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New York City has filed a lawsuit against a landlord accused of illegally converting rent-stabilized apartments into short-term hotel rentals in two Upper West Side brownstones.
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The suit targets Mark David Militana, owner of buildings at 24 and 44 West 89th Street, and alleges he replaced long-term tenants with short-term guests, generating about $550,000 in illegal rental income since 2023, The New York Times was first to report. Of nine units converted to nightly rentals across the two buildings, seven are still listed with the city as rent-stabilized, investigators say.One longtime tenant, Patty Brecht, 71, told the Times that strangers frequently arrived at her building believing they had booked hotel rooms through Airbnb or other sites. Brecht, who moved into her apartment in 1979 and is now the last remaining long-term tenant in her building, said visitors often mistook her for a hotel employee and asked for help finding their rooms.
“I had no idea who they were,” Brecht told the Times. “I would say to them: ‘Well, I’m a tenant here. I’m not a hotel guest.’ It was absurd.”
The investigation was led by the city’s Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement. Christian Klossner, the office’s executive director, said rent-stabilized apartments are a crucial part of New York’s affordable housing supply and accused the landlord of prioritizing profit over tenants.
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After a 2022 city law required short-term rental listings to be registered, the lawsuit says Militana created his own website to market the units directly to travelers and used false or misleading addresses — including one that did not exist — to avoid detection. The site advertised one-bedroom apartments for $280 per night and was taken offline shortly after the lawsuit was filed.
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Brecht also described long-standing maintenance problems in her apartment, including plumbing issues that forced her to shower at friends’ homes or at her gym, water collecting in a ceiling light fixture and a rodent infestation that made her oven unusable. She said some repairs have since been made.Public records show that Brecht filed her own lawsuit against Militana, who goes by “Dr. Militana” and appears to be an emergency medicine physician, in October 2025.
According to a city database cited by the Times, the two buildings contain 18 units and have accumulated 115 Department of Buildings violations, 95 of which remain open, along with 75 complaints ranging from reports of transient guests to unpermitted construction work.
The city is seeking $4 million in damages and plans to ask a Manhattan State Supreme Court judge to appoint a receiver to oversee repairs and return the apartments to compliance with rent-stabilization laws. Officials say the goal is to restore the units to long-term, affordable housing for New Yorkers.
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