Community Action for Safe Apartments watching for corporate landlords
Tuesday, July 15th 2008, 11:48 AM
The Bronx's real estate market is hot, but instead of worrying about gentrification, tenant advocates fear that private equity firms snapping up apartment buildings may become a new breed of slumlord.
Community Action for Safe Apartments is working with tenants in 19 of the estimated 277 buildings in the borough bought in recent years by private-equity-backed developers like Pinnacle, SG2, Ocelot, Normandy, Urban American Management and others.
The concern is that the only way to squeeze the high returns demanded by private equity firms from rent-regulated units is to force existing tenants out and rent the units at market rates.
Developers counter that the long-term profit prospects are also attractive.
Mayor Bloomberg recently signed Local Law 7, a new anti-harassment law giving tenants added protection from landlord pressure, so advocates are watching for tactics owners sometimes use to convince rent-regulated tenants to give up their leases, like eviction threats, contrived arrears charges, neglected repairs and high-pressure buyout offers.
Carla Brooks, a mother of five who has lived in a rent-controlled building at 1005 Walton Ave. for 12 years, and has a Section 8 rent subsidy, said she is being threatened with eviction over supposed arrears.
Chestnut Holdings, which owns the building, contends that her portion of the monthly rent nearly doubled starting in January.
But Brooks said she didn't receive her new lease until March, and even that only listed the total amount - part of which is paid by Section 8. It was only in April that she received a letter from the city telling her that her rent obligation had increased.
"Now, [Chestnut] says I owe them $1,500, and they're starting eviction proceedings," Brooks said.
Chestnut's lawyer, James Mantea, blamed the Section 8 bureaucracy for the delays and confusion, and said the court case was meant to pressure the city Housing Authority, which administers the Section 8 program.
"Sometimes, you have to have an active case pending to get Section 8 [administrators] to take action and make adjustments," Mantea said. "Ms. Brooks was never in danger of losing her apartment."
Brooks also complains that plumbing work has left her family of six without toilets or sinks for more than a month.
"The only running water we've had has been the bathtub," Brooks said.
Other tenants have complained gaping holes left by stalled plumbing work have led to rat infestations.
Mantea said the building-wide plumbing renovation is being held up by a few tenants refusing workers access to their apartments.
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