Jersey City residents accuse landlord of planting dead fish in apartment to push them out
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (WABC) -- Tenants living inside a rent-controlled building in Jersey City say something stinks and they say their landlord is to blame.
Over the past few months, they accuse him of going to some pretty extreme measures to try and force them out of the unit that they've called home for more than a decade in order to increase rent prices.
Their relationship, you can call it -- rancid.
Residents showed video of rotting, decaying dead fish inside a rent-controlled apartment.
According to residents of 336 New York Avenue in Jersey City, the landlord, who is based in Brooklyn, is harassing them to push them out.
"It pains your soul a little bit thinking about it, you're wondering if this is a dangerous place to live, if you should just leave," resident Irene Rosenthal said.
Anna Bassett lives on the first floor and earlier this year, she and other residents detected a horrible odor coming from an apartment.
They called the fire department to check it out and that's when they found dead fish.
"The refrigerator was left wide open just with this pile of fish in there. There was fish stuffed in the couches," Bassett said.
Residents said the apartment that was discovered with dead fish hasn't had anyone live there in at least two years.
Residents say they had never had problems until the latest landlord took control.
They believe the LLC wants to force them out and raise the rent.
The residents added their rent checks have not been cashed in months.
They are getting help from an organization dedicated to fighting against unscrupulous landlords.
"What we had is landlords who hide behind LLCs that are making sure the conditions of the building are deplorable in a way to get tenants out of the building," Boris Franklin from Jersey City Together said.
According to an employee of the property management company they said, "the tenant's current monthly rent is $540 for a two-bedroom apartment. They are taking every possible step to maintain their historically low rent for as long as possible, including refusing access to technicians sent by management, making false allegations of harassment, accusing us of actions or events we were neither involved in nor aware of."
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