thebrooklynink.com
By Maane Khatchatourian
Sun, Jan 8, 2012


Apartment complex windows display signs that the tenants are on strike.

Green neon signs that read “tenants on strike” adorn the windows of the six-unit apartment complex on 454 40th Street in Sunset Park.

In an unusual plot twist in the all-too-familiar struggle between tenants and landlords, the residents of this building are withholding rent until apartment owner Alexander Varveris resolves ongoing building and housing violations. The tenants and Varveris have been in court for over a year, battling over maintenance issues and allegedly hazardous living conditions.

The apartment has been identified as one of 22 multifamily buildings in the city most at risk of endangering the health and safety of residents due to deteriorating physical conditions.

While Varveris hasn’t addressed all the maintenance code violations, the residents have withheld as much as one-and-a-half years of rental payments, costing Varveris $35,000 to $50,000.

The case traces back to June of 2010 when the entire apartment experienced a two-month gas shortage, followed by a two-month electricity outage. Coupled with the severity of the apartment’s maintenance code violations as well as the tenants’ lengthy rent strike and collective front, this incident exemplifies how critical these situations can become and what a significant role outside agencies, such as tenants associations, the Legal Aid Society and city building and housing departments can play.

Marcela Mitaynes, a tenant counselor for Neighbors Helping Neighbors, which assists low-income Brooklyn residents facing problems with landlords, has been an active influence in the residents’ battle for their rights as tenants. After discovering violations, she banded the tenants together and encouraged them to press charges against Varveris.

She charged that what is going on in this incident, as in other similar cases, is a landlord’s attempt to get rid of low-rent-paying residents by ignoring their requests for repairs in order to make room for tenants willing and able to pay higher rent.

“This is the common pattern, the tenants fight until they get tired,” Mitaynes said. “Landlords are willing to wait it out. … These [buildings] are what they consider underdeveloped assets. Residents are paying $1,000 [on average in rent]. A landlord can get rid of them, make repairs, charge a higher price.”

Mitaynes said residents in the building are vulnerable to pressure. Some are undocumented immigrants who don’t speak English. Many are on welfare and all are low income. Landlords’ tactics, she said, include filing baseless lawsuits and making threats about contacting immigration services.

NHN and Legal Aid have emboldened the residents by helping them set demands, even urging them to amend their grievances once their laundry list of wishes are met. Aside from not paying rent, residents stopped paying gas and electricity bills for several months after a shared meter issue was discovered by National Grid and Con Edison. Repairs and renovations are now underway in their apartments.

I accompanied Mitaynes on two housing visits while she inspected and documented the repairs that were made in various apartment units, pointing out their flaws or additional issues that needed to be addressed.

Although some of the projects appeared rushed and were aesthetically displeasing, they were vast improvements. Cracked windows, missing bathroom tiles and busted door frames are no longer in sight.

Varveris, who has owned the rent-stabilized apartment complex for 30 to 35 years, said he has never bullied his residents or forced them to move out by ignoring their demands. He said he has compromised time and time again to no avail. According to Varveris, NHN and Legal Aid “interfered” in the situation and created tension out of thin air.

“This is a tactic,” he said. “Some attorneys, Legal Aid attorneys, try to harm the landlord. … I have accommodated those tenants for years and years, have spent a minimum of $7,000 to $8,000 [on repairs]. I don’t mind doing the walk, but I will not allow the Legal Aid attorney to make me look like I’m a slum lord.”

Varveris said this court case blossomed out of a non-payment proceeding against one of the residents. The case was dismissed and the situation was later reversed as the tenants proceeded to take Varveris to court.

“The Legal Aid attorney, he brought HPD into the situation,” Varveris said. “HPD makes inspections, places violations. … I want an order from the judge compelling HPD to do an inspection in order to remove my violations.”

Roberta Bernstein, president of the Small Property Owners of New York, said outside agencies commonly and unnecessarily involve themselves in such cases.

“In my experience, any building that’s older has violations,” Bernstein said. “Local preservation groups will organize a building, will go in and get a tenant or a couple tenants to go along with them and list the number of violations. They direct the tenants not to pay rent and keep adding violations to the list.”

Bernstein said rent strikes are all too common. If residents were acting in good faith, she said they would pool their rent money in escrow. Residents said there is no escrow in their rent strike.

“These types of court cases are more prevalent in [rent-stabilized] buildings where, by virtue of being old buildings, the infrastructure needs more repair and is more costly to maintain,” she said.

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