Tenants of a Mount Eden apartment building in the Bronx, New York endured seven months without cooking gas and are now suing for rent abatement, according to the New York Daily News.
An electrical fire broke out on Aug. 6, 2011 at 1520 Sheridan Ave. leaving 14 apartments condemned and the remaining 58 without cooking gas for seven months until February 2012.
The report says that tenants are suing to get back one-third of rent they paid during the months without gas and are being represented by Stephanie Rudolph with the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. A letter was sent to the landlord, Jonathan Wiener of Chestnut Holdings, Inc.
"For those seven months they gave us hotplates that were hardly working," tenant leader Nilda Hock said. "During the holidays, we had to go to relatives or friends, carrying pots and pans. When you have a lot of people in the house, it's a hassle to cook little by little."
Meanwhile, Chestnut Holdings spokeswoman Althea Devivo said she's unaware of the NYLPI letter. She claimed Community Action for Safe Apartments, which organized tenants to file violations over spotty heat and hot water, vermin and other issues, is, "turning all the tenants against us."
"We suggest that Chestnut Holdings of New York, Inc. focus their attention on the real issues at stake...and desist from circulating further scurrilous statements about CASA and New Settlement Apartments."
