Tenants of Park West Village said that while management neglects problems with mold, mildew, and leaks, they are also trying to raise rent prices.
The Division of Housing and Community Renewal recently notified residents in Park West Village buildings 784, 788 and 792 that the landlord had applied for a Major Capital Improvement rent increase based on “pointing and related engineering services” performed on each building between 2006 and 2009.
But Maggie Peyton, president of the Park West Village Tenants’ Association, said she questions the impact of those services. “We’re questioning the amount of work done, we’re questioning the quality of the work done,” Peyton said, adding that pointing, a process used to upkeep the mortar in brickwork and masonry, may not have been performed on all sides of the building.
Residents said there are other damage issues that have been left unresolved, including mold, mildew, and leakage problems, which have been exacerbated by recent snow and rainstorms.
“We have so much interior damage from the exterior that it’s unbelievable,” said resident Lucille Donte, a building representative to the Tenants’ Association for Park West 792. Donte said that water in one woman’s apartment leaked through the ceiling and into the hallway, causing the light in the hallway to go out.
But as of now, these problems remain unaddressed, tenants said.
“Their response to any complaint is nothing so far,” Donte said of Village Park West LLC, which owns the building.
The management of Village Park West declined to comment.
“We’re given a certain amount of time to respond, so we have a lawyer and an architect to look at our apartments and the work they have done,” Peyton said. “Now we just have to wait and see what happens.”
Such rent increases are not unusual, said Flora Davidson, a professor of political science and urban studies at Barnard.
“MCI increases are a legal means of raising rents, but also often essential for the maintenance of buildings,” Davidson said, noting that repairs such as pointing repairs are crucial for preventing masonry or brickwork from deteriorating, falling off, and injuring pedestrians. “Landlords can legitimately claim that with limits on rent increases, they do not have sufficient funds to make these repairs without filing for legal MCI rent increases.”
James Plastiras, the DHCR director of communications said applying for MCI’s don’t require tenant consent and that pointing is one of many services that qualifies for rent increases of this kind.
Park West tenants, however, said pointing costs should not be passed on to them. David Folk, who has lived in Park West Village for 40 years, said he hasn’t had any issues but that he still thinks paying for pointing is not the responsibility of residents.
“It’s a rip-off,” Folk said. “My sense is that structural maintenance is their problem.”
Fellow resident Eileen Kafka, who has lived in the building for 30 years, agreed.
“I wouldn’t think they would charge us, considering it’s their property,” Kafka said. “They should be able to maintain it without incurring another surtax.” She said that though she doesn’t think the rent increase will threaten her ability to stay in the apartment, it will affect her spending power.
Davidson, however, said that MCI rent increases may lead to better living conditions in the long run.
“While MCI repairs do lead to rent increases, they are often better than the alternative, which is for landlords to disinvest in properties and let them deteriorate and pose a danger to health and safety,” she said.
Still, tenants said they worry that the proposed increases are part of an attempt to slowly push out people living in rent-stabilized apartments so they can then be converted to market-rate or luxury residences.
“They try to move them out so they can redo the apartment and then charge a luxury rate for the apartment,” said Peyton. “That’s really what’s going on.”
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