Re: Former landlord gone, new landlord unknown.
Posted by Israel Zayas on November 29, 1996 at 21:21:48:
In Reply to: Re: Former landlord gone, new landlord unknown. posted by Israel Zayas on November 05, 1996 at 21:49:57:
On the 12th of November I went to the trial... Everything seemed the same as it was before except the tables in the court room were now setup with mics. I had brought over all the information I thought I needed for the trial, and a organizer (I couldn’t afford a lawyer) from the “Los Sures” Southside United Housing Development Fund Corporation. The trial started and I was seated on the opposite side of the Landlord. The judge had asked me who was this person I was sitting with, and I replied an organizer from “Los Sures”. I stated that he was aware of the happenings in my building, but the Judge replied he can’t speak for you and he must remain quiet during the trial. The Judge asked to see the Title (deed) of the building, and the lawyer provided a copy of the deed. The Judge saw the deed and accepted it as true, the bailiff showed it to me for my approval. Since I had already had a copy of the deed and the information shown was true I accepted the deed. Next, the building registrations was shown. I disputed the registration, because I had a form letter, signed and with raised seal over the date and signature, stating the building was not registered. The Paperwork the landlord had was a registration form, and everything seemed in order except for a raised seal from the city... it had a RED stamp. His registration was dated the 30th of September 1996. I had called Housing sometime before the trial and asked if the building was registered, their answer was NO... David Farkas (assumed landlord) applied for a letter of complicance and registration on the 30th of September. The letter of compliance was denied because of violations in the building. So I had thought this case was in my favor. I disputed the registration, I had a form letter dated the 7th of November 1996, stating the building was not registered. I showed the letter to the judge, and the judge still ruled in favor for the landlord. I stated his registration was dated September 30th, 1996, no raised seal and I had a form letter stating otherwise. The Judge accepted his registration form and replied, sometimes it takes information time in housing to be updated. The Judge accepted this without verifying. All that was left for me to do was to show the cause of my non-payment. I tried to mention problems with the building, but the Judge stopped me and told me that the building was not relevant in this case, my apartment was. So I described the conditions in which I lived in. I mentioned I didn’t have any heat and hot water for a week, etc. including the fact about not knowing if my building was sold and/or who the new landlord was. After discussing what was happening with this whole mess (there was periods the recorder was turned off by the judge), the only conclusion left was a judges order ordering me to pay my rent in five days and giving the landlord (providing access Nov. 19, 20 & 21) 30 days to fix my apartment. The Judge after reading his decision had asked if there was any questions from the groups. I mentioned the form letter I had from HPD, stating the building not was registered, and I added that he could call Housing to verify himself. His reply was that “if I wasn’t satisfied with the work or if he didn’t make repairs that I could bring him back to court.” The following day my wife went back to the Housing Department with the judges order and requested another search for proof that the building was registered. The building still turned out as not registered. The search found the building registration void because of errors and omissions in the application, Housing stated they did send David Farkas paperwork to correct the problem, but because too much time has passed since they sent it the registration form he had was void. I was supposed to have his case dismissed. At this time there is little I could do. My assumed landlord showed proof of ownership and with this judges order I have to comply with it until the end (I paid, he still has to fix) of the 30 days. Since the court order, 12th of November, repairmen visited my apartment twice, on the 19th and 20th of November as directed by the courts. The 21st of November, we waited for repairmen, but no one showed up. While it’s easy to assume I won the court battle, a war is still being fought by the rest of the tenants in the building. Help is nowhere to be found. We organized ourselves into a tenant assoc., we contacted HPD, Los Sures, Legal aid, Nellie Santiago(senator), fire department inspectors, and the Internet, but everything we do is either too much too late or we are discouraged from fighting a losing battle. The facts about this problem is: the new landlord want the building empty. The new landlord is into something crocked, he’s hiding something, because he was on Welfare a year ago, he recently applied for low income housing and he was able to purchase a $220,000 house from out of nowhere. He hired a management company to manage the building and receive rent, which hides his identify to less than aggressive tenants. When trying to contact this person, his current residence can’t to be found. The disposition I received had an address which showed up on Public Assistance records as currently having his wife on Welfare. After my discovery was announce in court, the other tenants received Holdover Proceedings with a different home address for David Farkas.
Can anything be done to have this person investigated...
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