Tenants: Landlord trying to push us out

By Justin Rocket Silverman, amNewYork Staff Writer

Jackelin Javier pays $877 a month in rent for her two-bedroom apartment on West 150th Street. Just a few blocks away, new condos are selling for upwards of $800,000 each.

As a result, Javier says, the owner of her building has been converting units to condos, and creating a dangerous environment for the 60 people who still live there.

"We have bedbugs, roaches and rats all over the place because construction workers have just been going through the building, knocking down walls," she said Wednesday, joined by other tenants at a protest in front of the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

The protestors want the agency to seek a court order to appoint a new manager, under a state program called 7A. The new manager would collect rents and use the money to make essential repairs, effectively bypassing the actual building owner.

Calls for comment to Manhattan North Management were not returned Wednesday. An agency spokesman said Wednesday that city lawyers agree with the tenants and are putting together a 7A case against the owner of Javier's building, Manhattan North Management LLC.

The city has already taken the company to court twice in an effort to collect amost $1 million for emergency repair work performed by the city.

Agency spokeswoman Amanda Pittman said inspectors must first complete a "roof to cellar inspection" before bringing the case to court.

Department of Building records show that more than 100 complaints are on record, as well as 67 violations of the building code.

A stop work order was issued last month when an inspector found contractors did not have construction plans on site and had scattered a large amount of debris throughout the building.