Tenants Charge Dermot Company With Harassment
Although the Dermot Company is largely responsible for rehabilitating one of Brooklyn’s most iconic structures, hundreds of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill residents claim the firm is a big bully and a bad landlord. Last night the Pratt Area Community Council (PACC) held a meeting for tenants of Dermot buildings who say the One Hanson…
Although the Dermot Company is largely responsible for rehabilitating one of Brooklyn’s most iconic structures, hundreds of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill residents claim the firm is a big bully and a bad landlord. Last night the Pratt Area Community Council (PACC) held a meeting for tenants of Dermot buildings who say the One Hanson developer is harassing them in an a concerted effort to get them out of their rent-stabilized apartments.
Over the past year or so Dermot has purchased a number of rent-stabilized apartment buildings in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, including 25 and 99 Lafayette Avenue, 266 Washington Avenue, 260 and 262 St. James Place (above), and 311 Lincoln Place. According to tenants who spoke at the meeting last night, Dermot has been slacking off on building repairs, offering tenants buyouts for their apartments, taking renters to court in order to try to boot them from their homes, and generally ignoring residents’ complaints. This is our home, and we’re not going anywhere, said a tenant who’s lived at 266 Washington Avenue for 41 years. PACC executive director Deb Howard called what was happening to tenants the new face of displacement, by a private equity company. Several politicians—Council Member Letitia James, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, and State Senator Velmanette Montgomery—also spoke in support of Dermot’s tenants. This is a very scary issue, said Montgomery. We are not about to lie down quietly and let this happen. Dermot released a statement in response to the tenant charges saying the firm has already spent more than $1.5 million in repairing the buildings (many of which had significant housing code violations when Dermot acquired them) and that the harassment charges are bogus. Dermot has only taken legal action against tenants that have failed to pay rent for at least two months or with evidence that the tenant of record does not live in the apartment, said the statement.
BAM! Dermot Strikes Again [Brownstoner]
Dermot Plans High-Rise Rental Near BAM [Brownstoner]
266 Washington Goes for $20 Million [Brownstoner]
PACC and Dermott are both slum landlords fighting over turf. PACC has the fascade of being a community development agency. Check it out. I live in 277 Gates which won an award from Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce last year. Unfortunately they did not check inside, which would have been easy because our front hasn’t securely locked for 3 years, all 35 units have peeling paint, we did not have heat for 2 years, and they are harassing one of the 1st residents, at 70 years, vision impaired in damaged apartment that they never seem able to repair.
TO THE TENANTS DO SOME SERIOUS HOMEWORK BEFORE YOU MAKE PACC YOUR LANDLORD. DON’T JUMP FROM THE SKILLET TO THE FIRE.
To Montrose Morris…re “I beg to differ on Tish James’ involvement in everyday issues. I think she has a fine record of standing for her constituents, those who are usually voiceless, as well as those who have much, much more.”
I hate to say it, and in light of the negtive turn this blog has taken, but you need to do your homework on Tish James’ record. As a former tenant (296 Lafayette Avenue) of this ineffective city councilwoman, the scary truth is that she did the same thing to us as tenants. We paid her exhorbitant rent on time, each and every month, whilst she neglected every single needed repair on her run down brownstone (I have the pictures to prove, puddles of water and all!) then kicked us out for reasons still unknown to us. What is scary is the hypocrisy she displays, but I should not be surprised, she is a true politician – pretending to care for the little man, showing up at rallies, yet ineffective in every single way with her post.
Camille Hyatt
Excuse me, 1:14, but that was not the intent of my post. If I had a tenant who had a catastrophic illness, I might cut them some slack if they fell behind. I did not say that let them off the hook. We’d have to work something out. It was rhetorical, anyway. My landlord and I are in complete agreement here, as that is me.
But don’t even attempt to imply that someone’s lack of health insurance means anything here, in terms of affording an apartment, because there are plenty of people gainfully employed who don’t have any, or have minimal insurance that is not going to cut a check to the landlord while you are laying up sick. None of the health insurance policies I had at any job I ever had offered that provision. Isn’t that what AFLAC does, which is a separate policy?
“Yes PS 56 asshole the same school you send your kids to. But I have a PHD STREET ED. Guess what asshole I will be here and you will be gone.”
Good grief, The What, I haven’t given you a grammar lesson in a long time, but it pains me to see a grown man make errors that would shame most fourth graders. Hence, I submit a correction:
“Yes, [comma] PS 56, [comma] asshole, [comma] the same school to which you send your kids [note the placement of the word “to”]. Still, [word substitution, plus comma] I have a PhD [note the mix of upper and lower case letters] in [word addition] STREET ED. Guess what, [comma] asshole? [question mark] I will be here and you will be gone.”
See? That’s not so bad, is it? Even graduates of PS 56 can learn to write properly. Now, please, study harder so that I don’t have to waste so much time correcting your execrable [consult a dictionary] writing.
For the record, I have no children, and, for the sake of humanity, I hope you don’t, either.
“You know the 8 family over the Laundromat on Fulton St. The owner have kept that building in disrepair for years. There are some people who live in that building and their lifes are a hellhole because of greedy fucking people!”
You know, the “8 family” could just move to another building. I mean, why stay in a place where the landlord doesn’t make repairs?
“The What – as with all extremists your rhetoric drowns out any salient points that you have.”
You miss the point, I tried to be nice. That didn’t work so I’m on some high octane shit. The point that have been made will come true.
“No the world is not coming to an end”
But the world as we know it will.
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…..
The What – as with all extremists your rhetoric drowns out any salient points that you have.
Yes the economy is up shits creek
Yes rampant speculation and ridiculous lending practices helped get us here
Yes NYC/Brooklyn is not immune to the effects of all this
No there is no relevance between an 8 family in disrepair on Fulton and this building – and there is no “they”
No LL who operate within the law and end up raising rents are not greedy “fuckers”, they are honest people doing EXACTLY what the (pro-tenant) Rent stabilization laws were designed to do – provide good housing at reasonable costs along with reasonable return on investment.
But you are right – I have no idea about the capitalization of Dermont
No the world is not coming to an end
“The What may have a job, but he obviously never had a decent education.
The What, your 12:44 post contains one of your classic grammatical errors: “We was amazed…” The correct phrasing is “We WERE amazed…”
Tsk, tsk, tsk. You must be a product of NYC public schools.”
Yes PS 56 asshole the same school you send your kids to. But I have a PHD STREET ED. Guess what asshole I will be here and you will be gone.
The What
Someday this war is gonna end….
Thank you 1:19. A very sane post
Hey tWhat, get back on your meds and stop watching porn. It is effecting your ability to interact with the outside world in a sane and rational manner.