State Targets Bk. Landlord For Harassment
A state agency subpoenaed the owners of 10 Bushwick, Greenpoint and East Williamsburg apartment houses last week over allegations that they harassed rent-regulated tenants in attempting to evict them-even going as far as to have the apartments decimated with sledgehammers.
The Tenant Protection Unit (TPU), overseen by New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), ordered JBI Management and its principal owners, Joel and Aaron Israel, to respond to the accusations made by tenants in recent months.
The renters reportedly claimed JBI Management sent crews to the apartments under the premise of conducting renovations. But after the tenants let the crews into their homes, it is allegedly, the workers took sledgehammers to the kitchens and bathrooms, destroying stoves, sinks and bathtubs.
With their apartments rendered uninhabitable from the damage, the tenants were forced to either live in squalor or seek shelter elsewhere. In one instance, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, families with young children and seniors relocated to a homeless shelter during the winter.
Other forms of intimidiation and harassment occurred at the buildings, according to the Governor’s office, including tenants being unlawfully locked out of their units.
One of the 10 buildings owned by JBI Management includes 98 Linden St. in Bushwick, where a partial vacate order and a stop work order were issued in February by the city Department of Buildings (DOB). The orders were issued due to exposed “wood joists” in the premises and illegal demolition work.
The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) catalogued 20 different complaints at 98 Linden St. dating back to Feb. 27, including raw sewage in the basement, no heat or hot water in the building, a collapsed bedroom fire escape, lack of any kind of water supply in an apartment and a collapsing ceiling.
Since last year, the HPD noted, there are 85 open violations against the owners for problems including failing to provide adequate water and natural gas, a defective fire escape and failing to replace missing bathtubs and kitchen sinks.
Astop work order was also issued by the DOB for another JBI Management building in Bushwick, 324 Central Ave. The agency’s Emergency Response Team issued the order in February after responding to a complaint for interior demolition work performed without a permit.
Similar complaints were reported at four other Bushwick apartment houses owned by JBI Management: 36 Ditmars St., 147 Bleecker St., 332 Central Ave. and 386 Woodbine St. The company also owns 15 Humboldt St. and 43 Bushwick Ave. in East Williamsburg and 300 Nassau Ave. in Greenpoint.
The problems came to light after tenants and their attorneys reported the conditions to local elected officials, city and state agencies and tenants’ rights groups.
“It is not only unconscionable, but it is flat out illegal, for any landlord to subject families to living without running water or a functioning bathroom or kitchen,” Cuomo said. “We created the Tenant Protection Unit two years ago to protect rentregulated tenants against this type of egregious harassment, clearly intended to drive tenants from their apartments. Today, we are sending a clear message that this type of behavior will not be tolerated and that we will fight to keep New York families protected and safe.”
“This is obviously not the way that responsible landlords renovate apartments: these apartments were trashed, without consideration for structural integrity or the safety and security of the tenants,” said HCR Commissioner Darryl Towns. “While we know that most landlords are committed to following the law, we must take action against those who would brazenly flout it.”
“The de Blasio administration takes these actions very seriously,” added city HPD Commissioner Vicki Been, “and HPD has been aggressively working with the local elected officials, fellow city agencies and the tenants’ attorneys to hold [JBI Management] accountable for [its] actions.”
“Many of these buildings are in my district and I take these allegations very seriously,” said State Sen. Martin Malavé Dilan, who proposed state legislation barring landlords from deliberately damaging or destroying rent-regulated apartments. “Landlords need to understand that they cannot come into this community and push out long-term, hardworking tenants to unlawfully profit.”
Pending the ongoing investigation, the HCR’s Office of Rent Administration issued “$1 rent orders” to the tenants at the 10 buildings, lowering their monthly charges to $1 until the owners remediate the conditions.
