The tenants of 172 North 8th St, out of their apartments since July 2009, have received significant media attention this month after an extended legal battle resulted in the NYC Building Department lifting the vacate order on their 8 unit Williamsburg building.  In spite of the removal of the vacate order, their landlord has refused to remove the padlock on the buildings’ entrance.  The tenants are bring represented by Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A Project Director Marty Needelman and Deferred Associate Fellow Shekar Krishnan.

  (Above: NYTimes Photo Detail)

New York Times June 29, 2010 coverage: 

It is not the most obvious form of home improvement: hacking away at a building’s foundation until the entire structure threatens to collapse.

Yet that is precisely what displaced tenants of a modest Brooklyn apartment building have accused their landlord of having done.

The building, at 172 North Eighth Street, is a four-story, eight-unit red-brick walk-up that sits close to Bedford Avenue, in the middle of trendy, youth-centric Williamsburg.

Aside from a few tenants’ brief return two weeks ago — after they broke a front-door padlock to get in — the building has been vacant for a year. In June 2009, the city Buildings Department ordered an evacuation because of what it said was illegal excavation work that compromised the stability of the building.

Concluding that the repairs had been sufficiently completed, the Buildings Department lifted the order three weeks ago, allowing the tenants to return. Faced with a padlocked door that the landlord, Jamal Alokasheh, had not unlocked, some tenants forced their way in on June 13.

Two days later, two cellar walls were discovered to have collapsed, and the city ordered the building evacuated again. The city Department of Housing Preservation and Development also issued dozens of other notices of violations for, among other things, a lack of water and electricity service to upper-floor units.

Now, with the backing of the housing department, the tenants have asked a housing court judge to appoint someone other than Mr. Alokasheh to manage the building. Both sides are to meet in court on Wednesday. The tenants, whose apartments are rent stabilized and thus relatively inexpensive, say Mr. Alokasheh intentionally damaged the building — not once, but twice — and delayed repairs in the hope of replacing them with higher-paying residents.

“He’s the only one who had access this entire time; therefore he’s the one who did this. He was the only one with the key,” said Shekar Krishnan, a lawyer with Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, who represents the tenants. “He’s openly made threats that he does not want them in the building.”

Read more at the New York Times' website.

More Coverage:  

Greenpoint Star, June 22. "Tenants, Landlord Fight it Out in Housing Court"

Greenpoint Gazette: "The Fight Continues at 172 N. 8th Street"  

Brooklyn Paper, June 16. "Update! N. Eighth Tenants Back on Street!"

Daily News, June 16. "Tenants Bust Back Into Williamsburg Building After Legal Win, but Find Trouble"  

Gothamist, June 16. "Landlord Accused of Forcing Out Williamsburg Tenants"

Earlier: 

Greenpoint Gazette, July 23, 2009. "The Struggle for 172 N. 8th Street"