LeFrak sues New York courts over alleged housing court delays

The Manhattan-based real estate firm LeFrak filed a suit in Queens State Supreme Court last week, seeking to compel the Civil Court of the City of New York to speed up the process of adjudicating non-payment cases in the Housing Part. The petition alleges the procedures outlined in the state’s Real Property Actions and Proceedings Article 7, Summary Proceeding to Recover Possession of Real Property, are not being abided by, and the delays are harming landlords as they cannot recover apartments from non-paying tenants.

Case 703941/2024 LINK

LeFrak is one of the largest residential real estate owners in New York City. The PincusCo database currently indicates that LeFrak owns at least 64 commercial properties with 11,289,224 square feet, 10,110 residential units and a city-determined market value of $1.6 billion. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 90 percent of the 11,289,224 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with office properties next occupying 9 percent of the space. The bulk, or 62 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Manhattan next at 31 percent of the space. The holdings include 97-05 Horace Harding Expressway North, part of LeFrak City in Queens.

According to the petition, “the purposes of Article 7 have been defeated by Respondents’ systemic failings to adhere to the policies and procedures implemented set forth by the legislature. Specifically, notwithstanding – and contrary to – the clear directives of Article 7 of the RPAPL, trials in proceedings based upon non-payment are routinely given trial dates far afield from the time period guaranteed by statute, virtually indefinite adjournments are being doled out without required application, attribution, or opportunity to be heard, and landlords have to wait months on end for the issuance of warrants to which they inarguably have an immediate right upon obtaining a judgment of possession. All of this, seemingly without recourse.”

The petition provided several examples, including, “In the Non-Pay Proceeding Lafrance Leasing L.P. v. Kishor Regmi, et al., L&T Index No. 317844/2023 (the “Regmi Proceeding”), an answer was interposed on November 2, 2023. The matter was then scheduled to first appear on the calendar in Queens County Housing Part A on January 30, 2024, eighty-nine (89) days after the answer was interposed.”