Angry Bronx residents once again blasted their landlord Friday over the appalling conditions in their buildings, with bedbugs, mold and a broken elevator among their scores of complaints.
“The landlord doesn’t fix anything,” said Yeraldi Perez, head of the Community Activists for Safe Apartments. “There are leaks in the bedroom, rodents, infestation of roaches and rats.”
The group alleged there were 102 pending housing code violations in the building, with none addressed despite a recent court victory where the landlord was ordered to pay $270,140 to fix the myriad issues raised by tenants at 120 Woodycrest Ave. over the failure to make timely repairs.
“These people are forced to live in deplorable conditions,” said resident Mercedes Escoto. “I couldn’t let my mother stay here, it is too unsafe for her. We’re trying to get some basic repairs here.”
They remain on a rent strike launched this past December over the dangerous conditions in their building, and appeared Friday for a Bronx Housing Court hearing where nothing was settled and the case adjourned until June.
The tenants planned to urge Housing Court Judge Diane Lutwak to impose additional financial penalties and to hold their landlord in contempt over a continued failure to address the horrific living situation for residents.
“We have decided as a building that … we will not be paying for something that is not to our living standards,” said long-time resident Samantha Diaz when the rent strike began.
The majority of the penalty was imposed for 184 days of non-compliance with an order to fix lead paint issues, according to a court document. The original court ruling on the residents’ complaints came this past October, with Lutwak later finding the landlord was liable for civil penalties.
“The conditions in the building are horrific,” said resident Julius Bennett. “Nobody is raising my pay but they’re raising my rent.”
An email message left for an attorney representing management Friday was not returned.