without the records. A different leasing agent, who has not seen the prohibited information, must then review the application.<\/p>\n

The firm also must remove questions about criminal convictions from its rental applications before making a conditional housing offer.<\/p>\n

It had previously asked applicants: “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?”<\/p>\n

Brooklyn High Rise must train its leasing agents and staff on state and city fair-housing laws and provide the attorney general’s office with proof of the training.<\/p>\n

The agreement remains in effect for three years. <\/p>\n

If Brooklyn High Rise violates its terms, the attorney general’s office can seek further enforcement, including court action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BROOKLYN, NY\u2014 A Brooklyn real estate firm illegally denied housing to 203 applicants after finding records of their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-353268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353268","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=353268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}