Upper East Side Building Is Unsafe After Fire, Tenants Say

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — An Upper East Side landlord falsely claimed that its apartments were habitable after a devastating fire, then tried to drive out the tenants who moved in, the tenants claim in a new lawsuit.

The suit was filed last week by two tenants of 1566 Third Ave., a five-story brick tenement on the corner of East 88th Street. It centers on a fire that broke out in July 2012 inside the deli that once occupied the building's ground floor, where residents had to clamber down fire escapes to survive, according to news reports.

After the fire, the building sat empty for more than a year, and the city issued a violation saying the building "cannot be reoccupied until a new certificate of occupancy has been obtained."

In 2014, the building was purchased for $8 million by the firm Thor Equities. Working alongside building managers Avison Young and real estate company Bold, the owners began marketing the building to potential tenants, the suit claims.

Apartments were rented out starting in 2018 — but the tenants, Michael Saur and Karina Lavecchia, say their landlords never obtained the certificate of occupancy that the city had required after the fire.

A Department of Buildings spokesperson told Patch that the building has had the same certificate of occupancy on file since 1937, adding that it was unclear what document the tenants were referring to.

Moreover, Saur and Lavecchia say the building lacks adequate fire protections and suppression systems, and allege that their landlords "have refused to make repairs" to their apartment — part of an effort to "drive out rent regulated tenants," the suit says.

As evidence for the building's poor condition, the tenants point to its 85 open violations with the city's Housing Department, including complaints of mold, leaking ceilings and defective fire retardant.

Avison Young declined to comment on the suit. Thor Equities and Compass, the company that owns Bold, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Saur and Lavecchia are asking a judge to force the landlords to perform repairs making the building safe for occupancy — and barring them from collecting rents until they do.