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]
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.
:11X RR is not excessive in the area these buildings are in”
Oh really, If that figure is chewing up your profit it is excessive.
“A well capitalized company like Dermont can see significant upside by investing (millions) in building-wide improvements as well as rehabs on vacated apartments.”
Basic MCI increases are 1/40 of improvements. I willing to bet there are serious DHCR violations in those buildings. Plus, how do you know they are “well capitalized “. These and (Other Fucks) borrowed money at cheep rates and now trying to fuck over anyone to get ROI.
” I am sure they arent running to evict anyone who actually is paying their rent. ”
Oh no??!!! They are trying to empty out the whole fucking building to do so. 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!
“As was said earlier – you can’t have everything – and yelling and screaming about it won’t change it.”
No but when not if the economy flatlines, I hope the people take up pitchforks and torches to these assholes. Take a good look, we are in fuckedland.
The What
Someday this war is gonna end….
“does the What have a job? does his employer know that he spends all day on brownstoner? or is he one of those guys at a Starbucks tapping away?”
Nope, I have your girlfriend gulping sperm juice in the crackhouse!
I know you love to kiss her.
11X RR is not excessive in the area these buildings are in, where the stab rents are so low and the buildings need extensive MCIs. A well capitalized company like Dermont can see significant upside by investing (millions) in building-wide improvements as well as rehabs on vacated apartments.
The reality is that they can make a very nice return without displacing anyone and given how expensive court is – I am sure they arent running to evict anyone who actually is paying their rent. The issue in these situations is generally that the old LL probably wasnt very aggressive about making people pay and plus the MCIs will result in large rent increases – both of which old time tenants resent.
The reality is however that the tenants can live in substandard housing, with tons of problems and saftey issues or they can have a responsible LL who improves the building but who (rightly) expects people to pay their rent and the GRADUAL increases that the law allows to balance the need for return-on-investment with the need to keep communities intact.
As was said earlier – you can’t have everything – and yelling and screaming about it won’t change it.
MontroseMorris are you suggesting having a catastrophic illness makes it ok to stiff your landlord? If you can’t afford insurance and rent, move someplace cheaper. Your landlord is not a welfare agency.
“Hey tWhat, how do you know how much the rent roll is? And are your 6x-8x numbers based on rent-stabilized units or free market?
Given your insane rants, it is hard to take anything you say with any level of seriousness.”
When the that building was for sale, All the Brokers in the area had the rent roll and expenses from the owner ASSFUCK!!!!!!! Thats how I know! When it sold for that price we was amazed. Plus everybody knew this was going to happen.
BTW the was 4 RENT CONTROLLED apartments in those buildings.
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…
The sale price was 2 million per building.
does the What have a job? does his employer know that he spends all day on brownstoner? or is he one of those guys at a Starbucks tapping away?
Hey tWhat, how do you know how much the rent roll is? And are your 6x-8x numbers based on rent-stabilized units or free market?
Given your insane rants, it is hard to take anything you say with any level of seriousness.
well, i hope James’ supporters are accurate and that the meeting will be rescheduled (as of right now, it has been “postponed indefinately”) because the Washington/Eastern Parkway intersection is a disaster waiting to happen (in fact, many small “disasters” do happen there routinely). And it’s particuarly bad on First Saturdays……
I hope it doens’t take a tragedy to get a meeting….
While I am a firm defender of tenant’s rights, I also tend to think there is truth on both sides, as per 9:20’s statement.
I have no problem with a landlord evicting tenants who don’t pay rent, especially when there is no good reason for not paying, such as catastrophic illness. Having been there, it still amazes me how people can look you in the face and get all indignant and loud when you tell them they have to go, after they are 4 months in arrears, and are doing nothing about it.
On the other hand, denying services and repairs to force rent stabilized people out is wrong.
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. It’s a juggling act that she manages well, and crime and housing are the largest parts of her platform. No, I am not on her staff, I just think she is very good at what she does.