“The Intercom is useless here, it opens easily and anyone can enter. There is no security from the door,” says Verónica Arellano, an affected tenant.
But not only that, in this building the maintenance violations total 473. They have been ignoring tenants’ complaints for more than 10 years.
“The elevator also apparently works because it is on, but it is not closed, since August, it has been almost seven months, eight months since it has not worked. So it is very difficult to go up, buy or carry the laundry, everything is very difficult, more people older people too,” Arellano continues.
Between fines from the city’s housing department and the city’s finance department, the owners of the property owe $24 million. but the greatest debt is to the tenants, who have been left in oblivion and without any repair, this is what Carmela García’s bathroom looks like, a huge hole in the floor through which no leaks fall but rather a small waterfall, not to mention the shower faucets…None of them work.
Carmela García, affected tenant:
“The faucets are damaged from hot water and cold water. And they haven’t come to fix the supermarket until December, they say.”
To get the water out you must bend down and open the stopcock.
María Toussint is also one of those affected.
“I have a line on the bathroom ceiling, I am constantly afraid of it collapsing, I have the bathtub, it gets covered and the water comes out. Look at the apartment and the paint is in very poor condition,” says Toussint.
Indeed, the apartment is in terrible condition, but it has been months without a response even from the super, worse from the owners, for this reason, the legal aid society has filed a lawsuit against the owners of the building to repair the excessive damage. of 25 tenants whose controlled rents are paid on time. Many of the apartments have rodent and roach infestations.
“We have to have the traps there ready in case they enter, because it is even through the back that they are scratching and enter,” explains Verónica Arellano, an affected tenant.
Tenant advocates also ask that the city transfer ownership of the property to the tenants, for proper management of the building and to rectify the years of neglect.
“But the building is still in the hands of a negligent owner. In the Northwest Bronx, we want to convert that building into a cooperative, something that the tenants can have more decision-making power in their building,” explains Karen Báez, tenant organizer.
Until the closing of this report we did not receive a response from the owners of the property.
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