John James

John Anderson and Claudette Henry — owners of 1075 Dean St. in Crown Heights and 134 Sackman St. in Brownsville, respectively — have continued to charge market-rate rents for stabilized units, the AG said, and never registered the units with the state’s Department of Homes and Community Renewal.

The pair also allegedly attempted to illegally evict tenants and harassed residents who sought out the rent stabilized leases they were legally entitled to, the suit says. James is asking the court to re-stabilize the buildings and force Anderson and Henry to offer new rent-stabilized leases and refund the tenants who were overcharged.

Both buildings are subject to “de-facto rent stabilization,” per the AG. Under state law, buildings with six or more units built before 1974 are automatically rent-stabilized. The later de-factor doctrine ruled that buildings that had initially had too few units to qualify could be made rent-stabilized if they were later altered to have six or more apartments — whether those alterations were legal or illegal.

Records still show that 134 Sackman St. has just four units, and 1075 Dean St. has three — but both buildings have received complaints about illegal conversions and additions, per city documents. Courts ruled that 1075 Dean and 134 Sackman were subject to de-facto stabilization in 2017 and 2016, per the lawsuits, but neither Anderson or Henry have abided by the ruling.

“Rent stabilization and tenant protection laws help keep working New Yorkers throughout our city in homes they can afford,” James said in a statement. “My office will not shy away from taking immediate action against any landlord who fails to follow the law and attempts to overcharge or illegally evict tenants. Our housing laws are clear, and any landlord who violates them will be held accountable.”

Brooklyn Paper was not immediately able to contact Anderson or Henry for comment.

The AG’s office created a de-facto stabilization compliance program in 2025. Since then, it has returned 91 units to stabilization and prevented 26 evictions, the office said.

According to the lawsuit, the AG’s office repeatedly contacted Anderson to offer opportunities to comply with the law and register his units with DHCR.

But he refused, and ignored several letters sent by the office last year, as well as notifications of litigation sent in early 2026. Henry similarly ignored letters and notices sent in 2025 and 2026.

Meanwhile, legal documents say, Anderson applied to reconfigure parts of the building but his permits were denied, in part because he failed to disclose that the units were supposed to be stabilized.

He has been issued multiple citations by the Department of Buildings for an illegal extension and illegal partitions within units, per DOB records, and hasn’t registered the building with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development since 2024.

1075 Dean St. also has more than 100 open HPD violations, with issues ranging from roach infestations to rotted wood, defective wastewater lines and missing smoke detectors. An eviction proceeding he filed against one tenant was tossed because he did had failed to provide the tenant with a rent-stabilized lease, court documents say.

One of Anderson’s tenants has said he cut off her gas, water and electricity after she demanded a rent-stabilized lease, the suit claims.

Henry similarly attempted to evict tenants, according to the lawsuit, but the cases were dropped after the AG’s office informed the court that the tenants did not have stabilized leases. In one instance, she allegedly locked out a tenant who won rent stabilization, forcing them to file suit against Henry in housing court.

134 Sackman St. has a total of 39 open HPD violations, with recent citations issued after a fire at a neighboring building caused significant damage to one of the units. A violation issued last month indicates that the HPD notice to repair or vacate the unit had been removed prematurely, before the work was finished.

Several people have filed DOB complaints about potential illegal conversions, records show, though DOB inspectors were not able to access the property to confirm or deny the complaints.

Both landlords have issues across their portfolios, per the AG’s office. Henry was #8 on the Public Advocate’s Worst Landlord Watchlist this year, and her 25 buildings have racked up a total of 1,783 open HPD violations. She has carried out 13 evictions over the past two years, per the Public Advocate’s office.

Earlier this month, disabled tenants at one of Henry’s other Brooklyn buildings — 1933 Union St. in Brownsville — sued the landlord, claiming that broken elevators, wheelchair lifts and unreliable cooking gas has made both living in and leaving their homes impossible.

Around half of all rental units in New York City — about a million apartments — are rent-stabilized, and median rent in those units is about $1,400. Rent in stabilized units can only rise by a certain percentage approved by the city’s Rent Guidelines Board each year.

Later this month, the board will vote on proposed hikes of 0-2% for one-year stabilized leases, and 0-4% for two-year stabilized leases. Mayor Zohran Mamdani had promised a “rent freeze” for stabilized leases while campaigning.

But tenants frequently discover their landlords have been skirting the law. In May, tenants in one Crown Heights building sued their landlord, claiming he had lied to the state about making improvements to the building in order to legally raise their rent and de-stabilize their units.

If James’ suit against Henry and Anderson is successful, both will be required to work with DHCR to calculate the legal regulated rent, and will have to refund tenants who have been overpaying for years as well as payout long-overdue fines to DHCR and the Department of Finance. The suit against Anderson stipulates that he would have to refund tenants with interest, and make an effort to locate and pay out past tenants who had been overcharged.