Public Advocate Letitia James, whose job involves keeping tabs on bad landlords, has been breaking city rules with her brownstone rental property for seven years and could face a $500 penalty, DNAinfo New York has learned.
James has failed to register her four-unit building with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development since 2007, records show. The public advocate also has 12 open housing code violations on the Fort Greene property — three of which were issued since James purchased the home, according to HPD records.
Landlords of multiple-unit buildings are required under city rules to register with HPD. The rule helps protect tenants' rights, giving them and the city a point of contact in case of an emergency or another problem at a property.
Owners who do not register their properties face a fine of between $250 and $500, according to the city’s administrative code law. If the owner is found to have “willfully or recklessly” failed to register with HPD or made false statements on a registration form, he or she could face as much as a year in prison, according to another administrative code law.
Aja Davis, a spokeswoman for James, told DNAinfo New York that the violations predate James' ownership of the home. Records show that statement is incorrect.
9 comments:
> Being a politician
> Following rules
Pick one
The Public Advocate has been a big disappointment - its function is to echo the party's pet issues.
A hint of racism and they are after you - a developer trashes your backyard and they are MIA.
"has been breaking city rules with her brownstone rental property for seven years and could face a $500 penalty."
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Wow! that $500 penalty is really going to put a dent in her net worth.
Yesterday we had the owner of Forest Hills slum 67-70 Yellowstone Blvd. not registering with HPD. Today we have the "Public Advocate" (a placeholder position if ever there was one).
From HPD's site:
"Property Registration requirements and process
Residential properties are required by law to register annually with HPD. if the property has:
• Three or more residential units
• One or two residential units and neither the owner nor any family member occupies a unit"
"If a building does not have a valid Property Registration, a violation may be issued to the owner for civil penalties between $250-$500. Further, the owner will not be able to certify violations, request a Code Violation Dismissal or initiate a court action to recover possession of the premises for nonpayment of rent."
"Required by law"? Or what? A violation "may" be issued blah blah blah. Why isn't HPD enforcing anything instead of just posting a banner as bad owners flout the regulations year after year? Do they ever actually prevent non-registered owners from taking anyone to housing court or being able to close out violations? Why aren't there stiffer penalties for not being registered or for violations incurred when you're not registered? These non-compliant landlords are all having a good laugh.
was she renting out her basement? She was just following Bill 'The Red' Diblasio's orders!
This is disgusting. Politician's need to be held to higher standard and even something like this should disqualify them from office.
Didn't she already have ethical problems about the City Council money that she either claimed she did not get or gave to charity?
She got elected anyway. Once ethically challenged, always ethically challenged.
Both she and Mark-Viverito will be indicted on something prior to the end of the 4 year mayoralty term. You heard it here first.....
Wow these people don't know or even care about the rules and regulations about being a homeowner.
something stunk about her when she used a homeless girl to rail about the economic injustices in this city.I recall the awkward look on her face as tisha was yelling making mayor fun size squirm.
and yet again,things get ugly and revealing once the campaigning stops and they get elected.Its going to be a freakshow in city hall in 5 months.
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