The homeowners of the Higher Manhattan house constructing the place three tenants died in a hearth final week racked up greater than 1,300 open housing violations throughout their New York portfolio, elevating new scrutiny over town’s enforcement of repeat-offender landlords.
An investigation by The City discovered landlords Jack Bick, Chaim Schweid and affiliated entities tied to 207 Dyckman Avenue collected 1,343 open violations at 10 buildings throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, together with 406 categorized as “instantly hazardous.” The tally consists of hearth issues of safety involving non-functioning self-closing house doorways, the identical situation inspectors cited on the Inwood property simply days earlier than the Might 4 blaze.
The six-story walkup at 207 Dyckman Avenue had acquired a dozen violations three days earlier than the hearth, together with one for a damaged self-closing house door. FDNY officers later mentioned open house doorways helped the hearth unfold quickly by means of the constructing, whereas models with closed doorways sustained minimal harm.
Three folks died within the blaze, together with Folks journal journalist Yolaine Diaz and her mom.
The Division of Housing Preservation and Improvement has sued Bick, Schweid and their firms 16 occasions since 2020 over alleged failures to right harmful circumstances, in accordance with The Metropolis. The instances span properties in Inwood, Far Rockaway and Kensington; complaints vary from blocked exits and lacking smoke detectors to accusations of tenant harassment and deferred upkeep.
The Dyckman Avenue constructing had already been positioned into HPD’s Alternate Enforcement Program, a designation reserved for buildings with persistently excessive ranges of hazardous violations.
The neighboring property at 209 Dyckman Avenue was sued by HPD only one week earlier than the hearth over circumstances that included a blocked technique of egress and lacking smoke detectors.
Collectively, the 2 buildings carried roughly 336 open violations as of final week.
Bick additionally landed at No. 80 on Public Advocate Jumaane Williams’ annual “worst landlords” listing.
At one Queens property, HPD alleged in a current lawsuit that possession uncared for unsafe circumstances as a part of an “intentional and aggressive marketing campaign” to push out rent-stabilized tenants.
The controversy lands as Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration pledges more durable housing enforcement amid mounting stress over getting old multifamily inventory and hearth security compliance. HPD mentioned it will proceed utilizing “each software in its toolbox” in opposition to landlords who fail to right hazardous circumstances.
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