The bathroom that Winston Pitts and his wife share with two other SRO tenants at 361 West 116th Street.
By Joy Bergmann
The toilet rocked off its hole as Winston Pitts, 73, showed West Side Rag the bathroom he and his wife share with two other SRO tenants at 361 W. 116th Street. “I’ve lived in New York for 42 years, but I’ve never lived like this.”
Pitts and six other residents have filed suit against the building’s owner, Morningside 116 Associates LLC, and John Lasala, head of the corporation, seeking immediate repairs to remedy the now 165 open violations issued by HPD (Housing Preservation and Development), including rat infestations, exposed wiring, broken windows, no hot water, leaks, broken entrance doors, peeling lead paint, defective floors and more.
A garbage bag covers a window-less window at 361 West 116th Street.
During a visit Wednesday afternoon, conditions seemed more on par with a Jacob Riis photograph than a rapidly gentrifying brownstone block in Morningside Heights. Pitts keeps his room pin-neat – adorned with religious icons, family pictures and an MTA commendation plaque for heroism in breaking up a subway robbery. But there’s evidence of disrepair all around, from leaks into food preparation areas, to mold and dicey electrical outlets.
Pitts says it wasn’t always this way. When the retired construction worker moved in 12 years ago, the owner was an “old man who was here 7 days a week.” When that owner died, someone else started showing up to collect the rent – in Pitts’ case, $450 a month for a single room and kitchenette.
A kitchen at 361 West 116th Street.
In May 2016, the estate of Leonia Adams sold the building to its current owners for $1.2 million, according to city records.
The transition hasn’t been rosy.
According to the lawsuit, the new landlord, John Lasala, has made repeated buyout offers to tenants, even after they declined interest; has failed to correct conditions; provided no maintenance or services in the building; and filed frivolous legal actions against residents.
To combat those suits, Pitts says the tenants contacted Manhattan Legal Services (a program of Legal Services NYC) and Goddard Riverside Law Project for assistance. Beyond dealing with the suits against tenants, the lawyers also focused on the conditions under which they had been living.
The bathroom floor at 361 West 116th Street.
The tenants prevailed with a default judgment when Lasala failed to appear in Housing Court, according to Jasmin E. Torres, one of the tenants’ attorneys. After that victory, tenants filed the current affirmative suit seeking to compel the owners to restore livability to the units and cease harassing tenants. The case is to be heard Thursday morning.
“We want the court to ensure completion of work so that our clients are in premises that are livable,” says Torres. “They seek to be afforded a decent quality of life like every other resident of this city.”
Adds Tayyaba Khokhar of Goddard Riverside Law Project, “They’ve been harassed by the landlord with repeated buyout demands even after they’ve made it clear that they intend to stay in the building.” Goddard Riverside calls the conditions “intolerable.”
There is no mailbox in the entry hallway.
Pitts says he’s heard rumors of other tenants being offered and accepting $10,000 to move out. It wouldn’t tempt him, he says, noting that sum would only cover the cost of acquiring a different apartment and moving. An apartment with a rent likely far above $450.
WSR made several attempts to contact Lasala. A publicly posted phone number is no longer in service. There’s no attorney contact listed on Morningside 116 Associates LLC filing with the Secretary of State’s office. There was no indication of Lasala’s or the LLC’s name when WSR visited 59 W 119th Street, the address on the court papers. A text to an unconfirmed cell number has not yet garnered a reply.
Pitts says he’s met Lasala a few times and has heard mentions of upcoming repairs, but hasn’t seen much action yet. “John [Lasala] seems like a nice guy, but nice guys can screw you, too.”
Photos by Joy Bergmann.
Itis hard to look at the photographs without getting upset. Yet, “Pitts says he’s met Lasala a few times and has heard mentions of upcoming repairs, but hasn’t seen much action yet. ‘John [Lasala] seems like a nice guy'”. Mr Pitts has a very generous nature.
Nobody should have to live in those conditions. The landlord should be run out of town.
Sadly there are worse, much worse conditions all over NYC. This includes housing/apartments owned and run by NYC such as public housing.
One small mercy is the OP didn’t mention vermin (mice or rats), or maybe one missed something.
Bottom line is NYC housing courts are like Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Things move at often a glacial pace and even where there is a victory for a tenant it is often hollow.
Landlords know this and drag things out for ages meanwhile tenants have little recourse but to continue living under horrible conditions. If they stop paying rent without a court order or legal guidance a non-payment proceeding will surely follow. Because that action is different from a holdover it causes all sorts of confusion.
Complicating matters is that unless things reach a level of imminent danger to life the courts/city are reluctant to step in and do any repair work, then billing the LL.
Agree, $10k is a very low amount for a buy out offer. Even if one could find another apartment in NYC for one grand or less per month that sum would barely last a year. Then what?
Cannot recall if this was an actual court case or maybe a film; but the LL should be forced to live in that building under same conditions as residents. After one night if not a week am sure he would change his tune.
actual case
i’d figure a guy who references Dickens would know that.
(but, in fairness, i didn’t know the Dickens reference)
This really pisses me off. Yes, I get neighborhoods change; gentrification and market values. But if you buy a property with existing tenants in existing leases that are below market value, then tough luck. As a landlord, you must maintain a livable and habitable environment. If it means you will lose money on your investment for the immediate future, then thats your bad. But if the business plan is to harass tenants to get them out, you should be locked up in jail — or as in that movie The Super, in one of your own buildings… I have families in my building on the low 100s living in Classic 6s paying the same or less than what I pay for my one bedroom — but they have been there for years, bearing the bad neighborhood of the 70s -90s, so I don’t begrudge them for a moment. These landlords are scum.
I think we’re in the same building Stu…are those families relatives of cops and firemen?…
“The toilet rocked off its hole.” Then screw it down. You do know toilets are held down by screws on either side right?
I wonder who broke that window as well.
That bathroom could be dramatically improved with a simple paint job. Do tenants know they’re allowed to do that and don’t even have to ask?
Does everything require a lawsuit? I guess when tenants know they’re no longer wanted, and have financial leverage, the answer is yes.
Scott, if it is so easy the landlord should get over there right away and fix it.
“Does everything require a lawsuit? I guess when tenants know they’re no longer wanted, and have financial leverage, the answer is yes.”
How do these people have financial leverage? I have met people who live here out on the street asking for food. They have specifically asked for small containers because their refrigerators are so small they won’t hold a quart size carton of milk.
I don’t think a paint job is going to fix that bathroom. Is it even legal to have the pipes exposed like that?
And if they don’t have bread, they can always eat cake, right?
It would be difficult to secure a toilet sitting on a broken floor, as is the case in this bathroom.
The tenant with the broken window says the glass was loose for years due to a rotten window sill. The glass fell out earlier this summer.
So rather than stabilize the loose glass with some wood trim and glue, the tenant waits for the glass to fall out, tapes a garbage bag on there and then hires a lawyer.
Sometimes this city really depresses me. But Cato says I’m heartless, so I must be.
I don’t know you and never said a word about you. I responded to something you posted, but never said anything about you personally.
What makes you think people believe you’re “heartless”? A bit of projection, perhaps?
Usually spelled out in a lease generally rental tenants are prohibited from doing anything that involves structure of building without written LL consent. The repairs mentioned to fix that broken window may seem easy enough, but without knowing the actual condition it is hard to say. Quite honestly wood window frames and or non-energy efficient windows are and should be replaced anyway.
The other thing is why should someone paying rent have to make any repairs major or small? Landlords are required by law to maintain a certain level of living conditions. Each time a tenant takes matters into their own hands be it painting or minor repairs it just lets a LL off the hook.
Finally in the often perverse world of NYC real estate two wrongs don’t make a right. Absent a court order any tenant that makes alterations and or “repairs” to an apartment risks legal action from the LL. This can and has in past resulted in said tenant being evicted because they broke the terms of their lease.
Harassment of SRO residents has been going on since Ed Koch became mayor. That man did little to stop such abuses and though the city and state have enacted protections for such tenants enforcement often leaves much to be desired.
Scott,
Are residents now required to have power drills with concrete breakers that are sized to fit the screw needed to secure the toilet? Do they have plans of the piping that’s likely running underneath that concrete so they don’t puncture the pipes?
Given the amount of damage to the exterior wall, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is black mold lurking in there as well.
Be part of the solution, Scott. Seems like you’ve got a lot of great ideas for these tenants and apparent free time. Am sure these elderly gentlemen would welcome your strong hands and agile mind to bring their homes back up to code. You’ve got the address and I bet the front door doesn’t even lock.
Define “broken.” Is a tile or 2 missing? That’s not broken.
Until I see pics of the floor, I’ll reserve further comment.
We will post a picture of the floor. WSR
The floor needs replacing, but the underlayment of that chipped/broken tile is poured concrete. Not likely to be compromised in any way shape or form. I bet it’s rather easy to stabilize that toilet.
What a dump. Surely it was basically that bad before the current owner took over, though perhaps the previous owner was more responsive to acute problems.
According to Streeteasy the building has 11 units. 11 × $450 × 12 = $59,400/year. $59,400 / $1,220,000 = 0.048 or a cap rate just under 5%. That’s pretty low by historical standards, but Manhattan real estate has become really inflated.
The landlord is probably barely breaking even after taxes, maintenance, and utilities are accounted for. If a bank financed the purchase he’s probably losing money. He didn’t buy it for cashflow though, he bought it to flip when it becomes vacant. I’m surprised his buyout offers are so low if he’s serious about getting tenants out.
So the trick is to move into a really terrible and run down apartment for under $500, then sue the owner to fix it up.
We can then come back to WSR to complain when the owner raises the rent to a level on par with the enhanced quality.
It’s not an apartment; it’s a room and kitchenette. Apartments have bathrooms.
And no trick involved; it is the owner’s responsibility to maintain livable conditions in his property:
“Owners must ensure that buildings are safe, clean and well maintained, in both common areas and in individual apartments. Among other responsibilities, owners must provide and maintain security measures, heat, hot and cold water, and good lighting. Owners must register the property annually with HPD, if the building is rent-stabilized the owner must registered rents annually with the New York State Homes and Community Renewal and the owner must be in compliance with the New York City Housing Maintenance Code and New York State Multiple Dwelling Law.”
source: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/hpd/renters/tenants-rights-responsibilities.page#faq2
Well spoken by those who have the compassion to see this situation for what it is. I agree that the landlord created his own situation and if he bought the building with the intention of buying people out, I agree, his bad. He is responsible for providing healthy, safe living conditions for those who live there.
As for the other commentors….then there are people who make me sick.
If similar conditions were found in Health Department inspections of a restaurant, the restaurant would be closed – immediately. Period, end of story, that’a all she wrote. Why are these conditions in residential buildings allowed to continue for months and years and nothing more than meaningless summonses and unenforced court orders are the only actions taken.
I hope that West Side Rag will absolutely NOT let this article be the end of story. WSR should run frequent follow-ups which will bring pressure on government to get off its butt, do its job and protect the human rights of its citizens.
Fines, negative publicity and “shaming” do absolutely nothing to deter landlords, property owners and developers who couldn’t care less about their properties as long as the bucks keep rolling in.
Very upsetting. And if the inside it like this, the outside is probably hazardous too – falling brick, crumbling cornice. Be careful!
I am really surprised that anyone could be anything but outraged by this. Scott – A landlord is REQUIRED to paint every 3 years, this does not look like it has been painted in quite a bit longer than that. Landlords are REQUIRED to make repairs such as broken windows – for the health and safety of tenants. This is simply the law. It is shocking to me that this landlord is in such flagrant disregard of these laws. Good for the tenants for taking him to court – I am surprised they are still paying rent! I would have put mine in escrow a long time ago. A In the richest city, with the most stringent tenancy laws there is no excuse for this.
Maria — lots of things are “required” in this world. Drivers are required to stop at a red light. But I still look when I’m crossing. I know if my windowpane was shaky and falling out, I’d head over to the corner hardware store and sort it out. Not wait until it’s on the street.
Seems to me a lot of NYC tenants live in a permanent state of infantilization.
Scott, you deserve to have that experience to learn some compassion.
AND writing “a lot of NYC tenants live in a permanent state of infantilization.” is offending a lot of people you don’t even know.
Why go out of your way to be insulting?
Unfortunately you get what you pay for.
When a tenant pays $450/month for an apartment in Manhattan the landlord has either no cash and/or no economic incentive to properly maintain the place.
Sherman
It sounds as if the new landlord purchased this building just to “flip” it. Isn’t that the situation here?
Also, the new landlord would have known the building specifications prior to purchase – and made an informed decision to do this deal.
IMO it does not seem like the case of a helpless property owner….
Sherman, read ALL the comments and learn something. You are way short on understanding renting rights and have zero compassion.
Actually I have plenty of compassion for the landlord who is not earning enough rent revenue to cover his expenses.
He doesn’t need your compassion. He needs a public trial.
Sort of like Donald Trump declaring bankruptcy, right?
A landlord who just BOUGHT the place knowing full well the rent roll and the condition of the building and the legal obligations of a landlord in NYC. Caveat emptor.
Hey what’s a little mold here and there.The landlord should go to jail.
If the landlord has $10,000 to offer these tenants to leave, he surely has enough money to make the repairs too. He can’t claim poverty. What a joke! I am surprised anyone woukd side with the landlord on this one. He chose to buy the property, I am sure he inspected it before purchase and so it is his responsibility to make sure it is livable. Not fancy, just livable. It is a disgrace that he would conscionably allow an elderly couple to live in such deplorable conditions when they are paying him the rent due- an amount he knew full well would be his income when he bought the place. I am surprised anyone would comment on the side of the landlord in this situation.
RE: “I am surprised anyone would comment on the side of the landlord in this situation.”
Unless the commentator might be the landlord himself or one of his crooked cronies.
If this is the same John Lasala then neither he nor a family member (brother?) are crying poverty just yet. Rather seem to be playing the real estate game in Harlem like many others. Buying properties, taking out mortgages but putting very little of that money back into the building. Rather it must be going somewhere else.
https://www.realdirect.com/e/59.WEST-119-STREET.10026/
Maybe WSR should send this column to Cyrus Vance, N.Y. County District Attorney.
Landlords are motivated by one thing only: money or the lack of it. So the tenants need to speak the landlord’s language. They can set up an escrow fund and put the rent in there. They have paid, but the landlord cannot get the money until the apartments are repaired. With an escrow fund, they cannot be evicted for nonpayment. But their lawyers must have already suggested this.
Mr. Pitts,
I am so sorry this is your battle. I admire your tenacity. I hope this is soon behind you!
This community of commenters never ceases to amaze me. Did you even read the article or look at the photos?
Mr. Pitts (73, retired) has lived in this SRO twelve years. The owner when he moved in took care of the property. Twelve years later he’s now the victim of a landlord who very clearly wants people to leave. His rent being $450 is irrelevant. (He didn’t set the rent!) The apartment falling down around him is not a cosmetic issue that paint and some screws will fix. There’s very clearly water damage, mold, exposed pipes and a damaged substrate on the floor–none of those things are the responsibility of the tenant. He has actively tried to get them fixed and the landlord refuses. What’s also very clear is the cleanliness of the sink, toilet kitchenette–everything the tenant CAN control. This person is clearly house proud and takes care of what he can and is looking for a way to draw attention to what is happening to him as a tenant on the Westside.
Yet, instead of compassion, what can be done or even a pat on the back from not losing his ever-loving mind in this situation, the loudest voices here berate a man because his rent is low.
At what price point would this be a “valid” complaint? If his rent were $2800/month the comments would have gone a different way–blasting a landlord and no one being able to imagine living in such conditions, perhaps even some support and words of encouragement.
I’d much rather live in a community of people like Mr. Pitts–who doesn’t even disparage the landlord!–than the persistently thoughtless people who comment here.
You sound like a generous and compassionate person.
Why don’t you invest in residential property on the UWS and lease apartments out at $450/month?
You keep harping on about the rent rolls.
Current LL purchased the property knowing or should have known it was a SRO and the rent rolls. The only motivation for purchasing such a property in this case is obvious; force out or otherwise remove existing tenants then redevelop. That and or assemble a series of lots then flip them all.
So please, stop with the Pity Me Pines story about this poor landlord that is being abused by New York’s rent laws. He knew what he was getting and there is an end to it.
Sherman, you seem to know the financials of this building. or smugly THINK you know.
As i have pointed out to you before, the NYC Rent Guidelines Board publishes extensive statistical reports every year on the income and expenses for rent stabilized buildings. Landlords of rent stabilized buildings do indeed make profit, unless the building is over-mortgaged.
but i guess you aren’t too interested in facts.
https://www.nycrgb.org/html/research/cresearch.html
The NYC Rebt Guidelines Board is an advocate for rent regulation.
Please don’t bother me with “reports” they publish about how wonderful rent regulation is for the city.
They have an agenda to promote and they’re not exactly an objective source.
you don’t seem to know what the Rent Guidelines Board is. it is a govt agency and is not an “advocate” for anything.
This kind of condition should be criminal.
The problem is that government does nothing about it other than issue summonses which landlords ignore, and the courts issue decrees which are also ignored. One of the largest, by dollar volume, contributors to city, state and federal election campaigns is the Rent Stabilization Association, one of the real estate industry’s main lobbying groups.
If one wants to know why the laws are not enforced, simply follow the money.