Arlene Moskowitz’s landlord-tenant dispute has been years shaping up as the housing section division of the Queens County Civil Court is woefully understaffed, her son Howie claims.
But for upwards of about five years, Moskowitz’s status in her rent controlled apartment in Rego Park where she has lived since the early eighties has fallen into disrepair. Her son claims her landlord is attempting to force her out and destabilize the unit.
According to the city Department of Finance, the owner of the co-op unit is Mew Hills LLC, a corporation operated by David and Amy Weber, which acquired the unit in 2002.
Moskowitz has been attempting to square things with the landlord in housing court, but with understaffed windows for deliberations to be made orders to Housing Preservation and Development have a tendency to fall through the cracks.
HPD was a no-show after a recent request for the city agency by the courts to reinspect her 99th Street and 64th Avenue apartment, to which Moskowitz was told HPD did not receive any form of notification from the courts.
“For my mom to pick up at 83, it’s not right and it’s not legal,” Moskowitz said. “My mom lives in daily fear [the landlord] has compromised her health.”
In 2017, a recently repaired piece of drywall above the toilet in the apartment fell, fortunately not causing any injury, according to Moskowitz.
Moskowitz also says the landlord has not been providing receipts that his mothers rent has been paid and claims she is behind on payments.
Recently, the mother-son team have filed a Freedom of Information request with the city Department of Finance seeking tax records on the property. A 2013 letter from the DOF looking to verify that the residence was the Weber’s primary address in order to continue providing a tax abatement went unanswered by the owners.
Since August 2018, Arlene’s apartment has racked up 24 violations on the HPD website mostly pertaining to the state of the walls pests among other defective features.
Attempts to reach the landlord were unsuccessful.
