Washington ? Rep. Charles Rangel paid no mortgage interest on a beach resort property for more than 10 years, a lawyer for the powerful House committee chairman said Friday.

The New York congressman’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, said Rangel got his no-interest deal for the villa in the Dominican Republic because he was an original buyer in the resort development, and in the early days after Rangel’s 1987 purchase the rental income it generated failed to meet expectations.

Davis said Rangel did not know until very recently he had not been charged interest for more than a decade.

“Mr. Rangel received no special preference,” Davis said.

The Democratic chairman of the Ways and Means tax-writing committee has come under scrutiny for his vacation property and apartments he rents in his home district of Harlem.