Notorious Queens Landlord Sued By Jamaica Tenants

QUEENS — Ved Parkash, a landlord who was deemed one of New York City's worst in 2015, was sued by tenants living in one of his buildings in Jamaica after living with broken elevators, mold, mice, and roaches for years, court documents show.

Tenants at 89-20 161st Street filed a lawsuit against Parkash in April, alleging the landlord has ignored their requests to remove the mold, roaches, and mice in the apartments, as well as provide heat during winter, for at least 12 years, according to the lawsuit.

Six tenants sued Parkash, who was at the top of the Worst Landlord Watchlist in 2015, with the help of Catholic Migration Services, Queens Legal Services’ Tenant Rights Coalition, and Chhaya CDC, a nonprofit that helps low-income communities with housing.

"Cielo Chavez Ponce lives in her rent-stabilized apartment with her 93-year-old elderly mother and has to rely on an electric heater to heat her apartment during the winter months," reads the document.

Chavez Ponce also has to walk up the stairs to her apartment on the sixth floor due to the broken elevators, according to the lawsuit.

Along with Chavez Ponce, Aureliano De Leon, Enrique Standard, James Eesiah, Luis Muñoz, and Yvrose Pierre also joined the suit.

City records show the building in Jamaica has 26 open violations and more than 160 complaints over the last two years.

Standard, 73, has been living with an ongoing leak located between the windows in his living room for over twelve years, documents claim.

"Management merely patches the leak but the leak returns soon thereafter because they have not addressed the cause of the leak," reads the document. "The last time that this leak was patched up was before the global pandemic over three years ago."