Tenants get cash payback on landlord for illegal charges

It was a warm morning on March 4 as residents of 2770-2780 Kingsbridge Terrace celebrated a milestone victory and chanted, “The tenants, united, will never be defeated!”

After more than a decade of fighting against fraudulent rent increases, more than two dozen residents stood alongside elected officials and members of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC,) after the New York State Division of Housing and Community (DHCR) forced their landlord, Steve Finkelstein, to reimburse them for years of unlawful overcharges.

NWBCCC community organizer Juan Nuñez, who used to live at the Kingsbridge Terrace building, spoke on behalf of the organization and the tenants who had been financially wronged.

“We are here this morning to celebrate an important victory that took years of organizing and dedication from our tenant’s association,” Nuñez said.

The 2770-2780 Kingsbridge Terrace tenants’ association was formed in 2010 when Finkelstein bought the buildings as part of a real estate portfolio from international law firm Milbank LLP, based in NYC.

“We negotiated in good faith — for him to fix all the violations, make the necessary repairs and not raise our rents,” Nuñez added.

More than 15 years later, not only was Finkelstein negligent with building repairs, but he also raised tenant’s rents through a fraudulent Major Capital Improvement (MCI) application.

“It’s not just happening here — it’s happening in the building across the street that he owns, buildings on Aqueduct Avenue and throughout the Bronx,” Nuñez added.

Nuñez also said, had they known they would be fighting the same fight more than a decade later, the tenants would have taken the necessary steps to own the building themselves.

Bronx residents can potentially own their own apartment by becoming shareholders in Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) cooperatives or purchase a condominium or co-op on the real estate market. They can then pursue property ownership through several programs, including HomeFirst Down Payment Assistance Program, which offers up to $100,000 for down payments or closing costs, according to NYC.gov.

“For years, we were forced to pay fraudulent rent increases and some of our neighbors were even pushed out of their homes,” Yeniset Estrella said, who has been a resident at 2770-2780 Kingsbridge Terrace for more than 30 years. 

Despite living there for more than three decades, the first repairs in her apartment took place last year, Estrella told The Press. But she still has missing cabinet doors in her kitchen, one of which she said fell off the hinges and onto her head.

Councilwoman Pierina Sanchez, who represents the area, sympathized with the struggle they have been dealing with for 15 years.

“All New Yorkers deserve access to safe and dignified housing — and rent regulated tenants have the right to protections from unreasonable rent increases,” Sanchez said.

This building was one of 10 buildings across the northwest Bronx which were falling apart, with missing doors, ceiling and windows along with rodents and other issues, Sanchez added.

“No human being should have to live in these conditions,” she said emphatically in front of several media outlets and cameras. “This victory sends a strong message that landlords who try to abuse their tenants by setting unfair rent increases will face consequences.”

Sanchez said she remains committed to do everything in her power to ensure safe housing for New Yorkers, evident through her bill, Int. 1063, also known as the Housing Rescue and Resident Protection Act.

The legislation is a critical step towards holding negligent landlords across the city accountable while buildings are transferred to responsible owners, according to Sanchez.

Through the Third Party Transfer (TPT) program, the city would foreclose on financially and physically distressed properties and transfer them to a third party for rehabilitation, according to NYC Council’s website.

State Senators Robert Jackson and Gustavo Rivera were in attendance, as well as Assemblyman George Alvarez.

“It is now imperative for this landlord to comply with this ruling and reimburse these tenants immediately,” Rivera said in a statement.

Rivera is a proud supporter of the No More MCI Coalition, a group advocating to limit or eliminate MCI rent increases.

However, the legal MCI loophole allows landlords, such as Finkelstein, to substantially increase rents for tenants for what the state’s DHCR defines as “necessary” and “substantial” building repairs.

DHCR, who ruled in favor of the tenants being reimbursed, wished not to comment at this time.

“The struggle we have gone through with Finkelstein only affirms that responsible tenant ownership of our buildings is the real solution to landlord abuses,” said Ana Dominguez, another tenant at the Kingsbridge Terrace residence who has lived there for over 20 years.

“We considered tenant ownership, but when Mr. Finkelstein purchased the buildings in 2010, he agreed to make all the necessary repairs and we trusted him,” Dominguez said.

After two years, Finkelstein was making “unnecessary repairs and replacements” within the residences, many of which were of poor quality, according to Dominguez.

In 2019, the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) was passed to close the MCI loophole, and resulted in a maximum annual rent increase of 2 percent for MCIs each year.

“Landlords have exploited the MCI system for too long, using it as a loophole to extract more money from tenants while failing to make real improvements to their buildings,” NWBCCC executive director Sandra Lobo said in a statement.

Lobo added this case is an example of why community ownership should be pushed for, because when tenants have governance over their homes, they are not vulnerable to landlords’ fraudulent schemes.

Neither Finkelstein nor Milbank, LLC , have responded to emails and multiple phone calls.