Jan 19, 2015
Dear Neighbors,
I was just informed about the robbery that happened at 2020 Broadway. The police, I have been told, were just there.
I will be in the lobby in about 10 minutes.
Should anyone wish to meet me and have an informal meeting ... I will be there.
#212.787.8726
Kirby Sommers, President Cornfeld Tenants Association
Dear Neighbors,
I was just informed about the robbery that happened at 2020 Broadway. The police, I have been told, were just there.
I will be in the lobby in about 10 minutes.
Should anyone wish to meet me and have an informal meeting ... I will be there.
#212.787.8726
Kirby Sommers, President Cornfeld Tenants Association
Jan 19th, 2015
Dear Neighbors,
In response to the burglary that was reported to the Police Department today by the tenants at 2020 Broadway, #6A, please see the attached photos.
The front door of 2020 Broadway has been and remains broken. (Ref: photo taken of the front door on January 15, 2015).
The roof door was broken (Ref: photo taken of the door on January 15, 2015) -- the red arrow indicates the area where the door is leaning, not locked, against the frame.
Both locks have been broken for what seems like an eternity.
Even after our landlord: ABC Properties / Arthur Cornfeld, owner / Alex Cornfeld, owner's son / Ian DeFronze, property manager were informed....they did nothing to correct the situation.
The third (3rd) photo was taken at approximately 2:45pm today, Monday, January 19, 2015.
FINALLY, after YET ANOTHER BURGLARY in our buildings (143 West 69 Street is the sister building) there appears to be some work on the roof door as per the above referenced 3rd photograph.
IF WE HAD NOT FORMED A TENANTS ASSOCIATION THIS REPAIR WORK WOULD NOT EVEN HAVE BEEN ATTEMPTED.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Laws and Regulations · Under New York State Law, every lease for residential property contains a Warranty of Habitability. This requires every landlord to ensure residential apartments do not pose a threat to life, safety or well-being. The Warranty of Habitability also requires landlords to keep public areas of residential buildings (entrance-ways, lobbies, hallways, etc.) safe and clean. · While the Warranty of Habitability does not define specific standards of habitability, it covers a wide range of applications. If you feel your landlord has violated the warranty, you may be entitled to a rent reduction. · Warranty of Habitability, New York Real Property Law Section 235-b Failure to Provide a Safe Environment In New York, landlords are legally responsible for the failure to keep tenants safe from dangerous conditions on a property or safe from criminal activity. A landlord has a duty to make inspections and inform tenants and others that legally enter the property of hazards that exist on the premises. A landlord must take reasonable measures to ensure the safety of tenants from other tenants and from criminals that enter the property. Basic safety measures a landlord should provide include locks and adequate lighting. If a tenant sustains physical or property damage after a landlord becomes aware that the property is unsafe, an injured tenant may be able to sue and recover compensation from the landlord.
**
I urge you to keep a detailed record of things in your apartment or in the building that you bring to the attention of our landlord. This landlord has been, since the time I have been a tenant, over 34 years ..... negligent in responding to repair requests.
This landlord has been negligent in keeping all tenants safe from harm -- which is his responsibility.
As I have informed many of you during all of our impromptu meetings, individually they have been able to ignore us; TOGETHER THEY CAN NO LONGER ignore our health, our safety, and our lives.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO OTHER RESIDENTS WHO MAY NOT BE ON OUR MAILING LIST.
Thank you.
Kirby Sommers, President Cornfeld Tenants Association
Dear Neighbors,
In response to the burglary that was reported to the Police Department today by the tenants at 2020 Broadway, #6A, please see the attached photos.
The front door of 2020 Broadway has been and remains broken. (Ref: photo taken of the front door on January 15, 2015).
The roof door was broken (Ref: photo taken of the door on January 15, 2015) -- the red arrow indicates the area where the door is leaning, not locked, against the frame.
Both locks have been broken for what seems like an eternity.
Even after our landlord: ABC Properties / Arthur Cornfeld, owner / Alex Cornfeld, owner's son / Ian DeFronze, property manager were informed....they did nothing to correct the situation.
The third (3rd) photo was taken at approximately 2:45pm today, Monday, January 19, 2015.
FINALLY, after YET ANOTHER BURGLARY in our buildings (143 West 69 Street is the sister building) there appears to be some work on the roof door as per the above referenced 3rd photograph.
IF WE HAD NOT FORMED A TENANTS ASSOCIATION THIS REPAIR WORK WOULD NOT EVEN HAVE BEEN ATTEMPTED.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Laws and Regulations · Under New York State Law, every lease for residential property contains a Warranty of Habitability. This requires every landlord to ensure residential apartments do not pose a threat to life, safety or well-being. The Warranty of Habitability also requires landlords to keep public areas of residential buildings (entrance-ways, lobbies, hallways, etc.) safe and clean. · While the Warranty of Habitability does not define specific standards of habitability, it covers a wide range of applications. If you feel your landlord has violated the warranty, you may be entitled to a rent reduction. · Warranty of Habitability, New York Real Property Law Section 235-b Failure to Provide a Safe Environment In New York, landlords are legally responsible for the failure to keep tenants safe from dangerous conditions on a property or safe from criminal activity. A landlord has a duty to make inspections and inform tenants and others that legally enter the property of hazards that exist on the premises. A landlord must take reasonable measures to ensure the safety of tenants from other tenants and from criminals that enter the property. Basic safety measures a landlord should provide include locks and adequate lighting. If a tenant sustains physical or property damage after a landlord becomes aware that the property is unsafe, an injured tenant may be able to sue and recover compensation from the landlord.
**
I urge you to keep a detailed record of things in your apartment or in the building that you bring to the attention of our landlord. This landlord has been, since the time I have been a tenant, over 34 years ..... negligent in responding to repair requests.
This landlord has been negligent in keeping all tenants safe from harm -- which is his responsibility.
As I have informed many of you during all of our impromptu meetings, individually they have been able to ignore us; TOGETHER THEY CAN NO LONGER ignore our health, our safety, and our lives.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO OTHER RESIDENTS WHO MAY NOT BE ON OUR MAILING LIST.
Thank you.
Kirby Sommers, President Cornfeld Tenants Association
Jan 18th, 2015
Dear Neighbors, This update covers important information about how rents in our buildings have been illegally raised. This information is important to both Market Rate Tenants and to Rent Stabilized tenants. RENT FRAUD. The following is how our landlord has illegally raised the rents in all the residential buildings they own and manage. 1. Major Capital Improvements (MCI’s): Landlord will attribute an illegal rent increase to an MCI increase when a landlord has performed major repair work on the building. MCI’s must be major repairs that affect the entire building, as opposed to IAI’s, which are in an individual apartment. Although landlords are allowed to raise tenants’ rents following an MCI (IF LEGAL) – they may only do so by an annual maximum of 6% of the legal regulated rent and they must seek approval – after the repairs have already been made – FROM DHCR. Landlords will often cite MCI but then will raise rents more than the 6% maximum. a) 2020 Broadway and 143 West 69th Street (as well as some of this landlord’s other buildings have received an ILLEGAL MCI.) b) Replacement of windows, for example, has to be building-wide. In 2020 Broadway the windows on the 2nd floor (see photos) were not replaced – there are in fact 2 sets of windows – the old windows with the new window facing the outside of the building (see attached photos). c) This would make an MCI increase INVALID. d) Re: 143 West 69 Street … again, there are some windows that have NOT been replaced and where ONLY repairing was needed. e) Therefore any proposed MCI increase FOR BOTH buildings based on window repair IS ILLEGAL and can be reversed. 2. Excessive Rent Increases with No Explanation: Landlord(s) of rent stabilized buildings (which many of our landlord’s buildings are) register rents with DHCR at an amount above what is allowable by the law, without providing any explanation that might otherwise justify an increase beyond the RGB renewal increase or the allowable vacancy increase. 3. Failing to Register Rents: (This is a common problem). Landlord does not register the rents for their rent-stabilized apartments with DHCR at all, for years on end. After multiple years of failing to register an apartment’s rent, landlord then unlawfully increases the rent when they finally register. (Resulting in illegally inflated rents). 4. Inflated Vacancy Increases (affecting MARKET RATE + NEW TENANTS): When a tenant moves out of a rent stabilized apartment (or has been illegally forced out), the landlord is permitted to raise the rent up to 20%. There is also an additional longevity increase that landlords may take where no vacancy increase has been taken for ten (10) years or more. However our landlord has raised the rent, in these cases, in excess of the allowable vacancy increase without justification. 5. Inflated Renewal Increases: When renewing a lease the landlord will raise the rent above the allowable amount. Additionally, landlord will register illegal rent increases to set a higher legal rent for the apartment on record, even if the tenant is being charged the lawful increase. This slight of hand benefits the landlord in the long-term because it creates a higher legal regulated rent for the apartment. 6. Individual Apartment Improvements: When landlord renovates apartments during a vacancy, they can add a percentage of the cost of renovation to the monthly rent charged to the NEW TENANT. (1/60th in buildings with 35 or more buildings, 1/40th in buildings with less than 35 units.) These individual apartment increases (IAI’s), can be hard to detect because a NEW TENANT has NO IDEA how much work was done on an apartment during a vacancy. These illegal rent increases have gone by UNNOTICED and UNCHALLENGED. (Note: The only way a landlord can take an IAI increase when an apartment is occupied is where the tenant signs off on it). ADDITIONAL NOTES: This landlord has placed their family members, friends, and girlfriends in apartments that were RENT STABILIZED apartments. They sit on these apartments long enough to erase the real rents and when the apartment is put back on the market – THEY ARE PUT BACK at an ILLEGAL MARKET RATE. New tenants never know that the $3,200 apartment they are now paying for is in reality an $800 rent stabilized apartment. Prepared by: Kirby Sommers for the 143 West 69 Street / 2020 Broadway Tenants Association Tel: 212.787.8726
Dear Neighbors, This update covers important information about how rents in our buildings have been illegally raised. This information is important to both Market Rate Tenants and to Rent Stabilized tenants. RENT FRAUD. The following is how our landlord has illegally raised the rents in all the residential buildings they own and manage. 1. Major Capital Improvements (MCI’s): Landlord will attribute an illegal rent increase to an MCI increase when a landlord has performed major repair work on the building. MCI’s must be major repairs that affect the entire building, as opposed to IAI’s, which are in an individual apartment. Although landlords are allowed to raise tenants’ rents following an MCI (IF LEGAL) – they may only do so by an annual maximum of 6% of the legal regulated rent and they must seek approval – after the repairs have already been made – FROM DHCR. Landlords will often cite MCI but then will raise rents more than the 6% maximum. a) 2020 Broadway and 143 West 69th Street (as well as some of this landlord’s other buildings have received an ILLEGAL MCI.) b) Replacement of windows, for example, has to be building-wide. In 2020 Broadway the windows on the 2nd floor (see photos) were not replaced – there are in fact 2 sets of windows – the old windows with the new window facing the outside of the building (see attached photos). c) This would make an MCI increase INVALID. d) Re: 143 West 69 Street … again, there are some windows that have NOT been replaced and where ONLY repairing was needed. e) Therefore any proposed MCI increase FOR BOTH buildings based on window repair IS ILLEGAL and can be reversed. 2. Excessive Rent Increases with No Explanation: Landlord(s) of rent stabilized buildings (which many of our landlord’s buildings are) register rents with DHCR at an amount above what is allowable by the law, without providing any explanation that might otherwise justify an increase beyond the RGB renewal increase or the allowable vacancy increase. 3. Failing to Register Rents: (This is a common problem). Landlord does not register the rents for their rent-stabilized apartments with DHCR at all, for years on end. After multiple years of failing to register an apartment’s rent, landlord then unlawfully increases the rent when they finally register. (Resulting in illegally inflated rents). 4. Inflated Vacancy Increases (affecting MARKET RATE + NEW TENANTS): When a tenant moves out of a rent stabilized apartment (or has been illegally forced out), the landlord is permitted to raise the rent up to 20%. There is also an additional longevity increase that landlords may take where no vacancy increase has been taken for ten (10) years or more. However our landlord has raised the rent, in these cases, in excess of the allowable vacancy increase without justification. 5. Inflated Renewal Increases: When renewing a lease the landlord will raise the rent above the allowable amount. Additionally, landlord will register illegal rent increases to set a higher legal rent for the apartment on record, even if the tenant is being charged the lawful increase. This slight of hand benefits the landlord in the long-term because it creates a higher legal regulated rent for the apartment. 6. Individual Apartment Improvements: When landlord renovates apartments during a vacancy, they can add a percentage of the cost of renovation to the monthly rent charged to the NEW TENANT. (1/60th in buildings with 35 or more buildings, 1/40th in buildings with less than 35 units.) These individual apartment increases (IAI’s), can be hard to detect because a NEW TENANT has NO IDEA how much work was done on an apartment during a vacancy. These illegal rent increases have gone by UNNOTICED and UNCHALLENGED. (Note: The only way a landlord can take an IAI increase when an apartment is occupied is where the tenant signs off on it). ADDITIONAL NOTES: This landlord has placed their family members, friends, and girlfriends in apartments that were RENT STABILIZED apartments. They sit on these apartments long enough to erase the real rents and when the apartment is put back on the market – THEY ARE PUT BACK at an ILLEGAL MARKET RATE. New tenants never know that the $3,200 apartment they are now paying for is in reality an $800 rent stabilized apartment. Prepared by: Kirby Sommers for the 143 West 69 Street / 2020 Broadway Tenants Association Tel: 212.787.8726