MANHATTAN — Advocates for a Harlem mother threatened with eviction say she was overcharged for years under rent rules.
Cristina Ramirez’s lawyers say her case shows the need for greater enforcement of New York’s tenant protections.
Last year, Ramirez received a petition of nonpayment from Royal Management LLC, stating that she owed more than $12,000 in back rent on the small, two-bedroom unit where she and her late husband, Jacobo Villano Pardo, built their family’s life after leaving Mexico 15 years ago. Pardo, a food delivery worker, was killed in February in a cycling crash.
Ramirez has the receipts to prove she always paid on time. And Legal Services NYC discovered Ramirez was actually facing a massive overcharge—a rent-reduction order citing maintenance problems has been in place since 2003.
Experts said some landlords are still skirting rent stabilization laws—despite 2019 reforms.
