Slumlords getting billed big time

City fixing worst-of-the-worst housing and billing slumlords
BY ADAM LISBERG
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, December 1st 2008, 7:45 PM

New York's most decrepit apartment buildings are getting fixed up, thanks to a new city policy of making repairs and billing the landlords, officials said Monday.

"We have an intercom! We have floors!" said Socorro Medina, 48, one of the grateful tenants of a Bushwick, Brooklyn, building where officials announced the policy.

Each year, the law requires the housing department to isolate the city's 200 worst buildings based on violations and inspections.

The agency spent $10 million on repairs this year and has recouped $2 million from landlords; the city goes after reluctant owners by putting liens on the buildings.

With repairs still underway on two-thirds of the first 200 buildings, the housing department has now targeted another 200.