Inwood Tenants Sue Landlord Over Dangerous Living Conditions

INWOOD, NY — Tenants of two Inwood buildings on Vermilyea Avenue are taking their landlords to court after years of neglect have led to deteriorating and dangerous living conditions in their homes. Ten residents of 61 and 71 Vermilyea Ave. filed suit against Doran Realty Corporation, demanding the landlords fix the hazardous conditions in their buildings.

The lawsuit — filed by Manhattan Legal Services on behalf of the the building's residents — claims that Doran Realty Corporation and its managers refuse to adequately repair dangerous living conditions in the buildings such as crumbling walls and ceilings, holes in apartment floors, broken windows and leaking pipes. Furthermore, the buildings have become infested by mice and roaches and only have working heat and hot water during the afternoon, the lawsuit claims.

"I go through the same process with the landlord each time the ceiling leaks," Ysabel Lara, a resident of 71 Vermilyea Ave. for 40 years, said in a statement. “I will inform the landlord that there is a leak in the ceiling, he sends over the super or other workers to plaster and paint over the leak, which only temporarily stops the problem. Soon after the problem is repaired, the leaks start again."

Lara said that the leaks have caused her ceiling to collapse on two occasions, after the landlord had supposedly repaired the problem.

The two Vermilyea Avenue buildings — located between Academy and West 240th streets — contain a combined 65 apartment units, most of which are rent-stabilized, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that there are currently 100 Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) violations at the building, 23 of which are considered immediately hazardous "class C" violations.

The lawsuit includes six demands:

1. To correct all existing violations in the buildings and any conditions that may constitute a violation under the multiple dwellings law, housing maintenance codes, building codes, fire codes and various other city codes;
2. For HPD to issue an immediately hazardous "class C" violation for harrasment;
3. To issue an order forcing the landlords to issue a weekly update on building repair plans to the tenants, HPD and the court;
4. To imposing civil penalties on the landlords of no less than amount required by NY administrative codes;
5. To award reasonable legal fees to Manhattan Legal Services in an amount to be determined by the court;
6. To award any further relief as deemed just and proper by the court.

The lawsuit was filed in city housing court. The building's tenants first approached Manhattan Legal Services at an Inwood housing resource fair, said Rita Vega, a law graduate at Manhattan Legal Services.

"We had a tenant meeting in the building sometime in November 2016 to speak to tenants about conditions in their apartments. Many tenants complained about the landlord’s unresponsiveness to their requests for repairs," Vega said in a statement. "We explained that this behavior was a form of harassment by landlords who are trying to clear out long-term rent stabilized tenants from rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods. We are filing this [lawsuit] on behalf of the tenants in order to ensure that their voices are heard and they receive the repairs they deserve."

See the full lawsuit filed on behalf on the tenants of 61 and 71 Vermilyea Ave. below:

Photos courtesy of Manhattan Legal Services