West Harlem Tenants Aim to End Abuses

Correction appended.

Taking a tactic out of their landlords' playbooks, West Harlem tenants, through tenants' rights association Buyers and Renters United to Save Harlem (BRUSH), have secured pro bono counsel from law firm Jenner & Block LLP, which will investigate potential landlord abuses and take any appropriate findings to court.

Included in the investigation is Harlem and Washington Heights landlord Pinnacle Group LLC, which in the past two years has gained notoriety among its tenants and neighbors for evictions. The landlord has been accused of enacting steep rent hikes followed by legal action against tenants who default.

"We are advising them [BRUSH] with respect to issues they are confronting with the loss of affordable housing in Harlem and Upper Manhattan. There is no pending litigation of any kind, but we are evaluating potential claims," said Andrew Jacobson, a partner close to the matter in Jenner & Block's Chicago office, in a telephone interview. "Certainly we're aware of Pinnacle-certainly Pinnacle is an area of concern for a number of people in that community. It's within our scope, but I can't speculate on any particular claims," Jacobson said.

The partnership between BRUSH and Jenner & Block was brokered by New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, who, as the city's ombudswoman, had received many complaints about Pinnacle, the most common of which are harassment and substandard repairs.

"Pinnacle has a well-documented history of mistreating its tenants, and I am committed to putting an end to it," Gotbaum said in a press release announcing the partnership. "I will not allow Pinnacle to get away with intimidating honest, hard-working families. Our city's tenants deserve much better."

Recent reports indicate that over the past two years, Pinnacle has filed 5,000 eviction proceedings against tenants in nearly 20,000 apartments.

The partnership is a part of a broader public project to familiarize tenants with an arena many of them, having witnessed court-enforced evictions, have grown to fear-the legal system. Sponsored by Gotbaum as well as Congressman Charlie Rangel, D-Harlem, and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Gotbaum's office has provided a series of free community workshops on housing law and tenants' rights for Harlem residents.

At these events, teams of lawyers from Jenner & Block have also been collecting information and documents from tenants, evaluating them for potential claims.

"These series of workshops will help tenants better understand their housing rights and will give valuable information on what to do in cases of harassment or abuse by their landlords. Education is our best weapon to combat tenants' rights violations and to protect the city's affordable housing stock," Stringer said. "I'm proud to be partnering with the Public Advocate's Office, Congressman Rangel, Buyers and Renters United to Save Harlem, Legal Aid Society, and all groups involved to empower Pinnacle tenants and help them fight for their rights."

CORRECTION: The original version of this article incorrectly stated that Pinnacle had not returned calls for comment. Calls were mistakenly placed to another company of the same name.