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Inside

    Officials at New York State’s Tenant Protection Unit said they have reached a settlement with a Brooklyn landlord accused of harassing longtime residents to clear the way for higher-paying tenants.
    The accusations against the landlord, Yeshaya Wasserman, involved alleged practices in eight rent-regulated properties with 181 apartments in Flatbush and Crown Heights. The state investigation targeted practices that tenant advocates say have become more commonplace in fast-changing neighborhoods where the market now can demand rents many times higher than those paid by long-term residents.
    Some of Mr. Wasserman’s tenants have lived in their apartments for more than 20 years and pay less than $1,000 for three-bedroom units, said representatives of the Flatbush Tenant Coalition, which aided the state investigation. Some tenants complained that the landlord did not cash their rent checks, a tactic that officials said relies on the expectation that tenants will not have the money to pay the back rent when it is finally demanded of them. Other tenants said the landlord cut off heat and hot water or took them to housing court on frivolous charges.
    The settlement requires the landlord to devise policies to protect tenants from illegal actions and to pay to have an independent monitor oversee business practices at his buildings, both current and future properties, for up to three years. The monitor will also audit rents set after vacancies, to make sure apartments are not illegally deregulated, and will administer a $60,000 compensation fund to be set up by the landlord to pay claims to any mistreated tenants.
    Mr. Wasserman’s lawyer, Steven Sidrane, declined to answer questions but said in a written statement, “While our client engaged in appropriate management procedures and denies any wrongdoing, it has agreed with T.P.U. to undertake recommended best practices in its policies and procedures in dealings with its tenants.”
    The landlord is also facing a federal lawsuit in which black tenants at one complex, Homewood Gardens Estates in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, say the efforts to evict them stem from racial discrimination.
    Edward Josephson, the director of litigation at Legal Services NYC, which represents tenants in the lawsuit and in Mr. Wasserman’s buildings, praised the Tenant Protection Unit for seeking settlements and stopping bad conduct and displacements faster than litigation would. The settlement came a year after enforcement officials served Mr. Wasserman with subpoenas.
    Mr. Josephson said the $60,000 compensation is “a very modest amount” but that the monitor is what gives the most value to the agreement.
    “It establishes a framework to closely look at everything the landlord does,” he said. “There’s at least a good chance that landlords will act differently if they know they’re watched closely.”
    Formed in 2012, the state unit investigates patterns of illegal behavior by landlords and conducts audits to deter the illegal deregulation of rent-stabilized apartments. The Wasserman settlement is similar to a major agreement announced this year in which the owner of about 1,700 apartments in Harlem, Washington Heights and the South Bronx agreed to an independent monitor after being accused of pressuring Spanish-speaking tenants with low buyout offers and other tactics to waive their tenancy rights.
    Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a written statement that “this administration will not tolerate landlords who seek to harass and bully tenants out of their homes.”
    A version of this article appears in print on October 8, 2014, on page A27 of the New York edition with the headline: Settlement in Investigation of Brooklyn Landlord Over Rent-Regulated Units. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe