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Thousands of tenants at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village will continue to pay lower rents at least until June.

The rent reduction is part of ongoing settlement talks between Tishman Speyer and a group of tenants who sued the developer for illegally raising rents. Last year, the state's highest court ruled in the tenants' favor and found the landlord should not have been charging market rates while still receiving a city tax credit. In addition to paying lower rents, the tenants will also get reimbursed for payments made to an escrow account in November and December. The payments equal the difference between their market rate and rent regulated rents.

Still at issue is whether Tishman will be liable for retroactive rent overpayments. Lawyers for tenants have said the large developer could owe as much as $200 million. Tishman recently walked away from the sprawling complex after defaulting on its loan.

Below is a joint statement from Tishman Speyer and lawyers for the tenants:

Joint Statement from current owners of ST/PCV and counsel for the plaintiffs
Representatives of the current owners of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village and counsel for the plaintiffs, Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP and Bernstein Liebhard LLP, agreed today to extend the interim agreement they reached last December to adjust rents in each apartment affected by the recent Court of Appeals decision in the Roberts litigation. Under the extended agreement, affected tenants will continue to pay the lower of either their lease rent or an estimated rent-stabilized rent through the month of June 2010. Each affected tenant will also continue to be afforded certain rights as if pursuant to the Rent Stabilization Law, including renewal and succession rights. In addition, the amounts that were deposited into the escrow account in connection with tenants' payments of their November and December 2009 rents will be fully reimbursed to the tenants, either by way of a corresponding reduction of current tenants' March 2010 rent bills or a refund check issued to former tenants who moved after paying their November and/or December rents. Finally, the owners have stipulated to permit the lawsuit to proceed as a class action. The parties expect that over the next few months the rents for the approximately 4,400 affected apartments will be calculated as if pursuant to the Rent Stabilization Law by an independent consultant, who has been selected but not yet formally retained.