Artist Must Leave NYC Loft After Renting It Out On Airbnb: Judge

TRIBECA, NY — A longtime Tribeca resident will be evicted from her rent-stabilized loft after subletting out her home to tourists through Airbnb, a judge ruled on Wednesday.

Eileen Hickey, 72, must vacate her home of more than 40 years by June 9, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Nancy Bannon ruled. Hickey, an artist, has been fighting to continue living in her rent-stabilized apartment — where she paid $1,500 a month — in a years-long legal battle with her landlord.

Hickey's apartment took over the entire fourth floor of a building near Greenwich and Watts streets. The building's owner, Robert Moskowitz, sued Hickey in 2014 to get her kicked out of the building because she was illegally subletting her apartment on Airbnb, he said.

"Eileen Hickey was and is engaging in commercial exploitation and rent profiteering in her rent-stabilized apartment, while being afforded the protection and rights afford to tenants in rent stabilized apartments," Moskowitz wrote in his original 2014 lawsuit.

Local regulations forbid renting out a unit in New York City for less than 30 days unless the permanent resident remains in the unit.

"I used Airbnb starting in September 2012 for a total of 85 nights over 10 months to help pay the bills in a brief family emergency, not to earn a living," Hickey told the New York Post, which first reported on the judgement against her. "To have no place to go at age 72 is quite horrible."

Hickey started a GoFundMe in January 2017 to help raise money for the legal battle. On her fundraising page she wrote that she was the "target of a greedy landlord's predatory tactics."

In addition to vacating her home, a court in January ordered Hickey to pay nearly $185,000 in a judgement against her and to cover Moskowitz's attorneys' fees. Patch was not immediately able to contact Hickey for comment on Friday morning.

"While this individual has not hosted on Airbnb for several years, we do encourage all tenants who wish to share their home to have a conversation with their landlord before hosting," Josh Meltzer, the head of New York policy for Airbnb, said in a statement. "At the same time, we support the Lentol/Bonacic bill, which would update existing rules around home sharing to mirror subletting law -- allowing rent-stabilized tenants to earn up to the amount they pay in rent. This would ensure more New Yorkers can share their space to make ends meet, while cracking down on profiteering."

Image credit: Carl Court/Getty Images