Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Vantage a really crappy landlord

From the Times Ledger:

Many of the individuals living in 110 apartment units in the building at 83-30 118th Street in Kew Gardens are protesting Vantage’s recent announcement that the building’s broken elevator will not be fixed for months, saying the move has essentially trapped disabled and older residents.

Second-floor resident Kourosh Nassimian helped to organize a meeting at the end of June to discuss tenants’ frustrations over the elevator with Vantage representatives.

Residents at the meeting said Vantage officials said the repair would take approximately three months, although a June 24 letter from Vantage to residents said the elevator project would take seven to eight weeks.

“While we are making every effort to expedite these repairs, this was a situation caused by an act of vandalism that required us to special order custom-made parts,” the letter states.

Tenants said they doubted residents had vandalized the elevator and they accused Vantage of lying to collect insurance money to fix the elevator.

Vantage did not return requests for comment.

The decision to unite against Vantage over the elevator has highlighted other common problems tenants say they face, including the company’s unwillingness to respond to concerns about a lack of heating in the winter and its attempts to get rid of the poorer residents paying for rent-stabilized apartments in order to bring in wealthier tenants who can afford to pay top-dollar for the real estate.

Juveny Sanchez, an architect who has lived in the building for nine years, and Nassimian said Vantage has used illegal harassment tactics to force tenants out, including not cashing rent checks and then suing for eviction.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

These people are marinated in wickedness. It is time for another judge who sentences landlords to live in their own apartments--preferably on the top floor of this one.

Watch how fast the elevator is fixed.

Anonymous said...

you said it! a warning for anyone doing their due diligence before renting with Vantage - dont do it! no matter how tempting their sales pitches are with renovated apartments and buildings. i have been in one of their buildings for over a year and they still havent fixed all of real problems but they are sure quick to kick someone, normally ederly people, out of their homes to renovate them and get them to market rate! scumbags.

Anonymous said...

you said it! a warning for anyone doing their due diligence before renting with Vantage - dont do it! no matter how tempting their sales pitches are with renovated apartments and buildings. i have been in one of their buildings for over a year and they still havent fixed all of real problems but they are sure quick to kick someone, normally ederly people, out of their homes to renovate them and get them to market rate! scumbags.

Anonymous said...

Funny how tenant and civic groups are always sputtering and spitting as they wrestle with the city ... and developers have those people's taxes used to grease the process for them.

Something for Tony to talk about.

Anonymous said...

I like Vantage. They improve neighborhoods by booting out the trash and filling the building with decent people who pay a fair rent.

Anonymous said...

Not to mention the old people they take from this earth by killing them with heart attacks when the elevator doesn't work.

Only in New York do we think that landlord is doing us a favor to take thousands of dollars of our money and give us subhuman conditions.