Judge Halts Rollout of New York's Progressive Pied-à-Terre Tax, Siding with Wealthy Homeowners
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
A Staten Island judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of New York City's pied-à-terre surcharge, a crucial measure aimed at taxing luxury second homes, after affluent homeowners filed a lawsuit.
On Monday, a Staten Island judge issued a temporary restraining order that halts the city’s much-needed pied-à-terre tax, a surcharge targeting high-value second homes often owned by the ultra-wealthy, pending a lawsuit from three privileged homeowners. The order forces the city to remove the public tax roll and prevents further notices until a hearing on August 31, delaying an important step toward economic justice.
The plaintiffs—Simon Hedley, Rachel O’Brien, and Carmine Morano—claim the city mistakenly flagged their primary residences for the tax, which is designed to apply to non-primary homes valued at $5 million or more and to condos and co-ops worth at least $1 million. Rather than challenging the legality of the tax, the lawsuit attacks the city’s decision to release a tax roll listing names, addresses, and values of over 900,000 properties, many of which are not subject to the surcharge. This focus on administrative errors distracts from the real issue: the urgent need to make the wealthy pay their fair share.
"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," said Randy Mastro, attorney for the plaintiffs—ignoring the broader public good that the tax aims to serve.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, at a news conference, reaffirmed the city’s commitment to defending the tax in court. Enacted as part of the state budget and signed into law in May, the tax was championed by Governor Kathy Hochul as a necessary measure to address the city’s budget gap and to finally hold the wealthy accountable for their outsized impact on the city’s housing crisis.