Crown Heights Landlord Found Guilty Of Harassing Rent-Regulated Tenants

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A Crown Heights landlord was found guilty on Tuesday on charges that he harassed rent-regulated tenants to drive them out of the apartment building he owned, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced.

A months-long investigation revealed landlord Daniel Melamed used unlawful tactics that jeopardized the health and safety of tenants with the intent of evicting them from an apartment building, located at 1578 Union St, on the corner of Troy Avenue, officials said.

The attorney general's office says he drove out tenants by:

• Shutting off heat at below-freezing temperatures
• Exposing tenants to dust that exceeded acceptable levels up to 88 times the allowable threshold
• Removing the building's boiler in the middle of winter without permission from city or state agencies
• Performing illegal construction and failing to contain and clean toxic lead dust

Melamed and the corporation he controlled were found guilty of three counts of unlawful eviction of rent-stabilized tenants.

"We won’t hesitate to bring the full force of the law against anyone who harasses, intimidates, and jeopardizes the health and safety of tenants," Schneiderman said in a press release. "Daniel Melamed intentionally endangered rent-stabilized tenants in order to push them out – and line his own pockets."

At the trial, three remaining tenants testified against Melamed and detailed how they survived under his ownership. The attorney general says the tenants used ovens to heat their apartments, bathed using buckets and covered their noses and mouths to protect themselves against the lead dust.

A joint task inspection into the apartment building revealed concerning conditions, such as lack of heat and hot water, exposed friable asbestos in the basement and a thick layer of dust that was present throughout the building. Following this discovery, the Tenant Protection Unit conducted tenant interviews, reviewed various records and subsequently made a formal criminal referral to the Attorney General. Melamed was arrested in June 2015.

"Mr. Melamed was the first landlord indicted by our Tenant Harassment Task Force – a distinction he richly earned by tearing apart his own building to force out a family with a young child," City Buildings Commissioner Rick D. Chandler, PE, said.

Melamed will be sentenced on September 13 and could face up to one year in jail.

Image of 1578 Union St. in Crown Heights via Google Maps

Paige McAtee contributed to this report.