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Illegal UWS hotel first to be fined under new law

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Illegal UWS hotel first to be fined under new law

Postby TenantNet » Mon Apr 03, 2017 4:12 pm

Illegal hotel on Upper West Side of Manhattan first to be fined under new law
BY ERIN DURKIN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, April 3, 2017, 1:26 AM


The city has slapped an Upper West Side landlord with the first $5,000 fines under a new law passed to crack down on illegal hotels.

Hank Fried was whacked with a dozen fines totaling $60,000 for advertising rooms in the Marrakech Hotel on Broadway near 103rd St., which the city says is operating illegally in what is supposed to be a single-room-occupancy and apartment building.

A state law signed last fall prohibited the advertising of illegal units — ones that violate a prior law barring the renting of entire apartments for less than 30 days.

The law was pushed as a way to go after illegal listings on the home sharing site Airbnb. But Fried is not a host on that site, and instead advertised his units on Hotwire.com, Booking.com and other websites, city officials say.

“We will ratchet up penalties against bad actors who flout the law and put New Yorkers and visitors in danger,” said Christian Klossner, executive director of the Office of Special Enforcement.

“Turning homes into illegal hotels harms New York neighborhoods, and our city as a whole. “Fried was previously hit in February with a dozen violations for $1,000 each, and incurred the higher fines because he didn’t take down the ads.

If he doesn’t take them down before a hearing in May, he could be hit with another set of fines — this time for $7,500 each, the maximum under the new law.

An employee who answered the phone at the hotel claimed he didn’t know how to reach Fried and declined to comment on the allegations.

“There’s nothing I can tell you,” he said.
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