A group of New York City homeowners has filed a lawsuit against Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the city’s finance director over the rollout of the new pied-à-terre tax. The tax, which places a surcharge on non-primary residences in New York City valued over $5 million, was rolled out as part of Mayor Mamdani’s 2027 fiscal year budget.

Lawsuit Details

The lawsuit, filed by three petitioners, alleges that the city incorrectly identified their homes as potentially subject to the surcharge despite those properties serving as their primary residences. The plaintiffs claim that the city’s release of a tax roll that included names and addresses of over 900,000 New York City homeowners, even if they were not subject to the tax, was unlawful.

The city’s Department of Finance has stated that the roll includes family homes as well as co-ops and condominium units, but noted that the vast majority of properties and units listed are not subject to the surcharge. However, 17,000 property owners received letters alerting them that they were possibly subject to the tax.

One of the homeowners bringing the lawsuit, Rachel O’Brien, said that she was wrongly listed on the property roll. ‘It is absolutely absurd that the City publicly identified our home as a possible second residence when my husband and I live here, raise our family here, and have made it our permanent home,’ O’Brien said in a news release.

The plaintiffs are seeking to have the notices and the Finance Department’s property roll declared unlawful and are asking the court to pause any obligation for homeowners who received the notices to respond while the case moves forward.

Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.