Neighbors At 146 East 19th Street Outraged Over Lack Of Gas

Updated 1:10pm Friday, October 3: We spoke to Aga Trojniak, of the Flatbush Tenant Coalition, about the residents at 146 East 19th Street being without gas for likely another month, and she recommended that tenants file for a rent reduction for decreased services by going here.

“It will offset some of the costs of having to buy prepared food for that long, and it will give the landlord an incentive to speed up the work,” Aga wrote to us.

“I’m a big proponent of what I call the ‘Upper East Side’ or ‘Park Ave’ test when trying to figure out what’s reasonable for a landlord to do or for a tenant to expect: what kind of treatment would a well-off resident on the UES expect and get?” Aga continued. “That’s the treatment everyone deserves. I doubt very much that well-off UES folks would be told they have to wait six weeks for their gas to be fixed.”

Original post: A neighbor living at the apartment building at 146 East 19th Street (between Albemarle and Beverley) recently reached out to us about a gas leak at his building, saying that he and other residents there are outraged to learn that it will likely be at least another month before they have cooking gas.

“That means we can’t use our stove or oven to cook meals for over a month!!!” the neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from the landlord, wrote to us about about the leak, which was first reported about two weeks ago.

The leak also caused the hot water to go out, and while the hot water has since returned, it has been sporadic, the neighbor said.

“The management company did provide us with an electric hot place, which helps,” the neighbor wrote to us.

When the gas first went out, the super told residents that it would likely be about six weeks before it was fixed. Since then, however, neighbors said they feel left in the dark.

“We have not heard anything about when the gas will be fixed,” a resident said.

When we went by the building over the weekend, we spoke with a number of other residents about the gas leak. All of them did not want their names to be printed.

“I have little kids – so what am I supposed to do?” one woman asked. “It’s ridiculous.”

“None of us understand why it’s taking so long,” another woman told us. “This is going to go on for what, weeks? More? It’s not right.”

We’ve reached out to the landlord company, Newcastle Realty, but they have not yet responded.

When we looked up city Department of Buildings records on the building, we discovered that there’s an active violation for the property that was issued for a failure to file an annual 2012 boiler inspection report. The city Department of Housing Preservation and Development has also listed violations in regards to the lack of gas at the property.

Have others encountered similar problems? What did you do?