(Chris Wade, The Center Square) New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s controversial pied-à-terre tax on second homes is in limbo after a state judge temporarily blocked its rollout and the city appealed that ruling.
The ruling issued Monday by state Supreme Court Judge Wayne Ozzi ordered the city to take down a public list of 900,000-plus homes that could be hit with the new tax on homes worth more than $5 million. It also barred the city from collecting the tax from 17,000 property owners who were later flagged as subject to the new levy.
Hours later, the Mamdani administration appealed the ruling and secured a decision that keeps the legal fight active ahead of oral arguments scheduled for August 31. The move blocks the lower court’s order from taking effect until the city’s appeal is heard.
“The City will continue with the pied-à-terre’s implementation,” Mamdani spokesman Matt Rauschenbach said in a statement.
The lawsuit was filed Monday by several New York City residents — Simon Hedley, Rachel O’Brien and Carmine Morano — who alleged in the complaint that the city wrongly flagged their primary residences as subject to the tax.
Randy Mastro, a former first deputy mayor who is representing the property owners, claimed in court filings that the city’s decision to release a list of nearly 1 million properties that might be subject to the new pied-à-terre tax set off a “panic” among homeowners.
“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,” Mastro said in a statement following Monday’s ruling.
The new tax calls for charging eligible property owners a 4% surcharge on one- to three-family second homes valued over $5 million and on co-ops and condos valued at $1 million.
The Mamdani administration estimates the levy will drum up more than $500 million a year for the city to help plug gaps in the budget and fund the mayor’s lefty agenda.
Mamdani has defended the tax, a key plank of his “tax the rich” campaign, saying it will only impact wealthy owners who he has claimed are sitting on “empty properties” as they “reap the huge financial rewards” of holding real estate in New York City.
