A Hells Kitchen Airbnb host is drawing the wrong kind of guests — hookers, drug users and even porn film producers, according to a new lawsuit by the landlord.
The owner of 401 W. 45th St. has filed an emergency suit in Manhattan Supreme Court seeking to block tenant Thomas Tartaglia from subletting his $3,850-a-month studio through Airbnb and other sites.
The problems started on Sept. 22, when Tartaglia’s “unauthorized guests” broke into a vacant apartment and threatened a real estate agent who was showing the unit to a potential tenant, according to court papers.
The landlord called the cops but by the time they arrived the hoodlums had already installed a second lock.
Then a day later the owner’s managing agent discovered that Tartaglia, 50, had dragged lawn chairs and other furniture onto the roof, damaging the 19-unit building’s waterproofing and membrane, the suit says.
The landlord believes Tartaglia let his guests use his fifth-floor unit and the rooftop to “conduct a commercial photo shoot and/or film which upon information and belief was pornographic in nature,” according to court papers.
In November the super rushed to the fifth floor when a resident alerted him about a fire in the hallway. While he was extinguishing the flames he found “third parties in the hallway using narcotics and, upon information and belief, engaging in prostitution,” the suit says.
The suit includes photographs of Trojan condom wrappers and little plastic bags filled with a white substance. The landlord, SPI 643-647 Ninth LLC, is suing for $300,000 in damages and an immediate stop to the illegal activities.
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