MANHATTAN — British real estate firm Dawnay Day's bankruptcy is wreaking havoc on tenants in the company's foreclosed-on East Harlem properties.
Residents in the 47 buildings scattered over East Harlem say their homes have fallen into disrepair with holes marking the halls and rats running rampant, according to the New York Times.
“We were being charged for repairs for the apartment floors, but they were never fixed,” Paula Serrano, a tenant at one of the company's properties on 106th Street, told the Northattan Web site.
In 2007 when the firm bought the 1,100 unit properties from landlord Steve Kessner, executives bet they could phase out long-term residents and attract a younger, more affluent crowd, the Times reported.
“Their goal was to turn over the tenants and raise the rents tenfold, and that’s how they were going to make a profit,” Claudia Wilner, an attorney at the Neighborhood Advocacy Project, told Northattan.
While the higher-income renters never materialized, longtime leaseholders said they felt the pressure to leave, according to the paper.
The company began charging extra amounts for standard maintenance work and began asking for residents' Social Security numbers, the Times reported.
Tenants, including Serrano, filed suit, and won, under consumer protection laws when they challenged the fees.
Since September, all of Dawnay Day's East Harlem properties have been in foreclosure.
Former landlord Kessner said he would consider buying up the property again, according to the Times.
