Coldhearted Slumlord Freezes out Tenants
Excerpts from New York Post:
Dozens of residents – including a 4-month-old infant – have b
een freezing in a hellhole Harlem apartment building, left without heat for all but eight days since Thanksgiving.
For weeks, those living at 117 W. 142nd St. say, they have huddled in their apartments, making a flurry of emergency calls to their once-jailed landlord and to the city, to no avail.
Then their sewage backed up, and the water was shut off. Unable to wash or flush and nearly as cold as the ice cubes in their freezers, residents yesterday said they had had enough.
The building is owned by John Kosman, a landlord who served three days in jail and was fined $60,000 in 2005 for ignoring scores of violations in the same building, according to the city.
Problems at the time included peeling lead-based paint, mice and rats, plumbing problems, broken floors and exposed electrical wiring.
Residential building owners are legally obligated to provide tenants with heat and hot water at all hours of the day.
Between October and May, owners are required to maintain an indoor temperature of at least 68 degrees between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. when the outside temperature falls below 55 degrees.
Owners must maintain an indoor temperature of 55 degrees between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. when the outside temperature falls below 40 degrees.
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