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hen Rezi, a rental startup, folded last year, its demise was largely overlooked. The platform claimed to lease vacant units faster than landlords could, but it ultimately failed to turn a profit and lost investor support.Now, a lawsuit suggests that Rezi's collapse may have been more complex than initially thought. According to court documents and a foreclosure complaint filed by New York Community Bank (NYCB), Rezi allegedly drained the rent-stabilized portfolio of Leagem Partners by taking excessive rents and driving the landlord to default on a $49 million loan."The revenue is key to understanding why the foreclosure filing happened in the first place," said Matthew Blum, an attorney representing Leagem. NYCB filed to foreclose on the loan after Leagem stopped making mortgage payments in April.The properties at stake include four rent-stabilized buildings in Manhattan and Queens. Typically, rent laws are blamed for revenue losses, but in this case, Rezi's alleged actions may have played a larger role.NYCB had previously struggled with rent-stabilized loan losses, which contributed to its decision to axe dividends earlier this year. The bank has since brought in new leadership promising to aggressively manage troubled loans.Rezi allegedly made a deal with Leagem to pay a minimum base rent for each apartment, regardless of the actual lease price. If Rezi collected more than the base rent, it kept the difference; if it leased the unit for less, it still had to pay Leagem the minimum. However, Rezi deposited the collected rents into accounts with lenders, using them to pay down or pay off its credit lines. Excess deposits went to Rezi as profits.When Rezi's credit lines were frozen, it continued to collect rents from tenants, including those in Leagem's properties. "Even after Rezi defaulted, tenants kept paying rent through the platform to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars that should have belonged to the landlord," Blum said.Leagem has sued one of Rezi's lenders, WebBank, to recoup the allegedly deposited funds. The search for Leagem's rents has become a complex and ongoing investigation.