The city is clamping down on an illegal-sublet slumlord who was recently caught stuffing 23 mattresses into a two-bedroom Manhattan apartment and charging guests $35 a night.
Former club promoter David Jaffee represents the worst of short term rental hosts at websites like Airbnb and he may soon be facing criminal charges, sources said.
A spokeswoman for the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement said the agency obtained search warrants for three rental apartments Jaffe was subletting daily around Manhattan — and evicted him from all three over the past few months.
Three landlords have also sued the 31-year-old and even controversial apartment-share web site Airbnb permanently banned Jaffee after learning about the 23-bed rental at 215 E. 27th St.
That one came to light after a guest at the E. 27th Street flophouse wrote to Gawker’s Valley Wag site that Jaffee had put eight beds in one room, eight in the second room and six more in the hallways.
The article noted that at full capacity Jaffee could pull in $250,000 a year.
But Jaffee, once dubbed “Top 10 Most Hated People in New York Nightlife” by the Club Planet blog, got around the ban and posted on Airbnb a listing for a luxury, two-bedroom pad at 301 E. 47th St., according to a January 2015 lawsuit by the landlord, Embassy House LLC.
“That’s his business model,” said Embassy attorney Kevin Cullen, explaining that Jaffee appears to simply find a new apartment to profit from once he’s evicted.
Cullen told The Post that Jaffee handed him the keys to the $6,500-a- month apartment after Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Carol Edmead suggested she would rule in the landlord’s favor in a preliminary decision.
Cullen said the revolving door of guests created “excessive noise and traffic” and posed fire safety concerns.
A spokesman for Airbnb did not immediately comment. But it looks like Jaffee has moved on to a new website for his short term rentals — Bookings.com.
The former nightlife promoter listed a “Financial District Hostel” at 116 John St. last December where he bills visitors $42 a night for a bed in a “four-bed dormitory.”
One tourist said in a review at Bookings.com that the hostel was “the worst…I have stayed ever.” The tourist described six beds in one room with no space for luggage and a dirty bathroom that “smells very bad.”
The landlord of 116 John is suing Jaffee and the city is asking a judge to grant inspectors access to the pad after receiving 12 complaints that the unit was being used as an illegal hotel.
Both the city and another building owner are going after the serial offender for converting another unit at 448 W. 19th St. He’s linked to at least five illegal sublets.
The mayor’s office referred questions about criminal charges to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which does not comment on pending investigations.
Jaffee did not return a message.