{"id":360146,"date":"2026-09-29T21:52:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T21:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/360146\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T21:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T21:52:07","slug":"mamdanis-pied-a-terre-tax-hit-with-new-lawsuit-after-homeowners-win-on-staten-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/360146\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani\u2019s pied-\u00e0-terre tax hit with new lawsuit after homeowners win on Staten Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s recent rollout of the pied-\u00e0-terre tax<\/a> is facing yet another legal challenge. This time, it comes from a group of homeowners and a NYC co-op suing the state for its role in the second-home tax, alleging constitutional violations.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit comes the same day Staten Island homeowners came out victorious in a suit against the tax filed this summer.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs, represented by former NYC First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro and Dechert LLP, filed the lawsuit in New York Supreme Court on Sept. 29. They allege that the new pied-\u00e0-terre tax unconstitutionally discriminates against out-of-state property owners, burdens interstate commerce and retroactively creates tax liabilities that can fall on co-op boards and shareholders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis tax was conceived in discrimination, enacted in haste, and rolled out in chaos. It is unconstitutional several times over, and it represents state overreach of exactly the kind the Framers sought to prevent when they drafted and ratified the U.S. Constitution,\u201d Mastro said. \u201cThat is why our clients have brought this case, to overturn this illegal and unconstitutional tax.\u201d<\/p>\n

The complaint argues that the tax violates several constitutional protections, including the Privileges and Immunities Clause, the Dormant Commerce Clause, the Due Process Clause, the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. and New York State constitutions, and the Contracts Clause.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs also challenge the law under provisions of the New York State Constitution governing taxation and home rule.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, the tax places new financial obligations on certain property owners and could expose entire co-op buildings to liabilities stemming from individual shareholders. The plaintiffs specifically challenge the law\u2019s Jan. 5, 2026, taxable-status date, arguing property owners had no opportunity to anticipate or plan for the tax before it was enacted.<\/p>\n

The complaint also alleges the tax raises the cost of owning and renting covered properties for nonresidents and could discourage interstate real estate activity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At issue is the tax\u2019s rollout, including the publication of a supplemental property roll containing more than 900,000 properties and the issuance of roughly 17,000 notices telling recipients they could be subject to the surcharge unless they qualified for an exemption.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs said that the process created widespread confusion, raised privacy concerns and \u201cimproperly shifted the burden onto homeowners\u201d to prove eligibility for an exemption.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe warned from the moment this tax was proposed that it was being rushed forward without sufficient consideration of its legal, practical, and economic consequences,\u201d said James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY)<\/a>. \u201cThis lawsuit raises serious constitutional questions, but it also highlights broader concerns about a policy that has been marked by confusion, administrative challenges, and unintended consequences.<\/p>\n

A win on Staten Island, a setback for Mamdani<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, on late Tuesday afternoon, a Staten Island judge ordered New York to cancel all notices for the pied-\u00e0-terre taxes\u2014marking a victorious lawsuit in the case against the tax.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Judge Wayne M. Ozzi sided with a group of homeowners, led by Mastro, and delivering a major setback to Mamdani\u2019s \u201ctax the rich\u201d agenda.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re gratified that the court has recognized we were right all along,\u201d he said. \u201cThe fact is that this administration\u00a0failed to follow state law when it burdened New York City homeowners with proving they live in their own homes or be on the hook for paying a new surcharge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whelan applauded the Staten Island judge\u2019s decision, but warned that the legal fights, including Tuesday\u2019s filing, will continue.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an important victory for the thousands of New Yorkers who were wrongly swept into an arbitrary and confusing process. While the court\u2019s ruling focuses on the implementation of the tax, it reinforces broader concerns about the legality and fairness of the tax itself,\u201d he said. \u201cThe legal challenges are far from over, and we remain confident that New York homeowners will continue to prevail as these cases move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Borough President Vito Fossella said he agreed with the court ruling, adding that it was \u201cfundamentally wrong to put more than a million people\u201d on the luxury second-home tax list.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, the vast majority of those who were on the list did not belong there at all,\u201d he said. \u201cIn being irresponsible and arbitrary, the city artificially created an atmosphere of confusion and fear about receiving this tax, and their information being wrongfully exposed, for no good reason.\u00a0After doubling down countless times and leaving the erroneous list up for months, at a minimum, the city should apologize for needlessly putting hundreds of thousands of people in distress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt Rauschenbach, a spokesperson for the mayor, called today\u2019s ruling \u201cwrong\u201d and said the city will continue to \u201cfairly\u201d implement the tax with a stay.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s decision is wrong, and we will invoke a stay of the injunction,\u201d he said. \u201cWith a stay, we will continue implementing the surcharge fairly, efficiently, and in full compliance with the law, as we have since day one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s recent rollout of the pied-\u00e0-terre tax is facing yet another legal challenge. This time, it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,78949,613,87,5326,22437,134,136,135,82],"class_list":["post-360146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-pied-u00e0-terre-tax","tag-pm-newsletter","tag-politics","tag-randy-mastro","tag-real-estate-board-of-new-york","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360146","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=360146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}