The AP cited three Queens buildings that the company bought in 2015, for example, inheriting as many as 94 rent-protected units. The company allegedly hid all of them from the city's Department of Buildings when it applied for construction permits. Most of those tenants had moved out two years later, when the company sold the three buildings for $US60 million ($75 million)  - "nearly 50 per cent more than it paid," the AP wrote.

One of the few tenants who didn't leave, a postal worker, told the AP that he hired a lawyer after Kushner's company tried to raise his rent by 60 per cent - from $US2350 to $US3750. His rent was restored once he realised he was protected, he said, but most of his neighbours just left.

In another building where false paperwork was filed, the AP wrote, residents complained of late-night construction, sawdust and building materials in the hallways, rat infestations - and, in one case, a knock on the door offering a $US10,000  payoff if the tenant would vacate.

Kushner Cos said in a statement that it had outsourced the paperwork in question to a third-party company.

"If any forms were filed that contained ministerial errors, it was unintentional and corrected as soon as found ... Regarding the specific buildings mentioned, all identified issues were resolved or are in the process of being resolved expeditiously."

Without offering details, the company suggested that it made the city aware of its protected tenants in "simultaneous filings" and had no financial incentive to mislead anyone.

The AP, by contrast, reported that Kushner Cos corrected dozens of city forms a year or more after they were filed. This apparently is a common practice among New York landlords, who often go unpunished for what is technically a misdemeanour carrying fines of up to $US25,000.

"It's barefaced greed," said Aaron Carr, founder of a tenants' rights watchdog that tipped the AP off to the allegedly false paperwork. A New York City Council member said he planned to open an investigation into the matter.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Kushner, whose signature was not on any of the documents in question.

In many ways, the case echoes accusations made against Kushner's father-in-law, Trump, in an infamous case from the 1980s.

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When he was a young New York real estate dealer, Trump once bought an old apartment building near Central Park. He planned to rebuild it as a high-rent tower, but many longtime residents refused to move out.

Trump was accused of hiring a third-party manager that made life in the building a living hell over the following years - covering windows with tin and going so far as to forbid a Christmas tree in the lobby. Trump even threatened to house homeless people in the building if residents wouldn't leave.

But that scandal occurred decades before Trump entered politics. Kushner's troubles, on the other hand, are hitting as he serves Trump in one of the White House's most powerful roles - and the new rental accusations are not his first.

Although he no longer leads Kushner Cos, his financial history has come up in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into whether Trump's presidential campaign illegally worked with the Russian government.

Kushner has also been accused of meeting with potential foreign investors in the company during the presidential transition.

And federal intelligence agencies were so concerned by his family company's $US1.2 billion debt that they refused to grant him permanent security clearance, lest foreign governments try to manipulate him with his desire for cash.