the gloves are off

Category: Utility Allowances

  • Gotham faces $600,000+ judgment

    Gotham has been ordered to pay its rent.

    Since April of 2020 Gotham has refused to pay rent on its swanky office digs on Park Avenue South. They didn't like the construction shed on the sidewalk. So they just stopped paying their rent. The landlord sued and won hands down: over $600,000 in back rent plus damages and attorneys fees. 

    Of course, Gotham makes residential tenants in its own buildings wade through dog poop and urine on the sidewalk but still expects tenants to pay their rent. Here's a pretty picture of what Gotham's tenants deal with day in and day out in front of the building:

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    Imagine slip-sliding through that to get in the door. 

    Poor David Picket, Gotham owner. He can't screw his own landlord out of $600,000 in rent so he'll beat up on disabled, elderly, and poor tenants in his buildings by revoking utility rent credits that have been guaranteed in their leases. The tenants are suing, too, but Gotham is afraid to answer the complaint. They keep begging for extensions of time to figure out a response.

    Judgment Day is coming.

     

     

     

  • The Real Deal squeals on Gotham

    On Friday, March 19th, attorneys representing tenants at Gotham West, the Nicole, and the Atlas filed a class action lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court against the buildings' owners and management company alleging violations of Rent Stabilization Laws, breach of the buildings' HFA agreements, and deceptive business practices.

    By Monday afternoon, The Real Deal was all over the story. 

    Nobody's gonna muffle this kerfuffle any longer. The landlord has revoked utility credits guaranteed in rent stabilized leases, and the tenants are busting-chops mad.

    Of course, Gotham couldn't even be truthful with the press. They assured The Real Deal that they had restored the utility credits while they are trying to figure out a way to legally take them away. Not the truth. Not anywhere near the truth. The suffering tenants in the Nicole and the Atlas haven't seen their utility credits restored. The Gotham West tenants got a partial restoration of utility credits at the 2019 rates without the increases mandated for 2020 and 2021. Nobody has seen the utility credits restored to their leases.

    Along with not being truthful about restoring the utility credits, Gotham backed right into an admission that they knew revoking the credits in the leases beginning in 2019 was illegal when they said they were now looking for a legal way to accomplish it. 

    The Real Deal story

    New York Supreme Court documents

     

     

  • Gotham’s illegal and despicable practices must be halted and reformed.

    Letter to Gotham Organization - Utility Credit

  • Gotham sued for noncompliance with Fair Housing Act

    It sure is starting to look like the only way David Picket's Gotham Organization can make a profit is off the backs of disabled and poor tenants through substandard construction design and cheating them out of utility allowances that were permanently written into leases. 

    Here Gotham is being sued by the Fair Housing Justice Center for construction at its Nicole (55th & 9th Ave) and Ashland (Brooklyn) buildings which does not meet standards of accessibility for disabled individuals. To add insult to injury, Gotham yanked away the utility allowances from the low income and disabled tenants at the Nicole who are fighting to survive during the pandemic.

    As the suit says, it's time to halt and reform Gotham's illegal and despicable practices.

    Here are the first two pages:

    P1-2 of Gotham.-Complaint-dkt-1-5-23-19-00377710x9CCC2 copy

     

    P2-2 of Gotham.-Complaint-dkt-1-5-23-19-00377710x9CCC2 copy

     

  • Hurly-burly with Gotham management over utility allowances escalates

    Gotham West tenants' complaint cauldron is starting to bubble and soon will be ready for Gotham management to be dropped into it.  

    If you are an affordable unit tenant at Gotham West or one of its other properties, e.g., the Nicole, the Atlas, and want to pursue permanent recovery of your monthly utility allowance, please contact Housing Conservation Coordinators. This includes all low income, moderate income, and middle income tenants.

    HCC is assembling a list of plaintiffs.

    Contact:   Housing Conservation Coordinators
                    777 Tenth Avenue
                    (212) 541-5996 ask for Elise Levy or Richard Semegram
                    http://www.hcc-nyc.org

     

     

     

  • 2020 Utility Allowances

  • Keep up the pressure

    Tenants who have received renewal leases from Gotham West which do not include the Utility Allowance should continue to file complaints with the DHCR, if they have not already filed. When the DHCR forwards a copy of Gotham's response to you, it's important to share that response with as many other complaining tenants as possible for comparison purposes. Sharing will aid everyone in preparing replies to the DHCR that respond to Gotham; it will also help to find inconsistencies in their claims.

    Here is a link to the proper filing form. The entire complaint package must be sent in duplicate. Be absolutely sure to attach copies of your original lease, the current renewal offer, proof of the last six months of rent payments, and anything else you believe to be of importance.

    Tenant Complaint Form – Landlord's Failure to Renew Lease

     

     

  • blink, blink

    Yesterday Gotham Organization took a step back (with a sigh and tears in its eyes) and decided that it's not going to ram its shoddy, illegitimate removal of the utility allowances down the throats of Gotham West affordable tenants at the moment. Instead Gotham will wait a while and maybe try again at a later date if they can find an easier path. Meanwhile, they'll be dealing with a flood of complaints directed through the DHCR, the New York State Attorney General's office, multiple elected officials, and local organizations.

    Gotham continues its bald-faced lying about the utility allowance. They are arguing as though they think the low income tenants have a collective I.Q. of –2. We are entitled to a true HUD utility allowance by virtue of our leases and the HFA agreement that Gotham made with the regulatory authority. HFA has already confirmed that in writing and it has been provided to Gotham. But hundreds of thousands of dollars are on the line, so Gotham will try every crooked trick and lie that they can come up with to get our money.

    It is extremely important for the low income tenants to continue to file their DHCR complaints. We should not allow the DHCR to overlook the differences in the rights of the low income tenants and the rights of the moderate/middle income tenants who have fewer protections and a more difficult challenge to keep their utility allowances. We're prepared to go the distance — wherever that takes us. Of course, we're here to help you assemble your complaints and can provide documents that might be helpful to each case.

    It is also extremely important to keep track of the amounts that Gotham reimburses for the utility allowances (per its email yesterday). As we all know, nearly everything that the Gotham West staff does is wrong. And we also know that they don't care that it's wrong and are not the least bit interested in correcting their errors. They are the very definition of a sloth staff. So, keep on top of it. Keep all copies of emails, followups, and keep a detailed accounting of any effort you must make in order to get your utility allowance refunds. 

    Onward.

     

     

  • Utility Allowance Theft by Gotham Organization

    We received a couple of requests for these DHCR complaint forms which will come in useful if Gotham West Management fails to correct all of the LIHTC renewal leases which it knows illegally eliminated the Utility Allowance.

    Make no mistake about it – this is not a situation in which Gotham West has made innocent mistakes or the result of simple incompetence on the part of its employee, Amine Ourahou, who is pushing these faulty renewal leases onto tenants. This is a planned strategy to cheat LIHTC tenants out of their Utility Allowances. It is a crafted conspiracy to steal tenants' Utility Allowances and pocket them.

    It is theft.

    It is such a shame that David Picket's Gotham Organization doesn't maintain employees who are skilled enough and talented enough to be successful without cheating less fortunate people. 

    Download DHCR Tenant Complaint Form–failure to renew lease

    Download Ra89–rent-overcharge

     

  • If you think there is a lot of poop on the sidewalks out front, get a load of what’s in Friday’s email from Gotham

    As you are trying to decipher the abstruse goop in the email sent out late Friday by Gotham's Rosemary Pagan, keep in mind the following information. 

    Below are links to the definitive regulatory agreements that govern the Gotham West Project from 2011. There are a lot of interesting rights in these agreements that Gotham West Management doesn't want tenants to know about.

    Download HFA Regulatory Agreement

    Download HPD Regulatory Agreement

    Download Inclusionary Housing Regulatory Agreement 2011

    First and foremost, there is a "good cause" eviction clause repeated several times which states that no existing tenant may be removed whether by eviction, expiration of lease, or for any reason other than good cause. Good cause is not paying your rent, damaging your apartment or the building, harassing your neighbors, or not following the building's rules. Unfortunately for Gotham West Management, good cause does NOT include its right to kick out a tenant from his home to make way for a larger household. Gotham is compelled to set aside another unit in the project for that larger household, NOT kick out the existing tenant. In other words, there is no Reassignment Right of the Landlord in our leases or in the original regulatory agreements. Don't sign away your rights. Don't be tricked by a crooked, deceiving, untrustworthy landlord.

    This "good cause" eviction clause is also in First Tenants' leases.

    Second, tenants' annual certification obligations are specified in these documents and in the leases. There is NO existing obligation to sign lease riders that amend the terms of the lease in conjunction with the annual certification. NONE. ZIPPO.

    Third, Gotham West Management is expressly prohibited from charging low income tenants (rent-restricted) ANY fees other monthly rent, a $25 late fee, and a bounced check fee within certain limits. If Gotham West Management has tried to pass on any other fees to you such as their legal fees or administrative fees or repair fees, don't pay it. If you already paid it, take it back via the filing of a rent overcharge complaint with the DHCR.

    Fourth, low-income tenants are expressly entitled to a true utility allowance by the regulatory agreements and by the leases. Furthermore, Gotham West Management is expressly required to apply to HFA if it thinks that it has a legitimate reason to eliminate the utility allowance. Gotham West has made NO application — this, according to the office of our elected official, Linda Rosenthal. Any removal of the utility allowance from lease renewals is illegal. The utility allowance is not a GIFT from Gotham West. It is not optional. It is compelled and it is part of the lease.