Pay up, then get out

AFTER years of documenting the travails of New Yorkers searching for their dream apartment, it seems Joyce Cohen has her own real estate struggles to contend with. Cohen, who writes the popular column the Hunt for the New York Times, which follows city dwellers as they look for homes, is being sued for $35,000 in back rent and costs by Amit and Jasmine Matta, who sublet their Upper West Side place to Cohen and her partner, Benjamin Meltzer. According to Business Insider, both the Mattas and Cohen were sued by the landlord in December for an illegal sublet. When the Mattas asked the couple to leave, they began haggling over the price of the $2,999-a-month unit and allegedly stopped paying rent. Cohen and Meltzer, who have a rare disease called hyperacusis that makes normal sounds seem extremely loud, have accused Jasmine of threatening to “come through the apartment with a bullhorn.” Amit denies this happened. Cohen declined to comment to Page Six.