Tenants at a Williamsburg apartment building have gone on a rent strike, saying they are fed up with a long list of problems in their homes that they say have gone unaddressed. According to News 12, the residents of the building on Metropolitan Avenue are withholding rent to press their landlord over conditions they describe as unacceptable.
The complaints run throughout the building. Tenants pointed to a rat infestation, problems with the elevator and the fire alarm, water pooling in the basement and leaky ceilings, painting a picture of a property they say has been left to deteriorate around the people living in it.
City records lend some weight to their concerns. According to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the building has drawn 79 complaints over the past two years, including 16 open violations. Separately, 311 data shows roughly 60 complaints this year alone, while the Department of Buildings lists two open violations of its own.
For the tenants, the frustration is compounded by a sense of having been here before. They say this is the third time they have gone on rent strike, and that management has repeatedly been made aware of the issues. One resident argued that the management company clearly does not act in good faith and does not truly care about the people who live in the building.
The building's owner offered a very different account. In a statement, 924 Metropolitan Avenue Realty LLC said it believes in taking care of its tenants and runs a good, clean building, adding that issues such as the elevator and the fire alarm have been fixed and that it is working to resolve the rat problem.
For now, the standoff leaves tenants and management at an impasse, with residents holding back rent as leverage while the landlord insists it is addressing their concerns. With this already the third such strike at the building, tenants signaled they are prepared to keep up the pressure until the conditions they have complained about are fully resolved.