Brooklyn Tenants Sue Landlords for Over $2 Million in Rent Overcharges, Defrauding State Agency to Collect More Rent

January 9, 2020, BROOKLYN, NY – Today, 22 rent-stabilized tenants living in 1074 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights announced they are suing Iris Holdings Group and Rubin Dukler for an estimated $2 million in illegal rent overcharges since 2002, when New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), the state agency that oversees rent-stabilized housing, issued a rent freeze barring rent increases until building-wide problems were repaired. 

The rent freeze is still in effect today. The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court by Brooklyn Legal Services’ Tenant Rights Coalition, also alleges that Dukler defrauded HCR by registering fake tenants and false rent amounts with the agency in an attempt to collect more rent— a fraud that Iris Holdings Group has knowingly benefitted from and has intentionally failed to correct.


“I am a single mother and my landlords have been draining my pocket for years and swindling me out of funds I desperately need to support my daughter,” said Tabita Sylvestor, a tenant of over eight years who was overcharged rent and had an eviction case initiated against her for nonpayment. “We don’t have reliable heat and hot water in the building, but Iris Holdings Group breaks the law and charges us hundreds of dollars more than they are allowed every month. They don’t care about us.”

“Iris Holdings Group and Dukler broke the law in order to profit wildly from low-income black and brown NYC families — which is precisely why tenants fought for and won rent reforms last year that closed loopholes incentivizing landlords to profit from low-income tenants,” said Thomas Chew, Staff Attorney at Brooklyn Legal Services’ Tenant Rights Coalition. “The burden of enforcing the rent-stabilization law shouldn’t fall solely on tenants, but too often it does. There is currently little to no oversight by HCR over whether landlords are complying with rent reduction orders or honestly registering rents. A landlord should not be able to self-report fake tenants and leases for decades in order to illegally increase rents without consequence from HCR, and yet that is what we have here.”

In 2002, HCR issued a Rent Reduction Order (rent freeze) that prohibited the collection of rent increases from tenants until building-wide conditions were repaired. In defiance of the rent freeze order, Dukler, and now Iris Holdings Group, continue to collect rent increases from tenants through lease renewals, overcharging some tenants more than $900 above their legal regulated rent on a monthly basis. Tenants are owed an estimated $2 million over the last six years, the limit on how far back tenants can seek damages for rent overcharges, according to the lawsuit. Tenants, however, have been regularly overcharged since 2002.

Tenants are also charging Dukler and Iris Holdings Group with knowingly participating in and benefiting from a fraud against HCR involving the fake registration of tenant names in order to inflate the rent and increase the rent roll for the building. The tenants argue that Dukler registered a series of fake tenant names, including “Barbara Heywood,” “Barry Newton,” “Charles Allen,” and “Harry Johnson,” in order to take advantage of a housing law loophole, since closed, that allowed landlords to receive a 20 percent rent increase when a tenant vacates a rent-stabilized unit, commonly known as a “vacancy bonus.” Iris Holdings Group continues to uphold that fraud and has failed to correct the names and rent amounts, or file any registrations for the building since 2016.

Tenants are asking the court to force Iris Holdings Group and Dukler to pay damages, reimburse rent overcharges, and to correct the fraudulent rent registration history and leases for each tenant. Now that the case has been filed, Iris Holdings Group and Dukler must respond to the charges.

“It’s time for Iris Holdings Group to end the lies and stop cheating tenants out of their money,” said Viola Bibins, a tenant of 37 years who has been overcharged thousands of dollars in illegal annual rent increases since the 2002 rent freeze. “They treat us like we’re not human, like we don’t deserve a safe, clean home. Then they turn around and take our rent money and make us feel like we should be grateful to them. It’s not right.”

“Iris Holdings Group knew they weren’t supposed to increase our rents, and I can’t stand by while my rights and my neighbors’ rights are being trampled on,” said tenant Anita Foxe, who has been living in the building for over 18 years and is currently paying monthly rent that is nearly $300 above the 2002 rent freeze order level she should have been charged. “We’re taking our landlord to court because of the mind games they have been playing on us to push us out of the building, and because we have a right to live in our homes without being tricked out of our money.”

In a separate case back in February 2019, tenants in the building, along with two more buildings in Crown Heights owned by Iris Holdings Group, sought a court order to force the landlord to fix hazardous and unsanitary building conditions and stop tenant harassment, or else face civil penalties. Even after the court proceeding, Iris Holdings Group continues to leave unabated more than 220 violations in these buildings—1018 Eastern Parkway, 1074 Eastern Parkway, and 1392 Sterling Place—including inadequate heat and hot water during the winter months, mold and water leaks, vermin infestations, uncapped radiator valves, missing window guards, and broken front doors and intercoms. Tenants have recently sought additional rent reduction orders from HCR for apartment and common area conditions.

Read the full complaint HERE.