Queens is burning again: Makeshift boarding house goes up in flames and kills 3 people in Jamaica Estates

Update. 17 people were living in this house. Queens Borough Redundancy/President Donnie Richards called the fire "preventable", which is pretty far-fetched considering these boarders could only afford to live virtually on top of each other because the city built a bunch of towers in the city's housing connect system that were 80% market rate. The landlord decided to put the fire out himself and waited to call 911. The City Of Yes will fix this.

 Firehouse

Three men died in a Queens fire early Sunday that tore through a house full of illegally converted apartments — with panicked survivors leaping out of windows to escape the flames, FDNY officials said.

The two-alarm blaze broke out on Chevy Chase St. near Henley Road in Jamaica Estates about 1:30 a.m., officials said, with the inferno soon bursting through the windows and roof.

FDNY officials described the house as a firetrap, with no apparent smoke detectors, makeshift walls and occupants packed into apartments on the first and second floor as well as the cellar and attic.

One of the survivors described making a desperate escape as his father died leaping out of a second-story window.

“There was a lot of smoke inside. We cannot get out. I broke the window so we can just get out of the window. This is the only way,” said Abdullah Zaher, 25. “There was no flames upstairs. Smoke! My father jumped, my brother jumped, and I jumped in the end.”

Zaher’s hand bled heavily from breaking the window as he spoke to the Daily News hours later. His father didn’t survive.

“He was everything to me, literally everything to me. He was a friend, he was a father, he was a giver. Literally everything. There was food, he would give me the food,” Zaher said. “He’s still working, trying to survive. He was a chauffeur.. Uber driver.”

Firefighters found three men dead at the scene, ages 45, 52 and 67, according to police.

“There’s no evidence to us at this time that there’s a working smoke detector in this house,” FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker told reporters at the scene. “And there’s a lot of evidence of extension cords and other carelessness.”

At least eight residents were hurt but survived, including three injured jumping out of second-floor and attic windows, according to police sources. One of the survivors is in critical condition, according to FDNY officials.

FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito described the scene in the house.

“When our units arrived, they had fire out the windows of the first floor. The fire had extended to the second floor and attic and these were all living spaces,” he said. “There were makeshift walls. The means of egress were substandard, exits blocked, stairways blocked.”

“There was a wall through the middle of the kitchen, which was very abnormal,” he added. “There’s makeshift access to the second floor, which allows the fire to spread much quicker upstairs.”

Four firefighters suffered minor injuries in the blaze, which the FDNY brought under control by about 3 a.m.

The house is listed in city records as a single-family home, but dozens of Buildings Department complaints dating as far back as 2008 show neighbors and residents complaining that it was illegally converted into a roominghouse.

The most recent complaint, from February 2023, reads, “The home owner [has] a mental disabled individual living in the basement. The homeowner built a half wall in the kitchen so someone can live there … there is approximately 12 to 14 people in the house.”

“It’s so frustrating because we’ve been watching this unfold for years. I called 311. My husband called 311. Many of the neighbors called 311,” said Steve Fischer, 67, who lives across the street on the upper-class tree-lined block. “We knew based on what we saw that it was being used as an illegal roominghouse.”

“It wasn’t for lack of many people trying to alert the city that there was something illegal going on,” he added.

Buildings Department officials said the owners of the house were hit with a violation in 2010 for illegally converting the basement into an apartment and in 2016 for work without a permit when they constructed two wood-frame structures in the back and side yards.

Since then, the Buildings Department has received several 311 calls complaining about illegal conversion conditions — but inspectors were unable to get into the building for one visit in 2020 and three visits in 2023, agency officials said.

“Calls would prompt people from the city to show up. Supposedly they would knock. The guy was not an idiot. He wouldn’t answer the door,” Fischer said of the landlord. “It’s so frustrating because it was so avoidable. … I hope he is charged criminally.”

The cause of the blaze is under investigation.

Tony Rock, 40, who paid about $1,000 a month to live in a first-floor room, dived out of a window to escape the fire.

“I heard screaming, the guy upstairs above me … begging to get out of the room. He’s in there dying,” Rock said.  “I saw him jump out the window.”

Nearly 20 years of complaints on four pages on the NYC Buildings website

 

Goth Barbie Dream House

 

  

This dreary little abode is located in hip Rockaway Beach and it is the most blackest house and pinkest scaffolding I've ever seen. It's also a year behind schedule.

 

 

It seems inspired partly by Spinal Tap's infamous "Smell The Glove" album and partly by The Hart Foundation. It would be cool if Bret had a vacation home here.

 

Expressway Haunted Mansion

 

Riding along the Van Wyck Expressway while it's still under construction, I did a double take and saw this huge house on the corner of 105th ave.

 

Parking is forbidden by the entrance but it hasn't discourage this ricer car owner. Although it looks like this house had a steady occupation by squatters for some time.

A full dumpster indicates gut renovations.

 

Like every other abandoned house or vacant lot, the plywood fence is covered with numerous posters of festivals coming to town.

 

It kinda looks like the Bates Motel.

Mother?

 

Looked up the address on the Buildings Dept. website and there isn't much information about who is renovating this house. But it did have a record of multiple families living in this quasi-mansion from 30 years ago, which surely still continued considering the number of satellite dishes. But with the City Of Yes coming, the owner of this house can get away with building a little more housing for another 10 families and a dozen single men delivering food on motorcycles.

Frank Lloyd Crap special in Southside Queens

 

 

This house got some facelift. It looks they made a few extra rooms.

 

This reminds me of the second little piggy house.

 

Maybe the extra space is store these grills?

 

One side has shingles, the other side has brick paneling.

 

Maybe this is the little mo' housing from the City Of Yes doctrine.

 

 

Squatter gets a new home in jail

The Squatter's Borough

 

 

 PIX News 

 Unwanted visitors are residing in the long-closed Triple Crown Diner in Bellerose, according to members of the local business community.

Joe, who runs a restaurant across the street, told PIX11 News the squatters enter at night via a rear staircase that leads to the roof: “You’ll see people just randomly walking out of there. I pay close attention. You’ll see a lot of garbage stacked up right there.”

 Behind the diner, there’s a shed with a mattress on the ground. The identity of the alleged squatters remained unclear as of Friday afternoon. 

 “I know it has been reported to the 105th Precinct and it’s been reported by them that they’ve come and located an opening in the ceiling, the roof, that they’ve covered with plywood,” said Richard Hellenbrecht, the treasurer of the Bellerose Civic Association. “For anyone to get inside and squat in the diner is really terrible.

Another business owner, Jack, told PIX11 the neighborhood has recently seen some changes for the worse.

“Well, they shouldn’t be living there. They’re vagrants. It ruins our business – it runs the businesses in the area. Sure, it bothers you, but what can you do about it?”

 

PIX News

 Construction of a new community center in Queens serving young adults with special needs is well underway – and long delayed, says property owner Young Seh Bae.

It’s all thanks to a squatter identified by the Sheriff’s Office as Sean Johnson.

Investigators said he set up camp in the now demolished home that once stood on a lot in the fall of 2022, and then illegally claimed residence after being there for more than 30 days.

 “They just broke into the house using the back door,” said Bae.

The Sheriff’s Office also confirmed marshals recovered a gun from inside the home where Johnson was squatting, adding he was not present to be taken into custody.

“They caused a nightmare for us. There were people coming and going. They would come on to our side of the sidewalk to intimidate us,” said Angela, who lives across the street.

Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday said he supports updating squatters’ rights, which were originally enacted to help protect against bad landlords.

“There was a reason that squatters’ law was put in place. And I think people are starting to exploit what some of those reasons are,” said Adams.

Under current New York State law, squatters are considered tenants if they have had possession for 30 consecutive days or longer.

Bae said it ultimately took more than six months and six-figures in legal fees to finally reclaim the property her family rightfully owns.

“It was very frustrating, not only mentally but financially. I have to say about $100,000,” said Bae.

State Sen. John Liu acknowledged his newly proposed legislation may not be useful to responding police officers, but he added it will help homeowners in a courtroom.

Liu’s bill clearly defines a squatter as someone who enters onto a property or building without title, right, or permission…”

The bill bans them from accessing a tenant’s rights and protections under the law, and states squatters do not get any rights, even after 30 days of possession.

““New York State law, as it pertains to housing and property, it’s not the easiest thing — no question. We need to erase any kind of ambiguity in our state laws, and this bill will do just that,” said Liu.

PIX News

Queens residents spoke out with frustrations Wednesday about a run-down property in their neighborhood that they say is attracting squatters.

“Sometimes the front door is actually creeped open. For years, people have just been coming in, dumping garbage,” said Kamran, describing the neglected house next to the home he’s lived in since childhood.

When Kamran says “years,” he means more than a decade. During that time, he and his neighbors say there have been squatters coming in and out of the run-down home.  

The home, located at 245-04 Union Turnpike in Bellerose, is barely visible behind the tall brush. Lydia lives within eyeshot of what she says is an eyesore.

 “When I see people there that I know are squatters, or they don’t belong there because it’s been empty so long, I just call 911,” said Lydia.

This is the third time in the last week PIX11 News has reported about a suspected squatting situation in Queens, from a now torn-down home in Bayside, to squatters who allegedly entered through the roof of the closed Triple Crown Diner – also in Bellerose.

 PIX11 News took Queens Borough President Donovan Richards on a virtual tour of the property Wednesday.

The tour included a growing collection of New York City Department of Sanitation tickets issued to the registered owner – Jan Robert Fortin – who has no listed number and whose son did not answer PIX11 News’ phone call requesting comment.  

“So how do we resolve this issue? We need a change at the state law. Yes, enforcement is one key piece of it. OK, they are going to end up on Rikers on a trespass charge possibly. I also have to allude to the fact that we are in a housing crisis, and people are squatting largely because we are in this crisis,” said Richards.

The good news? About an hour after PIX11 News started reaching out to multiple agencies, including the health department, Housing Preservation and Development, and the buildings and sanitation departments, a sanitation supervisor arrived at the house to assess the situation.

Judge orders squatters to GTFO

 

  NY Post

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a pair of alleged squatters who sued the owners of a $930,000 Queens home after cops escorted them off the property last month.

“The case is over,” the couple’s attorney Rizpah Morrow told reporters outside Queens Civil Court Friday, shortly after Judge Vijay Kitson discontinued the case with prejudice, meaning the claim cannot be refiled.

“The landlords, the owners, own the house, they have possession. The people who said they were locked out have walked away from the situation. They are no longer requesting to be restored to possession and we still have their stuff,” she said.

The two men did not show up for their scheduled court appearance.

One of the home’s owners, Juliya Fulman, told reporters that although they prevailed in the case, the systemic issues it highlights remain, making it a hollow victory.

“Right now, there is a very big problem with these criminals and these squatters. Lawmakers need to make laws in order to protect the people, the citizens,” she told The Post outside the courtroom.

“These criminals are trying to drive people out of New York, and that is not going to happen,” she continued.

“I still don’t feel like I have the full justice in this case because there are people who broke into my house. They claimed they had property there. I would like to know how they got property there.”

The couple had spent over half a million dollars renovating the Jamaica residence as an investment property. Fulman told The Post last week that she incurred thousands of dollars in legal fees defending the ownership of her home.

“I want justice. I want these people to come forward. I want them to say how they got into the house, how their belongings got there, and yeah, it would be very good for them to reimburse us for all of our time and legal fees, so coming here today I don’t know if we accomplished much,” she said.

The suit, filed March 14, had claimed the men were unlawfully removed from the residence, which they said they were legally renting from Fulman and her partner Denis Kurlyand since January.

More invasion of the house squatters

 

Daily Mail

These are the latest victims of New York's 'insane' housing laws that have given way to a wave of absurd squatting incidents where homeowners find themselves forced to go to court to kick out brazen would-be tenants. 

Denis and Juliya are a married couple who invested $530,000 in a property in Jamaica, Queens, several years ago. 

On March 5, a broker they were working with visited the property for a site check before allowing tenants to move in and found the locks had been changed. 

Inside the property was Lance Hunt Jr. and Rondie L. Francis, who had set up mattresses, a flat screen TV and a massage table. The men claimed to have legally leased the property months earlier and refused to leave. 

Now, the homeowners are locked in a legal battle with the pair after the alleged squatters hired an attorney to sue them. 

An emergency lockout hearing was held on Friday March 22 at Queens County Civil Court after the squatters' attorney, Dennis Harris served the couple, the realtor and the real estate company. 

During the 1pm hearing, Rizpah Morrow, who is representing the homeowners asked Judge Vijay M. Kitson for a trial on the grounds that the two men acted in an unlawful manner.

'They perpetrated a fraud,' Morrow told the judge.

The judge told her that she is entitled to a trial, and said 'let them come to court and testify.'

But when the judge asked their attorney where his clients were, Harris told the judge one of them 'had to go to work.'

At this point Ejona Bardhi, the real estate broker with Top Nest Properties, who was also representing the homeowners in court, intervened and told the judge, 'he left because he did not want to get arrested.' 

Denis and Juliya asked the judge if their new tenants could move in before the next court date. The judge agreed but warned them it may complicate the case. The next court date is April 5. 

After the hearing was adjourned and the chambers doors were closed, Lance Hunt, Sr., the father of the second alleged squatter Lance Hunt, Jr., who told DailyMail.com his name was Michael, walked into the court house. 

He tried to enter the judge's chambers but the court officers told him the session had ended for the day. 

Denis told DailyMail.com he is outraged by what is taking place. He said that he and his wife had to take off a day of work and spend $4,000 on an attorney fees.

'I'm being sued for illegal lock out, and for damages. They uploaded fake documents and they have an attorney and notary that are working with them to scam innocent homeowners in Queens,' he said.

'They are targeting empty homes especially the ones listed on the market and the home owners are not protected. 

'I intend to pursue them criminally as well as start a class action lawsuit against the city for failing to protect us.' 

He added: 'This has to be stopped.'

Denis on the phone waiting for the court hearing to start as Rondie L. Francis, one of the alleged squatters, stands behind him 

Bardhi said she first noticed that one of the locks had been changed on the doors on March 1. At first she assumed it may have been done by the former management company, until they told her they did not touch the locks,

When Bardhi went back to the property on March 4, she noticed the other set of door locks had also been changed, and then saw a dark figure in the window.

'I saw a man wearing a black hoodie holding a drill in his hand,' Bardhi recalled.

Alarmed she called police and the homeowners and waited in her car for officers to arrive. While she waited, she noticed more men emerge. She said they started circling her car that was parked in front of the Lakewood Avenue property.

‘They were trying to intimidate me,' she said. 'It was bizarre.'

When police arrived the men told them it was their property and they had been living there since January. Bardhi disputed their claims and said she was just at the home a day prior with a housing inspector.

When officers asked the men for proof of residency, they did not have anything to show, but told the cops they were YouTubers, and left peacefully.

Once they were out, Bardhi and the homeowners were going to place new locks on the door, but the officers told them if they do they will get arrested. 

Upon learning that Bardhi and the homeowners said they were 'enraged' 

She told DailyMail.com: 'The police tells us that they have rights that was the ridiculous part.'

 

House renovation in limbo used as billboard ad for parade and foodie festival

 

 

Since our governor and mayor keep botching the housing crisis, why not use a house to advertise a local event instead of finishing the job and making it livable?

 

Check out the garage...

 

 

 

The owner of this renovation even raised the cellar windows for more housing for people.

 

 

But wait a minute, turns out there is a big reason why this house has been in housing crisis suspended animation, it's got tons of violations and it's been recently occupied by squatters.

And maybe the latter still is judging by this Citibike ebike.

  

Guess the tactic of not building a stoop will deter desperate people from getting shelter.

Crap phoenix arises from the ashes of the old Van Sicklen house

 

It was only a year ago when a skull was found on the lawn of the Van Sicklen house, but now something new has arisen on the dilapidated blighted property.

It's a lot thinner (and cheaper) than the old house plus it's way behind schedule (or maybe it meant it would be done by Christmas). Hope it holds up against the violent climate or the big bad wolf.

 

Miracle on Van Doren St.

    

Remember this abandoned house beauty in Corona?

 

 It had a floor collapse and a massive fire.

 

Well get a load of it now.

        

Who says miracles don't happen in Queens?

 

Queens is burning again: Ebike battery explosion torches a house with illegal daycare center

NY Daily News  

The Queens daycare where 18 children were injured after a fire broke out due to a faulty lithium-ion battery was unlicensed and illegally running out of a basement, the Daily News has learned.

The fire started in the basement of the two-story home on 72nd Drive near 147th St. in Kew Gardens Hills around 2:05 p.m., FDNY officials said.

Both the daycare and a dentist lab were operating in the basement, which had been converted without a Department of Buildings work permit, the DOB said.

The blaze spread through the cellar of the single-family home when a charging e-bike exploded, sources said.

When firefighters arrived, five adults, one teenager and 19 children ranging from 16 months to 5-years-old were inside, the sources added.

A 16-month-old toddler was critically injured in the fire. The other kids did not require treatment, FDNY officials and sources said.

The injured buy suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Hospital, where he was listed in serious but stable condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit Thursday, sources said.

The childcare center is unlicensed, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services told The News.

“The agency is conducting a thorough review to determine if it was, in fact, operating illegally,” an OCFS spokesperson said in a statement.

A childcare license is required by the state if a person or program is caring for more than two children who are not related to them, away from the child’s home and on a regular basis for three or more hours per day.

Officials are still investigating whether the 18 children in the house were related to the home owner operating the daycare.

The DOB issued the owner two violations for illegal construction work to the basement and for operating businesses out of the space. City records had listed the basement as a storage area, the agency said.

 

Mentally disturbed woman got rental aid and wound up stabbing another tenant.

NY Post

A Queens woman who allegedly spent months harassing her neighbor and landlord was arrested Saturday for stabbing her fellow tenant, police and witnesses told The Post.

The alleged attacker and the victim each rented separate units in the multi-family home in South Ozone Park, where the landlord lived downstairs.

The bloody assault unfolded just before 8 a.m. when Najia M. Vaughn allegedly knocked on her neighbor’s door, began arguing with the woman inside, then pulled out a knife and cut the 31-year-old victim on the forehead, chest and leg, residents and authorities said.

Vaughn, 28, fled and was arrested about a block away, police said. She was charged with felony assault and criminal possession of a weapon.

The accused attacker, who receives rental assistance from the city, moved into the 127th Street home in May, and was referred to the property by the city’s Human Resources Administration, said her terrified landlord, who did not want to be named.

Knock and leave a citation three times

 Since when does DOB go back a third time? Glad they did, though.