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The actual property itemizing that appeared briefly in Brooklyn final week sounded beguiling: two spacious, sun-drenched, full-floor residences in a large brick townhome in Fort Greene with spectacular outside areas and interval particulars.
The “great vegan landlord,” the dealer wrote, had just one home rule: “no meat/fish within the constructing.”
Even in a metropolis the place renters can pay mansionesque costs to reside in an residence with a bath within the kitchen or a studio so slim you’ll be able to contact each partitions without delay, the meatless walkup is uncommon.
However at a by-appointment-only open home on Sunday, the regular stream of potential tenants — solely a few of whom stated they had been vegetarians — indicated that the rule was not an automated deal breaker. (Nor, apparently, was the value: The residences, each one-bedrooms, are renting for $4,500 and $5,750.)
Truly, the dealer, Andrea Kelly, defined to 1 prospect, meat eaters weren’t banned; cooking meat and fish was. “It’s not vegetarian-only, however the proprietor lives within the constructing and doesn’t need the scent of cooking meat drifting upstairs,” she stated.
So, sushi, steak tartare and takeout: sure. Roasting a hen: completely not.
The proprietor, Michal Arieh Lerer, refused to talk to a reporter, and Ms. Kelly and her employers at Douglas Elliman declined to remark. However Ms. Lerer’s ex-husband, who co-owns the constructing and can also be vegan, stated that they each had refused to lease to carnivores who prepare dinner since shopping for the home in 2007.
“It’s not about discrimination,” stated the ex-husband, Motti Lerer. “You need to match into the constructing.”
All of which raises the query: Is that this authorized?
It appears to be. Town’s Human Rights Regulation lists 14 characteristics that landlords aren’t allowed to think about in deciding whether or not to lease an residence to somebody, together with age, race, household standing, job, supply of earnings and sexual orientation. Fondness for hamburgers isn’t certainly one of them.
It’s this “allowed until particularly forbidden” development of anti-discrimination regulation that makes it completely authorized for landlords to refuse to lease to people who smoke — they don’t seem to be a protected class both.
Lucas A. Ferrara, an adjunct professor at New York Regulation Faculty and co-author of the multivolume e-book “Landlord and Tenant Apply in New York,” stated a possible tenant would possibly be capable of combat the meat ban if, for instance, they confirmed that they had a medical situation that required some form of “cheap lodging” on the owner’s half.
“Absent an exception of that sort,” Mr. Ferrara wrote, “the restriction would in any other case be permissible.”
The itemizing that talked about the rule, on nextdoor.com, was taken down on Friday, the day after it was posted, however Douglas Elliman nonetheless lists the apartments by itself web site, although with out point out of the meat coverage. The listings do observe, “Cats welcome on a case-by-case foundation (just one, please).”
One curious couple who didn’t know concerning the meat rule balked after they heard about it.
“Oh, we don’t fulfill these necessities,” stated the lady, Tessa Ruben.
Then she and her accomplice, Darian Ghassemi, thought slightly extra.
“We order in lots anyway,” stated Ms. Ruben, 29, who works for a nonprofit.
“The terrace appears cool,” stated Mr. Ghassemi, 31, who works in gross sales.
They weren’t capable of get into the constructing as a result of they didn’t have an appointment to view the residences. After slightly extra dialogue, they determined this was most likely for the most effective.
“What makes me extra nervous than the rule itself,” Ms. Ruben stated, “is realizing there’s somebody upstairs ensuring you comply with it.”
