The Legal Aid Society’s Housing Justice Unit-Group Advocacy secured a Temporary Restraining Order against Bronx landlord Ved Parkash, room rental business operator, Luis Bello, and their associates, to stop the landlords from harassing or evicting tenants through a scheme to evade the Rent Stabilization Laws (RSL) and Code. The lawsuit was filed in June 2023 on behalf of five tenants in the Bronx.

Parkash and associates employ an “illusory tenancy” scheme involving subleasing rent-stabilized apartments in order to charge more than the capped rate. The landlords then squeeze families and individuals who are strangers into living rooms, bedrooms, and other spaces within each unit to increase profits.

To further maximize profits and prevent tenants from asserting their rights, Bello and his agents engaged in egregious behavior, regularly intimidating and harassing some tenants by destroying their property, making physical and verbal threats, and illegally locking them out of their homes. Parkash also commenced dozens of sham eviction proceedings, leaving Bello free to replace old tenants with new occupants and continue the scheme.

Lega Aid’s suit is seeking rent-stabilized leases for each of the affected tenants, as well as damages related to unlawful overcharges, illegal evictions, and other forms of tenant harassment.

“Our clients are vulnerable New Yorkers, many of whom have serious health issues, who were deceived and subjected to the most egregious forms of harassment and manipulation by these landlords,” said Jeanne Schoenfelder, an attorney in the Housing Justice Unit – Group Advocacy, Bronx Neighborhood Office, at The Legal Aid Society. “We look forward to continuing to fight in court on their behalf, and against these unscrupulous landlords who illegally circumvent the rent stabilization laws that exist to protect tenants and preserve affordable housing.”

The Housing Justice Unit-Group Advocacy is funded by the City’s Anti-Harassment Tenant Protection (AHTP) Program, which has served over 75,000 New York City tenants. AHTP is a crucial program that works with low-income tenant and housing groups, largely from communities of color, against landlord harassment, discrimination, and displacement and to promote and preserve affordable housing by improving housing conditions and enforcing and expanding tenant rights throughout New York City.