By Adam Pincus
Queens activists named George Subraj, a principal owner of Jamaica Seven LLC of Jamaica, as an “abusive” landlord for allegedly harassing renters to raise rents in some of his more than two dozen buildings in Queens.About 250 tenants and activists met at the Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village Tuesday.Alejandra Munoz, who has lived for 16 years in her 112-unit building on 149th Street in Jamaica, said it has gone downhill since Subraj bought the building in 2001. Her charges could not be independently verified.She claimed he was filing frivolous lawsuits in Queens Housing Court in an effort to get her to move out.”He took me to court for rent I did not owe,” the factory worker originally from Mexico said. She shares the one-bedroom apartment with her husband and cousins, paying $1,074 in rent. She added that she has seen a heavy turnover in recent years. She attributed part of that to his asking tenants to show a green card to renew their lease, something many families living in Queens do not have.Subraj vigorously disputed her charges which he characterized as baseless in a written response Tuesday.Munoz was being sued in Housing Court for paying her rent with a check that bounced, he said. He added that she filed two complaints with the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal that were rejected.Subraj said it was the company policy to mail lease renewals three to four months before the lease expired.Syed Hassan, a spokesman for Subraj, said the owner sought to follow city and state laws regulating housing. “We don't want those not legally in the country,” Hassan said, because of immigration raids several years ago.Subraj owns 26 buildings in Queens, mostly in Jamaica, and has allegedly changed tenants' mailboxes and then requested a federal, state or city identification in order for the resident to pick up the new key, knowing that many residents may be undocumented and not have such papers, tenants charged. In his response, Subraj said that the old mailboxes were replaced by new ones, and that the company accepted foreign passports for identification as well as domestic IDs.Housing advocate Michelle de la Uz, executive director of the Fifth Avenue Committee in Manhattan, said the 12 landlords' methods are leading to a loss of affordable housing in the city.”Harassment is a fundamental part of what is going on in New York City, ” she told the crowd.Landlords are becoming more aggressive in pushing long-time residents out because they can get more rent each time a new tenant moves in, the advocates charged. Some 10,000 apartments become de-regulated each year, de la Uz said. Landlords also buy buildings with the intent of forcing out tenants paying below-market rents and making the building more profitable with new residents paying higher rents, they said.The organizers are seeking legislation that would allow tenants to use harassment as a defense in Housing Court.The event was organized by the Forest Hills Community House in Jackson Heights, Centro Hispano Cuzcatlan of Jamaica, the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development of Manhattan, and other groups.Reach reporter Adam Pincus by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
