A Brooklyn landlord who officials say is deliberately trashing apartments to drive out rent-regulated tenants was hit with a subpoena Wednesday by the Cuomo administration.
The state Tenant Protection Unit served the subpoena on JBI Management, whose principals Joel and Aaron Israel own 10 buildings in gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhoods.
Tenants complained to the unit that workers entered their apartments to do repairs — only to use sledgehammers to destroy kitchens and bathrooms.
The Caleros, who have lived at 98 Linden St. in Bushwick for 23 years, say they’re one of those families.
Noelia Calero, 31, lives with her husband, mother and father in an apartment in the building, which JBI took over in January 2013. Last May, the Israels sent them a letter saying the kitchen and bathroom would be repaired.
“They told us they were going to change the floor tiles, paint, make it look nicer. We said OK. Who’s going to say no to someone fixing your apartment?” said Calero.
But in June, she said, workers with sledgehammers demolished their entire kitchen and bathroom. The ground is still completely torn up, revealing wooden slats where the flooring used to be.
The Caleros have to use their aunt’s bathroom in an upstairs apartment.
“He wants us out and that was his way of doing it, by destroying the most important part of our home,” said Calero, adding that the family pays just under $700 a month.”He’s doing this in other buildings too. He wants to charge us all $2,000 rent,” she said.
A JBI spokesman denied the practice took place. “JBI Management restores old buildings and provides good housing for Brooklyn families,” lawyer Glenn Spiegel said. “We are asking the courts to help us gain the access needed so we can make the repairs.”
Elected officials, tenant advocacy and legal services groups have sought a resolution for the JBI tenants, and the state Office of Rent Administration has lowered the tenants’ rents to $1 a month for lack of services until the matter is resolved.
“It is not only unconscionable, but it is flat-out illegal for any landlord to subject families to living without running water or a functioning bathroom or kitchen,” Gov. Cuomo said.
“This is obviously not the way that responsible landlords renovate apartments; these apartments were trashed,” said state housing commissioner Darryl Towns.
Brent Meltzer, co-director of the Housing Unit at Legal Services NYC-Brooklyn Programs, said he has never seen “such abhorrent behavior from a landlord.”
In buildings owned by the landlords where rents have been jacked up, tenants still weren’t happy.
A tenant at 119 Boerum St. in Williamsburg, who moved in 18 months ago and pays $3,150 a month with three roommates, said: “When we first got here, we had no heat or hot water for three or four weeks. And it was in December.”
“There’s mold in the basement. All of this construction was really poorly done. There’s always standing water in our backyard.”
She said the building is changing rapidly. “There used to be a lot of old people, but all of them have left. “
With Roxanna Asgarian
