Saturday, May 23, 2009

City screws Vantage renters

From the Daily News:

Frustrated tenants of an East Elmhurst apartment building had planned a rent strike recently because they were fed up with not having a superintendent to make needed repairs.

The residents of 43-43 91st Place had notified the city in September of their plight. Since the landlord still had not hired a super six months later, a housing attorney told them state law barred the landlord from collecting rent.

But there was one problem. Shortly before the strike, tenants learned from the landlord, Vantage Properties, that the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development had quietly issued waivers in December allowing a 24-hour hotline to replace supers in 14 Queens buildings owned by the company.

3 comments:

PizzaBagel said...

Press 1 for English, dos para EspaƱol, ...

A 24-hour super hotline. What an innovation! Right up there with 311. Customer service in the leaner, meaner Bloomberg Era. Keep those bright ideas coming -- not to mention those rent checks.

Anonymous said...

did Robert McCreanor of the Queens Immigration Tenant Advocacy project screw over the tenants in this one too?

fascinating that once again the tenants get screwed because the lawyer gave them the wrong information. Robert McCreanor, friend of the slumlord, don't believe the propaganda about him.

Anonymous said...

When your boiler is about to blow up, will the 24-hour hotline shut it down? Voicemail sucks. It still takes human labor to resolve problems.