Mamdani said that the measure is expected to generate $500 million per year for the largest US city.
A Staten Island judge has temporarily blocked the rollout of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax after homeowners sued, arguing the city wrongly flagged their primary residences.
On Monday, Judge Wayne M. Ozzi of the State Supreme Court on Staten Island granted a temporary restraining order requested by the group of homeowners.
The lawsuit, filed on Aug. 7, claims the city improperly identified their primary homes as subject to the surcharge.
The lawsuit said the mailed notices “do not constitute proper notice under Tax Law,” and the judge sided with the plaintiffs, who said the city unlawfully shifted the burden onto them to prove they should not be taxed.
It added that those who received the notices, despite living in their New York homes as their primary residences, now face “irreparable harm.”
“These homeowners must now prove that they live in their own homes, to the City Respondents’ ‘satisfaction,’” the lawsuit said, calling it an “illegal burden.”
It added that they are forced to navigate a “murky exemption” process without any certainty of outcome or the prospect of ever recovering those lost resources.
The plaintiff cited expert analysis from former New York City Department of Finance (DOF) commissioner Martha Stark, who said there are only approximately 24,000 properties in New York that meet the market value thresholds set in the State statute, and that the overwhelming majority of which are primary residences, not largely unused “second homes.”
The next hearing is set for Aug. 31.
The spokesman for the mayor’s office, Matt Rauschenbach, told The Epoch Times by email that the Law Department will appeal the ruling immediately, which will stay the order, and that the city will continue with the pied-a-terre’s implementation.
“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,” he said.
By Owen Evans
