A New York judge on Monday temporarily blocked New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax after homeowners sued over the city’s handling of the program.
Staten Island Judge Wayne Ozzi issued a temporary restraining order stopping the city from moving forward with the tax while the case is pending. Ozzi ordered the Department of Finance to take down a list covering roughly 960,000 properties that was released last month.
The city also cannot act on notices already sent to about 17,000 property owners. A hearing is set for Aug. 31.
The homeowners — Rachel O’Brien, Carmine Morano, and Simon Hedley — sued the city in Richmond County Supreme Court on Aug. 7, seeking to have officials remove a publicly available list containing information on nearly 960,000 residential properties.
The lawsuit focuses on how the city is carrying out its new pied-à-terre tax. The surcharge applies to certain properties that are not used as an owner’s primary residence. One-, two- and three-family homes must be valued at $5 million or more to qualify, while the threshold for condominiums and cooperative apartments is $1 million.
Mamdani’s office said the city plans to fight the ruling.
“We disagree with today’s ruling, but we are confident in both the pied-à-terre surcharge and the City’s ability to implement it fairly and effectively,” spokesman Matt Rauschenbach said.
“This surcharge asks those who own second homes valued at $5 million or more to contribute their fair share to the city they benefit from,” he added.
The city’s law department plans to appeal and seek to have the temporary order lifted. Randy Mastro, an attorney representing the homeowners, welcomed the decision.
“We are very gratified by the judge’s decision, which has vindicated the rights of hundreds of thousands of New York City homeowners who were subjected to a process they never should have been a part of in the first place,” Mastro said.
Mamdani has promoted the measure as part of his push to raise more revenue from wealthy New Yorkers to pay for his agenda. The tax took effect July 1, but its launch quickly drew complaints. Some homeowners said they were flagged even though they had lived in their properties for years.
“This pied-à-terre tax is specifically designed for the richest of the rich, those who store their wealth in New York City real estate, but who don’t actually live here. But even so, they’re able to reap the huge financial rewards owning property in, dare I say, the greatest city in the world,” Mamdani said.
Those receiving notices were originally given until Sept. 18 to dispute them or seek an exemption. Ozzi’s order prevents the city from enforcing that deadline while the temporary restraining order remains in place.
