Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Slumlord List

Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio has launched an easy to navigate list of NYC's worst landlords. Click here to check it out. It will surely become an invaluable resource for apartment hunters, as well as those living in deteriorating buildings - tenants can click here to easily report unsafe or unsanitary living conditions. Unfortunately the worst seven buildings on the list are located in the Bronx - grrrrrrrrrrr.

~ErLu
♦DiggIt! ♦Add to del.icio.us ♦Add to Technorati Faves
Posted by Boogiedowner at 10:12 AM
Labels:

3 comments:

Newburgh Restoration said...

I saw this in the newspaper yesterday. I too thought that it was too bad the majority of the buildings were in the Bronx.

August 31, 2010 at 11:58 AM
Guywithacause said...

The number of decrepit buildings and horrible Landlord's is like the chicken vs egg question. Which came first?

Did the LLs make the buildings decrepit? Did the TTs? Is it because rents are low and there is no money to invest? Is it because the areas are so sh***y that there is no point to "invest" when these buildings are money pits/TTs don't care about them/communities are horrible?

I don't have the answers, but I am not surprised that the Bronx, central Bronx in particular, has these serious issues. What's the solution then?

Is it in the best interest of the city to takeover buildings and rehab them? We know the city doesn't want to be a LL again. Should the city forcefully foreclose on these buildings and "sell" (really give) the to the current TTs to own/manage/operate (co-op)? Is this the kind of precedent we want to set in NYC?
Should the TTs take a more active role instead of just saying everything is the LLs responsibility/fault and it's out of their hands? They claim it's their home in court, but when it comes to taking any responsibility/action it is "the LL's responsibility because he is the owner." Which is it?

What's the reality? We know alot of the housing stock/old tenements are filled with low-income/no-income, poorly-educated/no-education residents who are heavily subsidized by the government. Much of these buildings are in higher crime communities, abysmally low rents, and in generally undesirable areas (undesireable regardless of how good the condition of the building).

As a LL you can funnel $30 million to upgrade the buildings to a decent standard, still get the same $1,000 for a 3 bedroom apt (I am being generous), and ultimately still have a building worth $2 million dollars with the same type of TTs after all your trouble/time/expense. Who would do this?

It's a tough situation for everyone.

August 31, 2010 at 1:00 PM
Anonymous said...

This really is a case by case basis and every building/tenant/landlord situation is different and shouldn't be put in a box as the DN report did.

Some of these buildings are truly in bad shape because of tenants, others because of LL negligence, and still others because no one has been willing to fix the problem.

I agree that more needs to be done to diversify housing so that other people with more disposable income can choose to live here and then maybe we can get some neighborhood stablity back.

August 31, 2010 at 11:26 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)