Judge temporarily blocks implementation of NYC's new pied-à-terre tax

A judge on Staten Island has temporarily blocked implementation of New York City's new pied-à-terre tax. 

The ruling pauses enforcement on the tax on second properties while a lawsuit brought by a group of homeowners moves forward. 

That lawsuit alleged that the city bungled the rollout by including many who live full-time in their homes on a list of 900,000 people who could be subject to the tax, as well as sending letters to 17,000 others.

For now, the city has to take down the public tax roll and can't issue any additional notices. 

The mayor's office say they'll appeal the ruling with an eye toward allowing implementation of the pied-à-terre tax to move forward.

"Mayor Mamdani wanted to make a splashy headline with the second home surcharge, but his administration violated the law in implementing it. It's been a total debacle. And the way they rolled this out violated the state law that authorized them to implement it in the first place in fundamental ways," attorney Randy Mastro said when he announced the lawsuit seeking to delay the implementation of the tax. 

"Since leaving office, Mr. Mastro has already sued the city five times. We disagree with today's ruling, but we are confident in both the pied-à-terre surcharge and the City's ability to implement it fairly and effectively," the mayor's Deputy Press Secretary Matt Rauschenbach said. "This surcharge asks those who own second homes valued at $5 million or more to contribute their fair share to the city they benefit from. The Law Department will appeal the ruling immediately which will stay the order, and the City will continue with the pied-à-terre's implementation."  

Monday morning, prior to the ruling, Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised to "vigorously defend" the tax in court, adding, "we are confident in our position." 

The next hearing in the case is set for Aug. 31.