Mayor Eric Adams’s office is threatening legal action after tenants displaced by a partial building collapse in the Bronx say they faced pressure from their landlord to waive rent reductions, drop lawsuits and claim responsibility for illegal apartment alterations in exchange for access to their homes.
The Department of Buildings on Wednesday lifted a partial vacate order for 21 of the 46 units at 1915 Billingsley Terrace, where six apartments collapsed last month in what city officials have called a botched construction job. The move allows tenants in part of the building to return home.
But some tenants and their lawyers said the landlord and his associates presented them with documents containing provisions that could harm their chances for repairs, or even set them up for eviction, and told them to sign in exchange for keys to newly installed locks on their units Thursday.
Adams’ spokesperson Charles Lutvak said the “landlord’s egregious attempt to weaponize our safety measures is completely unacceptable.”
“When the city lifts a vacate order, residents have the right to return to their homes — immediately,” Lutvak said. “We will work to support the residents’ right to return to their homes promptly, including supporting legal action if appropriate.”
An attorney for the building owner, a limited liability company tied to landlord David Kleiner and various associates, rejected the tenants’ claims that they had to waive rights or cop to renovations to get the keys.
Attorney Lawrence McCourt said his client denies any allegation “that the statements signed by the tenants were a quid pro quo in order to receive keys.”
Reached briefly by phone Friday, Kleiner told Gothamist he and his associates presented the documents to tenants to inform them why he removed the walls and changed their unit layouts.
Gothamist viewed three separate documents presented to tenants seeking access to their apartments Thursday and Friday. One form asserts that a…
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