Bronx tenants secure victory against landlord after being overcharged for years
KINGSBRIDGE, Bronx (WABC) -- A group of tenants in the Bronx are celebrating a victory on Tuesday after they spent years fighting their landlord for overcharging them.
The tenants at 2770-80 Kingsbridge Terrace said they shared one bathroom for almost an entire year while the landlord renovated all the bathrooms in the building.
And instead of a rent decrease for the inconvenience, they were hit with an increase instead.
Yeniset Estrella says her kitchen pipes constantly clog and leak, causing water damage to the unit below. The pipes in her bathroom do too, causing mold.
And she says this came after her unit was completely demolished and renovated.
Tenants say their landlord even shut down everyone's bathrooms to conduct sham repairs, forcing them to share one single bathroom in a vacant unit for almost a year.
"There's no freedom, either I had to wake up really extremely early when no one's there or get on line like everybody else," Estrella said.
"I have no way to explain it other than it was one of the worst experiences of our lives," said Juan Nunez. "And then for us to get hit with rent increases all for that shoddy work, and to be paying that the last seven years, since 2018, we've been paying these rent increases."
Tenants say the average unit's rent increased by more than $200 a month. They say the landlord never intended to fix bathrooms or kitchens and it was just a ploy to hike rents.
A state judge recently ruled in favor of the tenants and ordered the landlord, Steve Finkelstein, to reimburse tenants and reset rents to the lower amount.
"This is a precedent that says you cannot commit fraud and then use that fraud to hike up rents for residents," said Councilmember Pierina Sanchez.
The tenants' attorney says the landlord already missed the court's Feb, 10 deadline to issue refunds.
"We're gonna pursue our other legal options such as withholding our rents or asking state enforcement agencies to take further steps," said attorney Michael Leonard. "The DHCR's order says specifically that the landlord has to refund the tenants' money, even if an appeal is pending."
Meanwhile, tenants say the landlord is trying to evict a quarter of them for non-payments. The state attorney general has been monitoring those cases.
Finkelstein responded to a request for comment from Eyewitness News, saying, "We are trying to get this overturned. Hoping the judge will remand back to change the order. It was a simple mistake by Department of Housing."
He said he has put back nearly $ 1 million to fix the building and disputes residents having to use only one bathroom while construction was being done.He said six apartmentswere under construction at a time and he offered residents hotel rooms.
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