Queens Tenants Take Landlord to Court for Refusing to Fix Dangerous Living Conditions in Far Rockaway Building

November 18, 2019, Queens, NY – Today, more than a dozen rent-stabilized tenants of 14-15 Mott Avenue in Far Rockaway, Queens asked Queen Housing Court to force their landlords to fix dangerous and deplorable living conditions that have plagued their building for years.

Despite several meetings and letters urging landlords to fix the hazardous conditions, Neighborhood Restore HDFC and Concord Management of NY LLC have yet to make the necessary repairs or inform tenants of their intention to do so. There are currently 573 open building violations, including leaking ceilings, holes in the walls and ceilings, rats, roaches, and bedbug infestations, excessive mold, broken windows and door locks, and an elevator that has been broken for three years putting elderly and disabled tenants at risk.

“These conditions are deplorable,” said Janith, a tenant in the building for the past 29 years. “My 80 year old mother has not been able to visit me for the last three years because of the broken elevator.. I’m also worried about winter. Last year it was freezing because the radiator in my bedroom doesn’t work and my windows are cracked and don’t stay up all the way, which makes it very drafty. We were promised repairs would be made ASAP but a year later it’s the same thing. We’re done waiting. They need to make these repairs now.”

“The lack of repairs in this building is devastating,” said Steven Richards, tenant association president and tenant in the building for the last 20 years. “The landlords say they’re going to make repairs but then they don’t. People are miserable. The elevator has been out for years and we have elderly folks in the building who use canes who have a really hard time getting up and down the stairs. I found one elderly tenant stuck between floors huffing and puffing unable to climb any further. People are sick of it. We can’t even get the little things done. It’s time for management to step up once and for all and make these repairs.”

[SEE PICTURES OF BUILDING CONDITIONS HERE]

The building passed into the City’s Third Party Transfer program in September 2018, but so far, landlords Neighborhood Restore HDFC and Concord Management of NY LLC have yet to make all the needed repairs, despite multiple meetings and letters from the tenant association urging them to fix hazardous conditions.

Tenants, including elderly tenants and tenants with disabilities, and their families have been living without an elevator for the last three years, putting their health and safety at risk when they are forced to climb the stairs to get in and out of the building. For years, the building has been plagued by incessant leaks, growing mold, holes in the ceilings and floors, broken windows, warped floors, rat, mice, roach and bedbug infestations. Additionally, the lock on the front building door has been broken for the last 20 years.

Tenants reached out to Queens Legal Services, who filed a Housing Part case on their behalf in early November 2019. Today, tenants attended the first court hearing in the case to ask the court to force the landlords to make the necessary repairs.

“These tenants have tried time and time again to work with their landlord to fix these deplorable conditions once and for all, but so far, their complaints have fallen on deaf ears,” said Alex Jacobs, a staff attorney at Queens Legal Services’ Tenant Rights Coalition which is representing the tenants. “These tenants pay their rent just like everyone else. There’s no reason why their health and safety is put at risk. They deserve better than this and we will not stop fighting until they get justice.”
 
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About Queens Legal Services’ Tenant Rights Coalition

Queens Legal Service’s Tenant Rights Coalition, a program of Legal Services NYC, provides legal and advocacy services to tenants in Queens, assisting thousands of tenants to fight evictions, address bad housing conditions, and force scofflaw landlords to comply with the law. Queens Legal Services’ Tenant Rights Coalition’s work is funded by NYC Human Resources Administration’s Anti-Harassment and Tenant Protection program.