Following the partial collapse of a Morris Heights building in December that displaced more than 100 residents, the building’s tenants, along with help from the Legal Aid Society, have filed a lawsuit against the landlords of the property to repair the building and allow displaced tenants to return to their homes.
The announcement of the lawsuit, which was filed against landlords David Kleiner, Yonah Roth, Mo Doe, 1915 Realty LLC, the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, was made Monday morning at 1915 Billingsley Terrace.
The poor conditions at the Billingsley Terrace residence, which has more than 230 housing violations, included an outage of cooking gas to the entire building, harmful construction dust in common areas and an overall lack of janitorial services, along with an infestation of cockroaches, rats and mice in common areas and inside individual apartments within the building.
Additionally, the landlords of 1915 Billingsley Terrace have also allegedly engaged in illegal behavior, harassing and endangering tenants, with their actions including forcing tenants to sign agreements that their apartments were fully repaired in exchange for receiving keys to their apartment units, despite the poor conditions, along with failing to provide adequate security for the building.
The tenants also reported that looters had gained access to their residential units and burglarized their homes, robbing them of their personal belongings following the collapse, despite the vacated units allegedly having been secured by one of the landlords.
Since the collapse, many of the displaced tenants have been living in homeless shelters for nearly two months since the partial collapse, resulting from a partial vacate order of the residents, according to Council Member Pierina Sanchez’s office.
“As a local representative, I am thankful for Legal Aid Society and other organizations’ ongoing support of our neighborhood,” Sanchez said. “As the Council’s chair of the Committee on Housing and Buildings, I am truly calling to question our city’s enforcement regimes and capacities, as we must do better at keeping New Yorkers safe within their homes,” Sanchez added.
Sanchez, whose office has fielded daily complaints of continued mistreatment from the landlords since the collapse, said that the hundreds of complaints over the years filed by residents mainly pertained to health and safety issues, such as leaks, mold and constant heating outages, along with structural issues as well as being coerced into signing likely illegal documents.
“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. “While the work is being done, the landlord and the city must ensure that families who have been allowed to return are not exposed to lead dust, mold and other toxins.”
Assembly Member Yudelka Tapia, who represents the Bronx neighborhoods of Morris Heights, University Heights, Mount Eden, Kingsbridge, Tremont and Fordham in District 86, is another supporter of the Legal Aid Society’s action against the landlords of 1915 Billingsley Terrace.
“The residents of 1915 Billingsley Terrace have suffered enough, including being robbed due to the lack of security at the building as well as being forced to live in homeless shelters,” Tapia said. “Tragedies like this are evidence that our neighborhoods need strong tenant protections to ensure access to safe and stable housing.”
According to Tapia, the Bronx has the most housing violations per building out of the five boroughs.
“It is critical that we continue to hold landlords and building owners accountable,” Tapia added.
Borough President Vanessa Gibson has also commended the Legal Aid Society for taking immediate action to hold the 1915 Billingsley Terrace landlords accountable for their inaction.
“Our residents and families have a fundamental right and expectation to live in safe and quality housing in our borough,” said Borough President Vanessa Gibson. “When that is not the case, we must take action to protect our Bronx tenants. Our tenants need to know that we will not tolerate negligent landlords in our borough and that their safety is our top priority.”
According to Sanchez’s office, the landlords had been informed that the facade of the building was “unsafe” and in violation of the law in 2014 or earlier.
Nearly 30 tenants from the Billingsley Avenue residence are involved in the lawsuit, according to the Legal Aid Society.
The lawsuit, staff attorney Kheyman says, is not about monetary gain for the residents.
“The lawsuit is not about money,” Kheyman said. “Our case is seeking an order to correct conditions which would force the owner to make repairs to lift the partial vacate (order), as well as repairs for the conditions in inside everyone’s homes and common areas.”
Kheyman added that the lawsuit is also alleging tenant harassment, which can sometimes lead to a monetary judgement, but said that the case is mostly about repairing the current conditions of the building.
According to the Legal Aid Society, there are five residents who are still displaced as a result of the December 11 incident.
On Dec. 15, four days after the partial collapse, Mayor Eric Adams and the DOB announced that the city had suspended professional engineer Richard Koenigsberg from his authority to inspect exterior walls of the city’s buildings to asses their condition, while looking to permanently revoke the aforementioned authority through the Office Administrative Trials and Hearings.
Editors note: This story was updated at 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 7 with updated information from the Legal Aid Society pertaining to the lawsuit.
Reach Steven Goodstein at sgoodstein@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260–8326. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
