More Reports Of Negligent Landlords Post-Sandy
Continuing our coverage of landlords who have been less than responsive to tenants devastated by Hurricane Sandy, The New York Post highlights the plight of those located at the 2101 Avenue Z. The apartment building still doesn’t have heat or electricity since Sandy struck late in October.
Residents of the building, which include young children and the elderly, have taken to pasting signs in the windows that read, “Help!” and “We Have Rights.”
The tenants of the neglected apartment building blame their landlord, Leonid Rubanov.
“Our landlord came the next day [after Sandy] to collect the rent. He said, ‘I need the money to do the repairs.’ Then three, four days went by, he doesn’t pick up the phone, he doesn’t do anything,” Alex Kudryavtsev, 26, who lives in the building with his wife and 3-year-old daughter. “We went over to his house in Manhattan Beach and the repairs on his house were already under way,” he said. “Instead of putting the money toward our residence, he decided his house was more important.”
The landlord, Leonid Rubanov, declined to answer the door at his lavish home, adorned with wrought ironwork, silk drapes, columns and ornamental flourishes.
“If you’re from the newspaper, you have to call the Department of Buildings and HPD. It’s a bad idea to come to my home,” he told The Post, referring to the city’s Department of Housing Preservations and Development.
HPD has issued several violations to Rubanov, and sources said more inspections are expected today.
Sandy has apparently put the spotlight on some of our local slumlords. We hope Rubanov gets his things in order as it has been over three weeks and temperatures continue to decrease.
