A landlord who primarily rents units to University of Albany students has been stopped by the New York Attorney General’s Office from unlawfully taking advantage of tenants with illegal fees and misleading leases.
An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) found that Asaf Elkayam and his company Jerusalem Management, LLC (Jerusalem Management), violated state laws and tenants’ rights by overcharging tenants on application fees, charging unreasonable cleaning fees and unlawful late fees, and allowing workers to enter apartments without prior notice to tenants.
As part of a settlement with OAG, Elkayam must pay $8,000 in penalties, remove all deceptive or misleading provisions from future leases, provide notice to tenants before entering their apartments, provide predetermined fees for damages or legal costs, and take other actions to protect tenants’ rights.
Elkayam is the owner of Jerusalem Management, which owns and manages 85 buildings with over 200 rental units in Albany. Except for one property, all of Jerusalem Management’s apartment units are located near the University of Albany campus and are primarily rented by students.
The OAG opened an investigation into Jerusalem Management in 2022 after the City of Albany referred complaints to OAG alleging unlawful, deceptive, and unfair leasing and management practices. Throughout the investigation, OAG found multiple instances of unlawful or misleading lease provisions. These included charging over $20 per application in violation of state law and charging tenants excessive fees such as a $100 cleaning fee for the fridge, a $100 fee for the oven, and a $75 fee for every day a tenant stayed in the unit past the expiration of the lease. The leases also allowed the landlord to enter tenants’ apartments at all hours without prior notice or consent. One tenant described a maintenance worker repeatedly entering her apartment with no warning as early as 8:00 AM.
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