Manhattan Club Lawsuit

We didn't pay the extortion due December 2015. We have never been able to rent a room in the place, and the ability to do so at half the rack rate was a significant inducement for our purchase back when the maintenance fees were reasonable. We obviously aren't the only ones because I've received a total of two emails and one letter about the issue in 11 months. I would think that if everyone stopped paying there would be increased pressure on the owner to settle with the AG, but that's just my opinion.

My Taxes are billed separately. I own every other year but my taxes are billed every year. My maintenance is billed every other year.

2 years ago by the end of the year I called MC to clarify the bill and was told reservations for the NEXT year were almost out thus I had to pay right away. Could not listen to such BS anymore and paid taxes only by CC. To my surprise the CC charge showed the transaction description something like " common charges and cleaning". Contacted my CC and asked to changed the description to "taxes". They said it was not their choice, I should address it to MC. MC refused to change the description. Wondering, do they really pay our taxes to NYC Financial Department?

Since then I received just 1 email from MC in regards to the MC events, no collection letters.

Does anyone have any idea what official NY State cite would allow a property tax payer to check on the payment history of their property taxes? I would love to find that TMC has kept my State tax payments for themselves, as I think that could help the NYAG's fraud case against them significantly.

I too paid the real estate taxes only on Timeshare and sent in the check to TMC and noted it as taxes on check.

According to the emails I received the last time the records on TMC tax payments were checked in 2016 The Manhattan Club was in arrears for Tax payments. It seems TMC is not paying their taxes on the property.

Actually it's the NY CITY Department of Finance (not the state). When I worked there many years ago it was located in the Municipal Building near City Hall. I think you can check records through a system called ACRIS, or perhaps a different system at NYCDF. Check here: http://nycprop.nyc.gov/nycproperty/nynav/jsp/logonpage.jsp to see if you can find a record you'll need Block & Lot for TMC... not sure how they're handling multiple owner apartment/cooperative type buildings tho.

I am reluctant to pay the taxes to TMC because I fear that the money will not go to the tax assessor's office. I agree that this could be important to the NYAG office. I would gladly write a letter to the AG however I don't want to write a letter without proof that TMC is in arrears. I really utilize this site to stay abreast of the status but I don't want to write anything if it's simply to complain or whining. We all have seen enough of that and we're all pretty much in the same boat.

irenes93 wrote:

According to the emails I received the last time the records on TMC tax payments were checked in 2016 The Manhattan Club was in arrears for Tax payments. It seems TMC is not paying their taxes on the property.

Is it possible to find out if the taxes are in arrears?

beckyf76 wrote:

I am reluctant to pay the taxes to TMC because I fear that the money will not go to the tax assessor's office. I agree that this could be important to the NYAG office. I would gladly write a letter to the AG however I don't want to write a letter without proof that TMC is in arrears. I really utilize this site to stay abreast of the status but I don't want to write anything if it's simply to complain or whining. We all have seen enough of that and we're all pretty much in the same boat.

irenes93 wrote:

According to the emails I received the last time the records on TMC tax payments were checked in 2016 The Manhattan Club was in arrears for Tax payments. It seems TMC is not paying their taxes on the property.

dennisc283 wrote:

Actually it's the NY CITY Department of Finance (not the state). When I worked there many years ago it was located in the Municipal Building near City Hall. I think you can check records through a system called ACRIS, or perhaps a different system at NYCDF. Check here: http://nycprop.nyc.gov/nycproperty/nynav/jsp/logonpage.jsp to see if you can find a record you'll need Block & Lot for TMC... not sure how they're handling multiple owner apartment/cooperative type buildings tho.

This looks like a good path to take. When/if MC pays their taxes, would it be just a lump sum which would theoretically include all the owners' taxes together (in which case you couldn't verify whether your taxes have been paid by them), or would it break it down by owner?

Either way, how do you know the block and lot number? Is there just one for TMC or does each owner have one? if the latter, is it on your contract? (Again, my mom is an owner, helping her out with this.)

Once we know exactly how to do it (if possible), I think every owner should check if their MC taxes have been paid/recorded. As previously stated, if not this could be a good bullet for the NYAG fraud investigation.

I may give the NY DoF a call.

I called the 212-NEW YORK info number (311 in NY), got transferred to a finance person (Miss Kane, ID 7091, very nice) and she said TMC hasn't paid taxes since JAN 2016 (the last payment was 8/29/16 toward the JAN taxes). They are supposed to pay quarterly. I also put in a request to try to find out if our taxes were paid, if they can even break them out from the lump MC sum.

You can see the list of public MC financial records by going to the link below, then click on Begin Using ACRIS (top right of main page) > Search Property Records > Parcel Identifier, and entering:

Borough: Manhattan, BLOCK: 1027, LOT: 1155

http://www1.nyc.gov/site/finance/taxes/acris.page

THIS IS THE LINK TO CONTACT NYC DEPT OF FINANCE, TO INQUIRE ABOUT YOUR TAXES (then Online > Property Related > (I assume) Property Tax Account or Property Tax Bill:

http://www1.nyc.gov/site/finance/about/contact-us.page

I will be sending them a message asking if they can confirm if our MC taxes were received. Even if they can't verify our individual taxes I figure it can't hurt to have a number of inquiries for the record.

Still not sure if it is wise to not pay MC anything (including taxes) considering they apparently haven't paid taxes since JAN 2016.

I also found a record of MC owners and the property tax value.

Looks like O. Park Central sold to Vacation Trust Inc. in 2014.

http://blockshopper.com/ny/manhattan-county/clinton-hell-s-kitchen/property/1010271158/200-west-56th-street

I just got off the phone with American Express after explaining that TMC had my CC number on file and sent a charge through annually. I told them that I did not want TMC to charge anything to my Amex CC anymore. They put a block on TMC, preventing them from charging anything to my account for FOUR years. In four years I can renew the block. My thought is to pay the tax portion of the bill each year by check but to withhold payment of the other charges until the AG's investigation is over and there is some resolution of the legal status of the Eichners and their agents vis-a-vis the timeshare owners association.

I wrote a letter a year ago to Serwat Farooq at the address given when I called the AG's office. It was returned as "undeliverable". Does anybody have a solid address for Elissa Rossi?

irenes93 wrote:

The new lead attorney on the Manhattan Club Case for the New York State Attorney General is Elissa Rossi. She replaces Attorney Serwat Farooq. All inquires and letters should be directed to her at the AG's office.

fibon wrote:

2 years ago by the end of the year I called MC to clarify the bill and was told reservations for the NEXT year were almost out thus I had to pay right away. Could not listen to such BS anymore and paid taxes only by CC. To my surprise the CC charge showed the transaction description something like " common charges and cleaning". Contacted my CC and asked to changed the description to "taxes". They said it was not their choice, I should address it to MC. MC refused to change the description. Wondering, do they really pay our taxes to NYC Financial Department?

Since then I received just 1 email from MC in regards to the MC events, no collection letters.

hi fibon,

what do they do with the tasx$$$??? my opinion: THEY DEFRAY PART OF THEIR LEGAL SERVICES FEES, READ DEFENSE ATTORNEYS!

happy holidays,

chris

irenes93 wrote:

According to the emails I received the last time the records on TMC tax payments were checked in 2016 The Manhattan Club was in arrears for Tax payments. It seems TMC is not paying their taxes on the property.

hi irene,

my not-so-humble opinion, they're not paying our property taxes as they should. WHAT ELSE IS NEW? MC SEEMS TO WRITE THEIR OWN LAWS.

happy holidays,

chris

I am not a Manhattan Club owner, but I have been in contact with Douglas Wasser, representing 30 Manhattan Club owners. He is a real estate lawyer. It should encourage all timeshare owners that a Wyndham former sales agent was awarded $20 million for speaking up about deceptive timeshare sales. A quote from Mr. Wasser about the Manhattan Club status appears in the article recently published by Inside Timeshare. Pulitzer winner and NY times journalist Gretchen Morganson wrote the article about the verdict. Her article explains the nature of a legitimate class action lawsuit. People often throw out the term without really understanding what a class action is, when it is an appropriate action, and how it compares to a multi action:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/business/my-soul-feels-taller-a-whistle-blowers-20-million-vindication.html?_r=0

http://insidetimeshare.com/whistleblowers-expose-timeshare-sales-tactics/

Mr. Wasser would be the one to answer questions for Manhattan Club owners.

Sorry I'm a different Irene but good to read the Wyndham articles anyway even if the article is about Wyndham and not the Manhattan Club because the practices apply to many timeshare companies.

There is a public access to the NYC Financial Department tax records. Search is offered by street address or/ by the parcel number.

Looking for the MC tax payments in total, I entered the "Street address: 200 West 56 street", no apartment number. http://webapps.nyc.gov:8084/CICS/fin1/find001i

Amazingly, one record displayed. The record belongs not to the MC building, but just to one owner, the MC Unit 1155, Outstanding Charges $10,560.15.

Owner name: (owner's name changed) Property address: 200 W. 56TH ST. Borough, block & lot: MANHATTAN (1), 01027, 1155

I checked the owner's name in ACRIS, NYC property registration system. Property records is there, though the same Deed was listed twice in 2011 (!)

https://a836-acris.nyc.gov/DS/DocumentSearch/PartyName

(cont)

Then I searched for the "Street address 870 7 avenue". The messaged displayed:

PARCEL FOUND IS A CONDOMINIUM. PLEASE ENTER THE APT# TO FIND THE BLOCK AND LOT

That tells the MC handles the taxes by condo units, not by an entire building/property.

Entered different unit numbers, taxes were not paid for all of them since Jan. 2016. E.g. , unit 1611, outstanding charges are $16,260.10.

If you know the parcel for your UNIT, you can check the taxes payments via

http://nycprop.nyc.gov/nycproperty/nynav/jsp/selectbbl.jsp

fibon wrote:

There is a public access to the NYC Financial Department tax records. Search is offered by street address or/ by the parcel number.

Looking for the MC tax payments in total, I entered the "Street address: 200 West 56 street", no apartment number. http://webapps.nyc.gov:8084/CICS/fin1/find001i

Amazingly, one record displayed. The record belongs not to the MC building, but just to one owner, the MC Unit 1155, Outstanding Charges $10,560.15.

Owner name: (owner's name changed) Property address: 200 W. 56TH ST. Borough, block & lot: MANHATTAN (1), 01027, 1155

I checked the owner's name in ACRIS, NYC property registration system. Property records is there, though the same Deed was listed twice in 2011 (!)

https://a836-acris.nyc.gov/DS/DocumentSearch/PartyName