Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Jackson Heights tenants sue landlord over rats, roaches and black mold
By
Walter Wuthmann
Published Nov 22, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Google Street View
By
Walter Wuthmann
Published Nov 22, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Rat urine and feces scattered across an infant’s crib. Plumes of black mold blooming over bathroom ceilings. Cockroaches crawling up the drains.
These are just a few of the hundreds of complaints contained in a half-dozen lawsuits filed against La Mesa Verde apartments in Jackson Heights. A group of 75 tenants are collectively suing the landlord, A&E Real Estate, to try to force repairs.
“They don't care what we're living through. They don't care what we're experiencing. They just want to charge us rent,” said Diana Gaviria Muñoz, who’s lived at Mesa Verde since 2021.
Tenants rallying outside the Mesa Verde apartments in November, 2025.
Craig Birchfield, Mesa Verde tenants union
Muñoz said the mold and rat urine in her apartment is making her two young children sick. She said she’s moved them into her in-laws' basement while her husband stays and fights for repairs. “This isn’t right,” she said in an interview.
Muñoz and the other tenants argue A&E Real Estate’s systemic neglect of the buildings constitutes harassment and are demanding the company address open code violations, pay outstanding fines to the city and recoup the tenants’ legal costs.
City data shows there are currently about 1,450 open violations at La Mesa Verde, a rent-stabilized apartment building with more than 300 units.
A&E Real Estate is one of the largest landlords in the city, with a portfolio of nearly 180 buildings, representing nearly 16,000 apartments. Its founder is also a major political donor: A&E Executive Chair Douglas Eisenberg gave a super PAC supporting former Gov. Andrew Cuomo $125,000 during the recent mayoral election.
The ceiling over the shower in one Mesa Verde apartment November 2025.
Melanie Castro, Mesa Verde Tenants Union
In a statement, a representative for A&E Real Estate said the company has cleared more than 1,000 violations since taking over the property in 2016.
“It’s night and day compared to what it was a decade ago, but that doesn’t mean we still don’t face challenges with some of its older systems,” the statement reads. “We’re working hard to continue improving the property but for some of these underlying issues, there are no quick fixes.”
In the meantime, tenants say they’re left in conditions that are squalid and unsafe.
José Luis Rico, 53, said there’s a cockroach infestation in his sixth-floor apartment. No matter how many poison traps he lays out, they just keep coming back, he said.
“The pipes, I can see them coming up inside the pipes,” he said. “In the night, when you turn on the light, you can see the roaches.”
Elena Martínez, 70, said she has to carry her laundry and groceries up and down six flights of stairs because the elevators have been out since March.
A dead rat found in one Mesa Verde apartment in June.
Courtesy, Mesa Verde Tenants Union
“It’s very painful,” she said in an interview. “My shoulders hurt and I can’t sleep at night.”
Martínez said she gets no response from the management company when she reaches out to complain. “We call and they don’t answer,” she said.
In the statement to Gothamist, a representative from A&E Real Estate said the company had recently hired a repair company, and one of the two broken elevators will be back online Monday.
The other elevator needs a $400,000 rehab and several months of work, according to A&E Real Estate.
The tenants’ attorneys are due back in Queens housing court on Dec. 3.
“We hope to God that the judge will support us,” Martínez said. “Because we really need an elevator and we really need the apartments fixed so we can live with dignity.”
Tagged
housing
jackson heights
queens
Walter Wuthmann
Walter Wuthmann is a reporter covering public safety and the legal system.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Judge temporarily halts overnight construction at NYC’s Chinatown jail
The order comes after Chinatown residents sued the city over noise, health concerns and years of planned after-hours construction.
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Oct 26, 2026 at 7:08 p.m. ET
Pressure grows on Mamdani to reform admissions to NYC specialized high schools
A former top-school official will join councilmembers and other prominent educators at an event focused on specialized high schools.
By
Elizabeth Kim
News
Pressure grows on Mamdani to reform admissions to NYC specialized high schools
A former top-school official will join councilmembers and other prominent educators at an event focused on specialized high schools.
By
Elizabeth Kim
Police search for man in Central Park sexual assault
By
Charles Lane
Rockefeller Center's 2026 Christmas tree is a 76-foot spruce from Upstate New York
By
Giulia Heyward
‘A killer cop lives here’: Brooklyn arrests raise questions about limits of free speech
By
Ben Feuerherd
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .