Manhattan Building Owner Accused Of Tenant Harassment Over 5-Year Period: DA

NEW YORK CITY — A Chelsea building owner has been indicted on felony harassment charges after allegedly waging a five-year harassment campaign against two elderly tenants in an attempt to get them to move out, prosecutors announced on Tuesday.

Meyer Chetrit has been charged with two counts of harassment of a rent-regulated tenant in the first degree. West Paramount LLC and The Chetrit Group were also indicted on those same charges, prosecutors said.

"As alleged, Meyer Chetrit waged a campaign of harassment against two rent-regulated tenants in their 70s in hopes they would move out, and the building could be sold,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. “From winters without heat and unrepaired roofs causing leaks and ceiling collapses, these New Yorkers were forced to live in uninhabitable conditions.

Since September 2020, Chetrit engaged in a pattern of harassment against two rent-regulated tenants living at 117-119 West 26th Street in Chelsea, prosecutors said.

Chetrit and the other co-defendants kept the building nearly vacant for over a decade, with the goal of emptying the building entirely to clear the way for demolition, redevelopment, or sale.

The tenants, both in their mid-70s, frequently lived without heat for extended periods each winter, including a heat outage in 2021 that lasted from mid-January to early March. The tenants have not had a functional elevator since September 2023, forcing them to walk up the stairs to their fourth and fifth floor apartments.

In addition, the roof has deteriorated, causing persistent leaks, a ceiling collapse, and flooding in the fifth-floor tenant’s apartment.

The tenants have lived in the building since the mid-1980’s and their apartments have been classified as “interim multiple dwellings.”

Chetrit and the co-defendants purchased the building in 2005 but have failed to complete the conversion process and have left the building in increasingly uninhabitable condition, according to prosecutors.

In 2023, part of the building’s unoccupied commercial section collapsed, prompting the Department of Buildings to issue a partial vacate order.

Although the order did not apply to the residential units, shortly after the incident, tenants found notices posted throughout the building threatening them with arrest if they refused to abandon their homes.

“New York City landlords must maintain safe and habitable living conditions for their tenants. A deliberate failure to do so, in an effort to drive tenants from their residences, is a violation of City building codes and also a criminal offense. As charged here, two landlords and their companies subjected rent-regulated tenants in their seventies to endure uninhabitable conditions for five years, to force them to leave their homes. DOI thanks the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for its partnership in this investigation and its continuing commitment to protect the rights of New York City tenants," DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said.

Council Member Erik Bottcher, who worked with tenants at the building, praised the indictment.

“Justice is finally being pursued for tenants who endured years of unthinkable harassment in their own homes. Our office has stood with them throughout this fight, and we will continue to support them every step of the way. Let this be a message to any landlord who thinks they can intimidate or neglect tenants into leaving: New Yorkers deserve safe, dignified housing, and we will hold bad actors accountable," he said. I want to thank District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his team for their commitment to protecting tenants and ensuring that every New Yorker has the right to live free from harassment.”