AG James settles Westchester housing discrimination case

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that her office has settled a housing discrimination case involving a Westchester real estate agent and his companies.

James’ investigators had looked into allegations against real estate broker Pasquale Marciano and his companies, Anthony Marciano Real Estate Inc. d.b.a Century 21 Marciano and NewRoc Property Management LLC.

According to James, they had illegal policies that denied housing opportunities to low-income renters. James’ office was assisted in its investigation by the Housing Rights Initiative (HRI), a nonprofit based in New York City that investigates allegations of real estate fraud and help victims find legal helps.

According to James, real estate agents, who Marciano oversees, violated local and state laws by refusing to rent apartments to investigators who indicated that they intended to use a Section 8 Housing Choice voucher to pay rent.

James said that Marciano owns 13 multifamily rental properties throughout New Rochelle with a total of 76 units. Under the agreement with James, he must place nine tenants using Section 8 or other government housing subsidies in units he owns and pay $40,000 to the state.

Also according to James, at the time of the investigation, Marciano, was the owner and head real estate broker at Century 21 Marciano and oversaw the rental leasing practices of more than 25 real estate sales agents representing Westchester landlords seeking to rent apartments. James said that an investigation done by HRI revealed that Century 21 Marciano enforced a policy that prohibited Section 8 holders from submitting applications for rental units.

James pointed out that refusing to rent to prospective tenants based on their source of income is illegal discrimination under New York law, and wrongly denies New Yorkers equal access to housing. Owners, landlords, property managers, rental agents and brokers cannot refuse to accept potential tenants solely because they receive housing subsidies, according to the law.

James said that the settlement requires Marciano’s rental applications to include clear anti-discrimination statements containing the sentence, “we are happy to consider applicants who have housing vouchers or subsidies.” Additionally, Marciano must publicly advertise all vacant units and include that government housing vouchers, such as Section 8, are accepted on every rental listing. Finally, Marciano must ensure that rental application fees are capped at the $20 maximum and, during the five-year period of the agreement, must also waive broker fees for any applicants seeking to use a government housing subsidy for their rental.