Battle For Heat In Crown Heights Apartments 'Grinding, Slow,' Attorney Says

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Fifty-six-year-old Lisa Mathis hasn't had working heat in her Crown Heights apartment for the last two winters and spent Monday at the mercy of 40-degree NYC weather. Earlier this winter, temperatures outside her apartment dipped well below freezing. She had no heat then, either.

She got a small respite on Tuesday, when temperatures touched 57 degrees in the middle of the day. One thing she didn't get: a resolution to her years-long battle with Gold Management over the building that had its central boiler illegally stripped out in March of 2015.

"We’re in this sort of grinding, slow legal battle right now," Brian Sullivan, an attorney representing tenants at 80 New York Ave., told Patch. "I’m hopeful we’ll make some progress on the settlement negotiations."

"In the mean time," Sullivan said, "there’s no heat."

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The tenants at the building joined forces to fight Gold Management over the heat in the units and rent that they say was illegally increased in the rent-controlled building.

They were granted a temporary restraining order, so the apartment is being treated as if it is rent-stabilized for now. Gold Management has also sued tenants in two of the units, including Mathis, who have stopped paying rent.

Sullivan, their attorney, told Patch that Mathis is putting her rent money into a separate account while the court battle continues, a practice that he says is legal.

Have heat or other issues in your apartment? Patch would love to hear from you.

Five of the eight units in the building were renovated and outfitted with individual heating units, tenants said in their complaint, which was provided to Patch. The other three got bulky, noisy HVAC systems that cramped already-small hallways, didn't work properly and are probably dangerous, the tenants said.

When Beverly Thompson turned hers on nearly two years ago, she smelled gas, the complaint said. After calling the gas company and the city, she had the gas in her apartment shut off because of the problem, according to the complaint.

Patch called Gold Management's office Tuesday afternoon, and a receptionist told us that owner Chananya Gold was out of the office until Sunday. She said she could not give Patch a cell phone number to reach him. He declined to comment to Patch when reached Monday.

An attorney for Gold Management did not return a message left by Patch with his receptionist, who said he was in court for the afternoon.

Friday's forecast calls for a low of 24 degrees.

Photo courtesy of Naomi Dann