Rockland Fines Owner Of Another Overcrowded House

SPRING VALLEY, NY — The Rockland County Office of Building & Codes has fined the owner of 60 S. Madison Ave. and demanded immediate remediation of 17 fire and safety code violations.

The fine of $16,750 against owner Joel Brull and his management company, JCW Management LLC of New City, was imposed after a fire safety inspection.

The OB&C had received a complaint about the house, a county spokesperson said.

During the visit Oct. 13, the inspector saw that the three-bedroom, single-family home had been converted into a multifamily rooming house. Walls had been erected adding six bedrooms, including one in the first-floor hallway, one in the dining room, one in the living room, one in the mud room and two in the basement. Extension cords were used as permanent sources of power. An attached carport had been built without a permit or the appropriate footings and anchors.

The owner's lawyer, Joseph Churgin, told The Journal News that the tenant had sublet the house without permission.

He said the violations were addressed; however, a county spokesperson confirmed to Patch that no permits have been applied for so far. Plus, the Office of Building & Codes only takes notice of corrected violations after approval from a county inspector.

The New York State Department of State took over the inspection process in Spring Valley and deputized Rockland County to carry it out in 2022.

The order, the first of its kind in New York, came after the 2021 fatal fire at the Evergreen Court Home for Adults. The converted 1903 hotel in Spring Valley was destroyed in a massive blaze in 2021 that killed firefighter Jared Lloyd and 79-year-old resident Oliver Hueston and injured about a dozen people.

The OBC faced multiple challenges, for example discovering the master list of village properties provided by the administration was inaccurate and incomplete.

Town officials in Clarkstown recently began their own crackdown on illegal, overcrowded houses that house recent immigrants. Supervisor George Hoehmann called the code enforcement action against the first one "unprecedented" and dubbed it a "migrant flophouse."

SEE ALSO:

• Town Takes On Company Over Illegal, Overcrowded Houses
• Clarkstown Gains Temporary Restraining Order for 'Migrant Flophouse'
• 'Flophouse' Owner Also Faces $23,000 In Fines For Spring Valley House
• 400+ Violations Found At Fatal Lake Street Fire Landlord's Properties
• Rockland Reports 24 Living In Squalid, Hazardous House
• Taking On 'Ground Zero For Illegal Housing' In Rockland County
  
• Cited After Fire, UWS Landlord Sues Rockland Code Enforcement Office
• Clarkstown Accuses Property Owner Of Running 'Migrant Flophouse'
• Clarkstown Takes On Monsey Company Over Illegal House Conversions