A Staten Island judge has temporarily blocked New York City’s rollout of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new luxury second-home surcharge targeting wealthy non-resident property owners in New York City.
Breitbart reports that Staten Island Judge Wayne Ozzi issued a temporary restraining order stopping the city from moving forward with the tax while the case is pending.
The pied-à-terre tax is a major pillar of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s progressive policy agenda and is structured as a surcharge targeting wealthy non-resident property owners in New York City, according to The Guardian.
Judge Ozzi ordered the Department of Finance to take down a list covering roughly 960,000 properties that was released last month and the city was told it cannot act on notices already sent to about 17,000 property owners.
🇺🇸 A Staten Island judge just froze Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax after homeowners took the city to court over the rollout.
The order kills every deadline, forces the city to pull the published tax roll of over 950,000 property owners offline, and blocks any action on the 17,000…
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) August 11, 2026
The decision came after a homeowner lawsuit alleged a chaotic implementation that unfairly shifted the residency verification burden onto full-time residents.
Mamdani’s proposed tax applies to second homes valued at $5 million or more, as well as co-ops and condos valued at $1 million or more, where the owner is not a primary resident.
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The surcharge is intended to raise around $500 million annually and the revenue is earmarked to fund public infrastructure and services, including safer streets, cleaner parks, and stronger public schools.
The tax officially went into effect on July 1 but faced intense backlash after the city published a searchable database of roughly 960,000 properties and sent out waves of notices warning owners that they could be subject to the tax.
CNN reports that many full-time New Yorkers who have lived in their homes for decades mistakenly received these letters, sparking widespread anxiety and forcing them to scramble to file for exemptions.
According to Breitbart, Mamdani’s office intends to fight the ruling with spokesman Matt Rauschenbach saying:
We disagree with today’s ruling, but we are confident in both the pied-à-terre surcharge and the City’s ability to implement it fairly and effectively. This surcharge asks those who own second homes valued at $5 million or more to contribute their fair share to the city they benefit from.
Oral arguments regarding the merits of the lawsuit are scheduled to take place on August 31.
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