And you thought your landlord was bad at fixing things

Photo via scottclarkphotography.net

You think getting your landlord or super to fix shit in your apartment is hard now? Try having to go through the bank! Gotham Gazette recently reported that many New Yorkers – including Park Slopers – are being forced to do just that.

An estimated 30,000 New Yorkers were forced to put their property in foreclosure when the housing bubble burst a few years back. Many of those foreclosures were on rental buildings, meaning that tenants were left with no one to turn to when the light fixture broke in the hallway or the roof started leaking.

So tenants have started taking action. In May, six tenants of a rent-controlled building located on 5th Ave in the center of the Slope filed a motion to force the New York Community Bank to put up the money to fix the needed repairs. Just how bad is it? Well, the 109 outstanding housing code violations range from broken lights and windows, cracked floor tiles, crumbling plaster, mold, inadequate lighting near the front entryway, mice, mold, broken locks on the front door, and all sorts of other shit that I’m sure I can’t even imagine.

It’s been over four months since the motion was filed, and still nothing has happened. Oh, and if you’re curious, the former owner of the building – 294 5th Ave Associates LLC – was just ranked second on the list of the city’s worst landlords from Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. Congratulations guys! Thanks for ruining lives!

All of this has made me realize one thing: I complain far too much about my landlord. That wobbly banister can wait!

The Gotham Gazette piece has the full scoop on how this all went down. It’s a lot of legal mumbo jumbo that I don’t really understand. But anyone out there have stories of their own regarding this very thing? Anyone rent from 294 5th Ave Associates LLC? We want to hear about it! Hit the comments section!