Speak out Against Rotten Landlords This Week at "Tenant Harassment Hearings"
If you’ve got a landlord from hell, you’re invited to speak out tonight and Thursday at a pair of town hall meetings held by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and veteran civil rights attorney Norman Siegel. The goal of the “Tenant Harassment Hearings” goes beyond letting aggravated tenants vent — the idea is to identify…
If you’ve got a landlord from hell, you’re invited to speak out tonight and Thursday at a pair of town hall meetings held by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and veteran civil rights attorney Norman Siegel.
The goal of the “Tenant Harassment Hearings” goes beyond letting aggravated tenants vent — the idea is to identify Brooklyn’s worst landlords and spur criminal investigations and lawsuits.
“We’re not waiting for tenants to reach the end of their rope, we’re getting proactive,” said Adams in announcing the hearings last month. Adams — pictured above with Siegel (left) and tenant advocates — linked the hearings to the city’s affordable housing crunch, and noted that tenant harassment complaints in housing court have almost doubled since 2011.
Cases where criminality may be involved will be referred to the city’s Tenant Harassment Prevention Task Force; potential cases 0f civil liability will be reviewed for lawsuit potential by a legal team including Siegel.
The opportunity for mistreated tenants to speak out is welcomed by advocates like Katie Goldstein, the executive director of Tenants & Neighbors, who said in the statement from Adams’ office she hears daily about “rampant harassment” by “landlords who simply have one goal — to get rent-regulated tenants out of their homes so they can renovate the apartments and raise the rents.”
The first meeting is tonight at Brooklyn Borough Hall from 6 to 8 p.m.; the second is Thursday at All Saints Church, 115 Throop Avenue in Williamsburg. There will be a third later this month on July 26, at SUNY Downstate Medical Center at 450 Clarkson Avenue in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. For more info click here.
Photo by Kathryn Kirk, via the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office
To landlords of small buildings: If you don’t already, be sure to run THREE checks on a prospective tenant: credit, criminal, and litigation. Do NOT let a broker persuade you that all you need is a credit check. There are a number of websites that’ll run them for a reasonable fee (which can be billed to the applicant), such as amerusa.net and on-site.com. Someone with fine credit can still have a criminal record; and someone with decent credit and a clean criminal record can still have been evicted multiple times for nonpayment of rent. These checks are perfectly legal (you need the applicant’s consent and SS#) and well worth the peace of mind. I’ve never had a problem with a tenant who passed all three.
To landlords of small buildings: If you don’t already, be sure to run THREE checks on a prospective tenant: credit, criminal, and litigation. Do NOT let a broker persuade you that all you need is a credit check. There are a number of websites that’ll run them for a reasonable fee (which can be billed to the applicant), such as amerusa.net and on-site.com. Someone with fine credit can still have a criminal record; and someone with decent credit and a clean criminal record can still have been evicted multiple times for nonpayment of rent. These checks are perfectly legal (you need the applicant’s consent and SS#) and well worth the peace of mind. I’ve never had a problem with a tenant who passed all three.
How about a forum for landlords to speak out about Tenants from Hell? Believe me, they exist. In a lovely, well-cared-for three-family house, we’ve had to evict numerous tenants for failure to pay and for destructive activities.
Housing court should be split into divisions: large buildings and smaller multi-families. The system as is does not work, and everybody knows it.
How about a forum for landlords to speak out about Tenants from Hell? Believe me, they exist. In a lovely, well-cared-for three-family house, we’ve had to evict numerous tenants for failure to pay and for destructive activities.
Housing court should be split into divisions: large buildings and smaller multi-families. The system as is does not work, and everybody knows it.
The landlord of 441 Gates Avenue aka the Loui Armstrong Houses has to be the worst landlord. Let’s mount a petition to have him/her/arrested. It is a rat infested, poorly designed crumbling pos.
The Landlord is NYCHA
The landlord of 441 Gates Avenue aka the Loui Armstrong Houses has to be the worst landlord. Let’s mount a petition to have him/her/arrested. It is a rat infested, poorly designed crumbling pos.
The Landlord is NYCHA
Eric Adams is such a typical politician POS. You should have heard the BS he preached at the Bed Stuy Corcoran town hall. I’d be happy to join in on a tenant horror story meeting. Thank god BK has too much momentum for even a numb nuts like him to stop it.
Eric Adams is such a typical politician POS. You should have heard the BS he preached at the Bed Stuy Corcoran town hall. I’d be happy to join in on a tenant horror story meeting. Thank god BK has too much momentum for even a numb nuts like him to stop it.
I would like to speak out against the worst landlord in all of New York City – they are called NYCHA. Oh wait, that is the city. Attention elected officials – while you are pointing fingers at supposedly bad landlords, please take a look in the mirror.
also, is anyone doing a tenant horror stories meeting?