Slumlords
Bed-Stuy landlord Lalbahadour Byjoo is accused of conspiring with another man, Jean St. Fleur, to burn down a building he owns at 304-A Sumpter Street in order to get rid of squatters. Fortunately for the alleged squatters, the person he contracted to set the fire turned out to be an undercover detective. Byjoo met with the detective, told him how to bypass the security cameras, and gave him $100 for gasoline, later giving the order to "torch" the building. Byjoo and St. Fleur are also accused of stealing two other Brooklyn properties with forged documents. [DNAinfo, via Gawker]
Professional Tenant Harasser Penalized by Attorney General
The Daily News reported today that Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has reached an agreement with "tenant relocator" Michel Pimienta whereby Pimienta will pay a $40,000 fine and promise (whatever that's worth) to stop trying to "relocate" rent-stabilized tenants. This represents a small victory in the usually depressing war of Rent-Stabilized Tenants Who Live in Desirable Areas vs. Malicious Landlords and Their Cohorts.
Pimienta has been operating for around a decade as a hired gun for the delightful group of landlords who buy rent-stabilized buildings in order to kick everyone out and start making some real money. (Accused slumlord Steven Croman employs a retired police officer named Anthony Falconite in a similar position.) Pimienta's alleged tactics range from harassing phone calls to showing up at tenants' apartments unannounced to making spurious eviction threats. Some tenants have said that he has even gone so far as to follow them after they've left their buildings, presumably in an effort to catch them in some sort of evict-able offense, or just to scare the crap out of them. One such tenant anonymously recounted her story to the Daily News:
"It was about two months of the knocks and the creepiness," she said. "He would knock on my door without warning. He would be hanging outside in the lobby."
At some point, he told her, "the landlord has some information on me, but he said that was between us, like he was trying to be my friend.
"At that point I was starting to get really scared," she said.
· EXCLUSIVE: 'Tenant relocator' accused of harassing renters is put out of business by AG Eric Schneiderman [NYDN, via EV Grieve]
· Related coverage [Curbed]
The Village Voice's Anna Merlan went long this week to try and figure out what can be done about the "pernicious — and growing — New York real estate problem [of] landlords who deliberately make their own buildings unlivable, through vandalism, harassment, nuisance construction, legal intimidation, and outright threats, as a way to drive out rent-stabilized tenants." Although there are laws on the books that are supposed to protect tenants in these types of situations, they have not proven to be effective. [Village Voice; previously]
102 Norfolk Tenants Exposed to Insane Amounts of Lead Dust
After notorious slumlord Samy Mahfar purchased 102 Norfolk Street in March, the building's rent-stabilized tenants didn't have to wait long before the harassment began. While three of them accepted buyouts, 18 tenants remained in the 25-unit building and were forced "to live in a 'war zone' of constant construction, landlord bullying, and hazardous worksite practice," according to a report from Bowery Boogie. The article went on, "Tenants must contend with weekly water shut downs, exposed wiring, an influx of rodents, and ill-timed exterminator visits." That was back in June, and Mahfar has continued to try and force out the building's inhabitants ever since. This week, some local politicians decided to get involved, and not a moment too soon, as a report today from DNAinfo highlights just how hazardous conditions have been inside the building. According to a report from an inspection conducted in April, which the tenants were only able to see after submitting a Freedom of Information request with the Health Department, the lead levels in 102 Norfolk were at one point 2,750 times the safe limit. "That was only one day and then this was all cleaned up," Mahfar told DNAinfo. Another inspection conducted in June revealed lead levels to be "only" two to 18 times the limit.
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