New York City was sued by a group of homeowners seeking to delay the rollout of Mayor Zohran Mamdani's new pied-à-terre tax, saying the publication of a list of properties that could be subject to the levy has caused “mass confusion” and invited “unwarranted scrutiny” of their personal information.
The suit, which was filed on Friday in New York state court in Staten Island on behalf of three homeowners, doesn't challenge the tax itself. Instead, it takes aim at the assessment roll and the notices that informed property owners that they may be subject to the levy.
Last month, the city's Department of Finance posted an assessment roll online that “includes, but is not limited to, those properties that may be subject to the surcharge.” The document included the estimated market values of nearly 1 million residential properties, including hundreds of thousands that appeared to fall short of the threshold for the second-home levy.
The city also mailed out 17,000 notices to property owners notifying them that they may be liable to pay the tax. The list included more than 900,000 properties, far more than the 10,000 to 13,000 properties that officials have estimated would have to pay the new tax.
NYC Identifies Potential Residences for Pied-à-Terre Tax
Photo Credit: (Photo: Bloomberg)
“The city has arbitrarily and capriciously foisted onto New York City residents the burden of proving they are not subject to the surcharge, instead of the city respondents discharging the city's own statutory obligation in the first instance to diligently assess and determine, using the vast resources at its disposal, the properties that are actually subject to the surcharge,” the homeowners said in their complaint, which was filed by high-profile litigator Randy Mastro, a former deputy mayor under Rudolph Giuliani.
The list quickly drew backlash from New Yorkers, including homeowners who said it included their longtime primary residences and City Council members who said they'd been caught off guard by its publication. Roughly 2,000 people have completed applications seeking an exemption from the tax, the city's Department of Finance said earlier this week.
Matt Rauschenbach, a spokesman for Mamdani, said the city's law department will vigorously defend against the suit.
“The Department of Finance has been working around the clock to answer questions, provide assistance and ensure those subject to the surcharge have the information they need,” Rauschenbach said.
The levy, signed into law in May by Governor Kathy Hochul, targets single-family homes worth $5 million or more and apartments worth $1 million or more.
The suit is seeking a court order declaring that homeowners don't have to respond to the notices by a Sept. 18 deadline, blocking the city from taking any further action based on them and forcing the city to remove the assessment roll from the Department of Finance's website.
The suit is the second recently filed by Mastro against a high-profile Mamdani policy. Last month, Mastro filed a separate complaint on behalf of a group of New York City landlords who sued to void a rent freeze approved in June, arguing that Mamdani improperly influenced the Rent Guidelines Board's vote and ignored evidence of rising operating costs for building owners.
The case is O'Brien v the City of New York, 85217/2026, New York State Supreme Court, Richmond County.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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