Cuomo settles with Vantage

From the NY Times:

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo said Thursday that he had reached a $1 million settlement with a large New York City property owner that became a lightning rod for complaints about landlords’ treatment of tenants in rent-regulated apartments.

Under the settlement, the landlord, Vantage Properties, must stop harassing tenants in its 9,500 apartments in Queens and Manhattan with “baseless legal notices” and “frivolous housing court evictions,” according to a statement from Mr. Cuomo.

The attorney general’s office, which started its investigation in the summer of 2008, found that in Vantage’s search for profits, it tried to force tenants out of apartments so it could renovate them and raise rents. Last month Mr. Cuomo said he intended to sue Vantage. The settlement said that over two years Vantage filed more than 1,000 notices against tenants and took a “significant number” to housing court.

Many residents complained that they had been falsely accused of not paying rent or of living elsewhere, Mr. Cuomo said. In many cases, Vantage filed cases based on “unreliable sources of information” when the tenant had every legal right to live there.

Of the $1 million, $750,000 will be paid to residents “who can demonstrate that they unjustly vacated their apartments or were subject to frivolous housing court proceedings,” the settlement says. The rest will be given to nonprofit groups that help tenants. It is unclear how much money individual tenants will receive and which nonprofit groups will benefit from the ruling.

Advantage over Vantage

From the Daily News:

THE STATE attorney general's decision to go after one of Queens' most controversial landlords won't deter a group of tenants from moving ahead with its own lawsuit, the tenants' attorney said yesterday.

Rob McCreanor, a lawyer for the Immigrant Tenant Advocacy Project, is representing 21 families that are suing Vantage Properties for allegedly using illegal tactics to evict them from their rent-regulated apartments.

McCreanor said his clients are "absolutely elated" by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's decision to independently seek legal action against the private equity-backed company, which owns some 9,500 rent-regulated apartments in Queens and Manhattan.

"We think this is a tremendous success," McCreanor said.

Cuomo announced last week that he intends to sue the landlord for using "underhanded tactics" to kick long-time tenants from their apartments in an effort to convert the dwellings into market-rate units.

McCreanor said Cuomo's findings bolster his clients' case against Vantage.

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.

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.

Chronicle has Vantage's number

From the Queens Chronicle:

The era of the McTenement has dawned in Queens.

In a borough known as a hodgepodge of diverse people and places, an air of uniformity is creeping into the brick and mortar sea of apartment buildings along the No. 7 line corridor, courtesy of real estate giant Vantage Properties.

At several Vantage-owned apartment buildings visited over the past month, a forest green awning hangs over every doorway. Metallic General Electric appliances fill many, if not all, remodeled Vantage kitchens. A brass plaque warns intruders away with the same security system at each building.

And soon, every Vantage unit will be rented at the same market rates — at least, that’s what the real estate giant’s investors are betting a half billion dollars on.

Surprisingly good piece for a weekly newspaper!