Emily Ratajkowksi and her millionaire filmmaker husband have been avoiding paying rent on a New York City loft due to an obscure law, their landlord claims.

According to the New York Post, the model and her husband, producer Sebastian Bear-McClard, have a $5,000-a-month loft in NoHo, a trendy upper-class neighborhood in Manhattan.

But due to a loophole, the couple allegedly has been able to avoid paying rent for the apartment at 49 Bleecker Street since 2017 and owe about $120,000.

A landlord claims model Emily Ratajkowski and her husband Sebastian Bear-McClard (pictured together, March 2018) have a loft in New York City's Noho neighborhood that costs $5,000-a-month in rent

The loft at 49 Bleecker Street is in NoHo, a trendy upper-class neighborhood in Manhattan

The Post reports that, according to court documents, Bear-McClard, 31, and Ratajkowski, 27, sublet the 1,100 square-foot apartment on the second floor last year.

The lease expired in 2017, but Bear-McClard has failed to pay rent since, lease holder Antoni Ghosh allegedly said in Manhattan Civil Court.

This is due to a 1982 state law that protects tenants in New York City who are illegally living in commercial or factory buildings.

In the 1970s, Noho - and the nearby neighborhood Soho - were considered among the last places in New York City for struggling artists.

According to CityRealty, renters worried that, as expensive gallerists infiltrated, rent prices would spike and they'd be forced out.

The law was partially made to protect struggling artists living in these units so they wouldn't be evicted.

The lease expired in 2017 and the landlord claims the couple (left in March 2018 and right in February 2019) has not paid rent since - the equivalent of about $120,000. They are protected by a 1982 law, originally enacted to help struggling artists not be forced out of their lofts

Landlords are unable to force tenants out if the building doesn't have a residential certificate of occupancy and landlords were required to bring converted residences up to code.

The building at 49 Bleecker doesn't have a certificate of occupancy.

According to Superbhub, Bear-McClard has a net worth of $11million while his wife has a net worth of roughly $6million.

'Here is a prime example, in prime NYC real estate, where an uber-wealthy celebrity couple and tenant can take advantage and exploit a law that was intended for truly struggling artists and low-income families in need of affordable housing,' Carolyn Daly, spokeswoman for a coalition of loft building owners that includes 49 Bleecker, told the New York Post.

Ghosh's attorney Michael Kozek said his client is seeking to evict the couple.

'Mr McClard is fighting to save his home, which he has lived in for years,' Kozek told the Post.

'He's an artist. Born and raised New Yorker and a child of artists who themselves fought to save their homes, including under the Loft Law.'

Originally the loft served as the art studio of oil painter Joanne Corneau, who vacated in the 1990s, according to the Post.