Bronx landlord owes over $24M in taxes to NYC; tenants sue to change ownership

THE BRONX, N.Y. (PIX11) -- A Bronx landlord is being sued by their tenants to stop harassment, end years of neglect and correct violations, the Legal Aid Society said.

A total of 25 tenants living at 2201-05 Davidson Avenue in the Bronx are suing the owners, Romad Realty, Inc., 2201 Davidson NY Holdings, LLC, David Kornitzer and Dov Guttman, with the help of the Legal Aid Society’s Housing Justice Unit Group Advocacy.

The group is calling for New York City officials to remove the owners. The rent-stabilized building has 473 open maintenance code violations with the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

The Legal Aid Society said open violations include:

• Mold
• Rodent infestation
• Broken lock on the front door
• Water leaks

The group also said that the only elevator for the building had been broken since August 2023.

“For decades, tenants of 2201-05 Davidson Ave. have suffered immensely from a near-constant onslaught of hazardous housing code violations that have severely impacted their quality of life and wellbeing,” said Russell Crane, staff attorney with The Legal Aid Society. “Despite years of repeated efforts by tenants to address these concerns, the violations have been routinely ignored by the building’s landlords, who simply sit back and allow the City to make repairs through its Emergency Repair Program at taxpayer expense."

The Legal Aid Society said that records from the city's Department of Finance showed that the owners owe $24,657,178.14 in back taxes.

The lawsuit also accused the owners of harassing their tenants "by repeatedly “failing to correct hazardous or immediately hazardous violations” and by “repeated interruptions or discontinuances of essential services” that are “intended to cause [them] to vacate” their homes altogether," according to The Legal Aid Society.