The Legal Aid Society filed a lawsuit on behalf of 62 tenants residing at 530 and 540 East 169th Street in the Bronx. The litigation seeks immediate repairs to over 600 open violations.

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) has identified violations including leaks in both the tenants’ apartments as well as the public hallways, elevator outages, a lack of heat and hot water, a vermin infestation, and other severe conditions in both buildings.

Earlier this year, over 1,200 HPD violations were placed in the buildings. While these violations have begun to rapidly disappear from the HPD database in the last weeks, there has not been any increase in repairs, leading tenants to believe the landlord is falsifying certifications in an attempt to hide the severe nature of the buildings’ neglect.

Tenants report heat and hot water outages that last days at a time, forcing tenants to heat their homes with appliances and boil water to bathe.  The buildings’ elevators – which serve 17 floors – have been sporadically out of service for many years, leaving many vulnerable tenants without access to their apartments or trapped in their homes.

Fordham Fulton Realty Corporation, headed by Karan Singh and Rajmattie Persaud, is the landlord for both properties, along with several other properties in New York City.

“Our clients and all tenants in the Fordham Fulton Realty buildings have long suffered as a result of their landlord’s neglect and refusal to address the shockingly high number of open violations throughout the buildings,” said Zoe Kheyman, an attorney in the Housing Justice Unit – Group Advocacy Practice at Legal Aid.

“The sheer number of open violations is a clear indicator that this landlord is acting in bad faith and must be held accountable,” she continued. “We look forward to fighting for our clients, many of whom have lived in their apartments for decades, to remedy the dangerous conditions and restore their quality of life.”

Legal Aid’s suit was featured as part of a 7 On Your Side Investigation. Watch the full segment below.