
A woman is being fined $185,000 and kicked out of her Manhattan apartment for illegally renting it out on Airbnb, New York Post staffer Julia Marsh reports.
In 2014, the owner of 460 Greenwich St. first sued 72-year-old Eileen Hickey over illegal sublets in her rent-stabilized home of 43 years.
Landlord Robert Moskowitz claimed Hickey, whose apartment spans the entire fourth floor, had raked in some $4,500 a month via her Airbnb guests from Spain, California and New Orleans.
Meanwhile, she admittedly owns an East Village condo — but claims to use it as an office.
“Hickey has engaged in outrageous behavior using her rent-stabilized apartment as an illegal hotel,” Moskowitz fumes in court papers.
Hickey says she consulted with an attorney and was given the green light to list the two-bedroom unit on Airbnb.
“I wouldn’t knowingly break the law,” she said, referring to the state’s Multiple Dwelling Law, which bars tenants from renting out their apartments for fewer than 30 days at a stretch. The Rent Stabilization Code also prohibits tenants from profiting off below-market-rate pads.
Last week, a Manhattan Supreme Court justice “authorized a city sheriff to “take all necessary steps. . . to effect the removal and ejection of Eileen Hickey. . . from said premises at 460 Greenwich St.”
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