New York homeowners are suing Mamdani over the city’s pied-a-terre tax letter ‘confusion’

• 3 NYC homeowners are suing Mamdani over the rollout of the pied-á-terre tax.
• Second homes worth millions of dollars could be subject to the levy.
• The homeowners allege that their residences were tagged in a property records release.

Three New York City homeowners are suing the Mamdani administration over the rollout of the pied-á-terre tax on multi-million dollar second homes.

Per a Department of Finance requirement, the Mamdani administration sent letters to all addresses that could potentially be a pied-á-terre based on property value and internal records in late July. Residents have until September 18 — an extended deadline — to appeal and prove their residence in the potentially taxed home. The levy would begin showing up on tax bills in 2027.

As part of a standard release of property and tax records, the DOF released a list of properties and their valuations across the city, including those that could be subject to the tax. A spokesperson for the department previously told Business Insider that it is a preliminary estimation, not an exhaustive list.

Plaintiffs Rachel O’Brien and Carmine Morano live in Staten Island, and a third plaintiff, Simon Hedley, lives in Manhattan. All alleged in the 23-page suit that their primary properties were included in the property roll, and are seeking to have the DOF take it offline as part of “emergency relief” for “petitioners and others similarly situated who received these notices.”

The complaint argues that publishing the property roll “caused mass confusion” and “facilitated, invited, and amplified unwanted scrutiny of homeowners’ personal information.”

Randy Mastro, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a statement sent to Business Insider that City Hall mailed “notice letters demanding that New Yorkers prove they live in their own homes, and gave them only a few weeks at the height of the summer season to do it. Thousands of people who owe nothing have been confused, exposed, and put to real expense so this administration could make a political point.”

City Hall has hired two dozen additional staffers to handle appeals and resident questions.

When asked about the pied-á-terre tax rollout at a press conference this week, Mamdani said, “the point of this is to make sure that only properties, secondary homes of non-resident New Yorkers that are worth more than $5 million, are the ones that are being subject to this tax.”