NEW YORK CITY — Tenants of a Bronx apartment building that partially collapsed cannot return home because landlords are dragging their feet on vital fixes, according to a new lawsuit.
More than 130 housing violations at 1915 Billingsley Terrace need immediate repairs before displaced tenants — many of whom are living in homeless shelters — so officials can lift a partial vacate order and tenants can return home, the lawsuit filed Monday by advocates for The Legal Aid Society against the landlord and the city contends.
The lawsuit details accusations that landlords knew of unsafe facade conditions before the December collapse, and carried on a harassment campaign afterward in which they forced tenants to sign agreements stating their apartments were fixed despite remaining “deplorable.”
“Since the partial collapse and as residents have begun to reoccupy their homes, my team has fielded daily complaints of continued mistreatment from the landlords: from being coerced to sign likely illegal documents, to experiencing ongoing apartment deficiencies,” said Council Member Pierina Sanchez, in a statement.
David Kleiner and Yonah Roth, who are listed as the buildings’ owners in the lawsuit, couldn’t be reached for comment.
The catastrophic partial collapse Dec. 11 left a gaping hole in the seven-story building’s side, but, miraculously, unfolded with no one being seriously injured.
City officials afterward suspended a professional engineer who had misdiagnosed a structural column as decorative.
But the lawsuit contends that the building’s owners knew since at least 2014 that there were potentially dangerous problems brewing.
“Respondents are seasoned landlords who knew or should have known that the unsafe exterior wall conditions, left unabated, could lead to catastrophic consequences for their residents,” the lawsuit states.
And building tenants have returned to find numerous problems inside their apartments, from lack of heat to lead paint to pest infestations, the lawsuit states.
Some tenants discovered that their apartments were looted of belongings after the collapse, which the lawsuit contends stemmed from landlords failing to provide security.
“Landlords must make immediate repairs so that the City can lift the partial vacate order and the tenants can return home,” said Zoe Kheyman, staff attorney for Legal Aid’s civil practice, in a statement.
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“While the work is being done the landlord and the city must ensure that the families who have been allowed to return are not exposed to lead dust, mold and other toxins.”
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