An apartment building dubbed the priciest slum in New York by its residents is filled with mold and rat droppings and has a rent of $4,000 (about Rs 3 lakh) per month. The residents have also called the building "unliveable" and have formed a union to fight against the landlord who has not undertaken repairs despite multiple complaints, the New York Post reported.
One of the residents, Hunter Boone, 34, started the tenant union a month ago after being fed up with the leaky ceilings and mold-filled walls. Both Boone and his dog even acquired a parasitic infection from the nasty conditions, he told the media. In May, they suffered from prolonged digestive problems and were unable to keep food down because of exposure to rat poop.
“After that, that’s when I was like, okay, I really need to get the city involved in this rat problem… If someone is charging this much, why does the building look like this? Wouldn’t that mean that they are quote-unquote a slumlord?” Boone told the publication. He has been on a rent strike since February.
The New York Post, whose reporters also checked out the building during a visit, said that they found rat dropping on the countertops in Boone's flat, a "condemned backyard water-damaged ceilings and exposed holes in his bathroom floor".
Another resident said that a pipe had burst in his home, displacing his family for six days. He eventually managed to get the leak fixed and received a reimbursement from Sacks, but mold spores are now visible on his ceiling. The 2-BHK is also overrun with rats.
“I left a bag of groceries on the ground, and when I came back later, there was a hole chewed straight through them,” he told the New York Post, adding that he had to throw away all the groceries.
The building is owned by Jacob Sacks, who has at least 21 buildings in the area.
Speaking to the publication, Sacks said that there are just “four current tenants... that like to complain and deny access... The reality is this is an activist tenant who you have seen is intentionally trying to inflate the issue and meanwhile prevent actual repair work from happening.”
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