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.