ICYMI: Mom Whose Landlord Cut Off Heat Can't Host Christmas, Thanksgiving Anymore

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Lisa Mathis, a 56-year-old mother of two adults, used to host Thanksgiving and Christmas for her family at her Crown Heights apartment at 80 New York Ave., the same building she lived in when she was a kid.

After Gold Management illegally stripped the central boiler out of the building two years ago and left her with no suitable replacement, Mathis had to make other plans.

This year, she visited her sister-in-law in Queens. Last year, she went to see relatives in the Bronx.

"I was used to doing Thanksgiving and Christmas," she told Patch. "I can’t have people over. It’s too cold."

Mathis, along with tenants in two other unrenovated units in her building, which include her 80-year-old aunt who lives above her, are in a legal fight with Gold Management to get heat restored to the building and rents returned to stabilized levels.

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Until then, they've been at the mercy of the last two New York winters — so far — which have included huge snowstorms and single-digit temperatures.

This Saturday's forecast calls for a low of 17.

"When you’re in the cold, it’s very hard," Mathis told Patch. "Putting on cold clothes in the morning is the worst. Going into a cold bathroom is the worst. It’s been 30 degrees inside the apartment."

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

Mathis said she avoids her apartment when she can.

On weeknights, she purposely works late at her job as a clerk at Kings County Surrogate Court. “When the weekends come, I just stay out of the house," she said.

And what have the owners of the building and their attorneys had to say about why they've left a 56-year-old woman and her 80-year-old aunt without heat?

So far, they haven't bothered to offer even a weak explanation. They've had nothing to say.

A receptionist for Arun Perinbasekar, an attorney representing Gold Management, told Patch on Wednesday morning that Perinbasekar was in court and not immediately available to comment. We left a message with the office and will update this story if we hear back. He never returned a phone message left Tuesday or an email message left Monday.

Chananya Gold, an owner of Gold Management, declined to comment when reached by Patch on Monday. On Tuesday, Gold's office said he would be out of town until Sunday and declined to provide a cell phone number to reach him for comment.

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Image via Marc Torrence, Patch