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2 years after fire, Sunset Park tenants return home to frigid, remodeled apartments
By
David Brand
Published Dec 4, 2023
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By
David Brand
Published Dec 4, 2023
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A group of Sunset Park tenants can finally return home two years after a fire forced them out and their landlords dramatically reshaped their rent-stabilized apartments, according to a judge and the city’s buildings department.
But there’s still a big problem: Their homes lack heat or gas.
The utility shut-off is the latest setback for five families who first sued to get back into their rent-stabilized apartments on 43rd Street in December 2021, about two months after a first-floor fire forced them to leave the four-story walkup, Gothamist reported last year. Since then, court records show the landlords have repeatedly ignored judge’s rulings, completely reconstructed their apartments and even started renting units out to new occupants in spite of a vacate order and the existing tenants’ leases.
The tenants and their lawyers say the episode reveals the glacial pace of restoration for renters made homeless by fire or other disasters — and a lack of enforcement against landlords who may try to exploit those situations to revamp rent-stabilized units and displace tenants.
“They're just making it harder and harder and harder for us to get back,” said Leonel Gomez, a limo driver who first moved into his fourth-floor apartment 35 years ago. “This is home, and as small as it might be, this is what I know, this is what I like, and this is where we belong.”
Property owners rarely face criminal penalties, or even hefty fines, for failing to address unsafe conditions or flouting court orders. So far, the people affiliated with the limited liability company that owns the Sunset Park apartment have avoided accountability for locking tenants out of the building in spite of judges’ directives, but that could change this month.
A Brooklyn judge ruled in November that the landlords now face penalties for contempt unless they cover the cost of the renters’ legal fees. People affiliated with the landlord, a limited liability company tied to a family with multiple Brooklyn properties, did not respond to phone calls.
A paralegal at the office of landlords’ attorney, Yuan Jiang, instructed Gothamist to send specific questions to Jiang by email. Jiang did not respond to multiple emails or calls seeking answers.
The tenants are free to move back into the Sunset Park property because the DOB lifted the vacate order following an Oct. 31 inspection.
But Legal Aid Society attorney Nell Hirschmann-Levy, who represents the building’s tenants, said the judge’s order is another paper victory for residents who will have to endure frigid temperatures if they return.
“We keep winning in court and our clients are losing in reality because they’re still out of their apartments,” Hirschmann-Levy said. “How are you restoring families if there is no heat, hot water or cooking gas?”
Hirschmann-Levy said the owners have routinely ignored judge’s decisions.
In one extreme example, they completely changed the layouts of multiple rent-stabilized apartments, including Gomez’s, despite a Brooklyn judge’s order not to reconfigure the units, court documents show. Photos submitted in court show the past and present layouts, with a kitchen in one end of Gomez’s apartment reduced in size and moved to the middle of the unit and the addition of a hallway and new bathroom.
The landlord’s managing agent, Jane Yang, told the court the changes were meant to improve the apartments for the tenants and occurred before a judge’s order to not change the layouts. The tenants have accused her and her associates of “perjury” and told the court that the owners were renting out the units to new occupants in violation of their rent-stabilized leases, which entitle them to return to the apartments, and a vacate order imposed after the fire. In an affidavit submitted in court, Yang acknowledged renting out at least two of their units, but said they thought the tenants weren’t planning to return.
DOB records show inspectors failed to enter the building when they responded to complaints of people living in it. The agency did issue a violation to the owners for allowing a deli to reopen despite the ongoing vacate order.
When Gothamist visited early last month, two people entered and exited the building using keys. They were not among the tenants suing to get back into the apartments they were forced to leave following the fire..
It wasn’t supposed to take this long for tenants to return home.
A Brooklyn judge first instructed the landlord to repair the damaged apartments and ask the DOB to lift a vacate order by the end of March 2022.
But actually getting the all-clear from the DOB took another 19 months, as the landlords delayed repairs before overhauling five of the apartments and re-renting out at least two.
State law requires landlords to get approval from the Division of Homes and Community Renewal before making “material” changes to rent-regulated apartments. The owners of the Sunset Park building instead went to the Department of Buildings, a city agency that is not required to check with DHCR before approving construction permits, Hirschmann-Levy said.
Hirschmann-Levy said many of the delays could have been avoided if the DOB had not signed off on the “alteration” approvals. A judge dismissed a separate claim from the tenants that would have forced DOB to coordinate with DHCR before OK'ing layout changes to rent-regulated units.
DOB spokesperson Andrew Rudansky said the agency isn’t responsible for enforcing rent-regulation rules.
“We are legally obligated to issue a permit for a construction project when all of the requirements that we are legally allowed to enforce are met,” he said. “DOB approvals do not absolve a property owner of their responsibility to comply with the regulations of other government agencies.”
Rudansky said the landlord must now hire a plumber to complete gas line repair work, receive approval from the DOB and submit that authorization to the utility company to restore service.
For Gomez, 47, the saga highlights threats longtime tenants face if they are displaced by disaster. Citywide, renters routinely encounter obstacles to reclaiming their homes following a flood or fire.
Gomez said he has held onto the apartment for more than three decades as Sunset Park transformed around him, becoming trendier, pricier and a magnet for young professionals. He recalled dealers selling drugs on the corner, just outside the apartment door, and neighborhood-level divestment throughout the 1990s.
Gomez said he and his wife, a hospital worker, took over the lease from his parents and continue to pay less than $1,000 for the two-bedroom unit based on state rent regulations that cap annual increases.
The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the neighborhood is now $2,500, according to StreetEasy.
Gomez said he suspects that’s why the landlords seemed eager to revamp the apartment by moving and shrinking the kitchen, closing off a window, reducing the size of the bedrooms and adding a hallway and a second bathroom.
He said it’s the kind of layout roommates might like, but not a family like his, with a 13-year-old son. The changes could also enable the landlords to legally raise rents with approval from the state’s housing agency.
Gomez said he, his wife and son have been staying in a single room with family members since the November 2021 fire.
This past Thanksgiving marked the third they have spent away from their longtime home, but he said they are determined to return to the apartment.
“We didn't think it was going to be this long,” he said. “Probably somebody else would have said, ‘You know what? Eff it.’ and walk away. I can't.”
Tagged
new york city
economy
housing
brooklyn
David Brand
David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 908-310-3960.
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