Sale at 116 West 72nd Street #8C

1980:

1. 116 West 72nd is a coop
2. NY law requires security deposits to be held in escrow
3. your landlord sounds like he's spending your money on his own needs
4. doing so is illegal, definitely tortious, and at some poinr criminal
5. if memory serves me correctly the NYS Atty General has jurisdiction to
take a complaint from you and maybe to compel a refund
6. you should also contact Coop managing agent to see if LL actually owns your unit
7. renting non-owned apartments is a well-established tradition in Manhattan

Wow, did people just take some random listings/pictures on SE and list them as vacation rentals on another website? Geez, this is outright fraud.

It does seem dodgy and, sadly, may be a fraud. In the long run, it is possible you can sort it out and get your money back by working with either the NY State Attorney General's office (120 Broadway) or the Manhattan District Attorney's fraud unit. In the short term, though, I will suggest something less traditional. Our mayor is very invested in marketing NYC to tourists. To that end, he has established a pseudo-corporation called NYC & Co. I suspect they will not like to hear your story and will be able to advise you on what to do. The website is http://www.nycgo.com/ Good luck!

Thank you all so much for your comments. I have still not received a refund ($US1,220.00) and I believe there are others who have booked this apartment through www.homeaway.com
Homeaway.com have been extremely helpful in advising me of my rights (after the LL withdrew the property from their site) and which I am pursuing via my bank and Paypal.
I will now endeavour to contact the Coop managing agent.
I also emailed the selling agent however did not receive a reply.
I appreciate very much your help.
Robyn, Melbourne, Australia

1980robyn - I have had the same problem with this apartment. Homeaway have not been helpful though. They say they will cover the traveller if the listing is fraudulent yet they are not in this case.

I have contacted my bank and paypal but can't get the money back. Have you had any luck with the other avenues? Please let me know

I did find Homeaway helpful - did you take out the insurance policy? I did and perphaps that's why they were helpful as they would have to reimburse me once I had written notice that Paypal and my bank would not be able to help. Paypal could not refund the money as the transaction was more than 45 days old. I contacted my bank and submitted copies of all the communication including from "Mary" at lacasamagic where she stated she would send a refund (oh yeah, really!) and then no further communication. My bank (ANZ) amazingly reversed the disputed transaction and I received a full refund. I believe the only reason "Mary" emailed that she would refund the transaction was because I emailed (separately) the selling agent of this property (and also posting a message on this discussion board) - anyway, I don't believe she intended to follow through with a refund. Sorry you have been caught up too, keep on Homeaway's case, and your bank. Perhaps also follow generalogoun (above) advice and email the Mayor! Good luck and please let me know if you'd like any further info.

I have been having the same problem as Robyn.I wrote to the Mayor's office as suggested and was referred by them to the Office of Special Enforcement. They are interested and have asked for details of my case and promised to be in touch with me about the experience. I don't know where this will lead but, in the meantime, my credit card company has reimbursed me while they carry out their own investigations. The contact address for the Office of Special Enforcement is shyman@cityhall.nyc.gov.

I meant to add - homeaway are meant to reimburse you if the property is an internet fraud - in that it does not exist. They are not accepting responsibility in my case even though it is a fraud. I don't understand why. Just because a property physically exists does not mean someone has the right to advertise it as their own for rent!

That is appalling if you took out the insurance policy at the time of booking with home away. I hope you have had some progress since your last post. I guess I was lucky my bank did a reverse debit.

I booked my accommodation wv home&away in Nov 2010- la casamagic Mary contacted me for a u$ 500 deposite -which I paid.. Then on dec 2010 she cancelled my booking & that she wil b issuing me a refund..8 months on I hv now received an email from her after months of chasing that she will send me a refund & wants confirmation of my home address.. I hv given her my works address but now insisted to issue my refund need confirmation of my home address.. but she has all this when I booked .. So now I hv just given her my address ..I am worried

I too hv had sum dealings wv Mary Lacasamagic.. same thing she promise a refund on the u$ 500 deposit I gave her in nov 2010. I rec'd an email 2day again advising me of the refund.. But she requested my full address / I gave her
my works address but she said that she needs confirmation of my home address I am now worried that I hv now given her my address I am not sure wot this fraudulent person goin2do

Re the last 2 comments I strongly suggest you follow the advice of "generalogoun" (above) and contact www.nycgo.com and register your situation with the very dodgy Mary. I submitted a report and then received an email from Hyman, Shari of the Mayor's office asking for further information (which I submitted). The email address is shyman@cityhall.nyc.gov
Good Luck.