THE TIMELINE

It’s hard to condense the details, but here’s the best attempt at trying to record how a relationship goes from years of amicable co-existence to war. I am referring to us – the tenants – as John and Jane Doe. Much of the paperwork is as such; I think they do that in case they spell your name wrong (which they did).

This was a month-to-month lease for a 1.5 bedroom apartment. There was no paperwork. The rent was paid $1,200 by check and $700 in cash.

SHORT VERSION

JAN – Ceiling in master bedroom repaired form 3 yr water damage; helps make sure chips aren’t falling on baby.

FEB – Reported broken tiles and boiling water coming from faucet to landlord. Not fixed.

MAR – Landlord verbally evicts John after a false alarm with our carbon monoxide detector. Then verbally re-evicts tenants on basis of “needing apartment for their daughter”. Tenants notify them that they are withholding April rent on basis of repairs not being made and Landlord’s refusal to give documentation of rent paid over the years.

APRIL – Landlord aggress to fix tiles, gets paid. Tile repair is incomplete and what is repaired falls apart in two days. After several attempts to resolve this unsuccessfully, tenants cancel check portion of rent, call in complaints to housing office. Tenants suspect landlords are entering apartment without prior consent and start to put video surveillance on whenever they leave.

MAY – Inspectors find significant amounts of lead paint in the apartment. Video catches the landlords entering the apartment on multiple times without consent. It looks like the landlord is sniffing Jane’s lingerie … and that they are trying to preempt repair costs.

JUNE – John’s life is threatened verbally twice. Police won’t get involved. Lawyer is hired by both parties. Formal eviction papers are served. Lead paint is “repaired”.

JULY – Case is settled out of court. Jane’s tires are slashed.

AUG – We move out.

SEPT and beyond – best we know the apartment is empty.

THE LONG VERSION

2007

January
Landlord fixed ceiling paint/plaster in master bedroom. Had been that way for 3 years from water damage.

February
Tenants asked to have broken tiles repaired.

Landlord “looked around in the basement” and several days later replaced a kitchen tile with one that was too small and glue that didn’t work.

We reported to the landlord that the hot water got to near boiling temperatures coming out of the faucet – not safe for anyone, esp. kids. His response was "it's been like this for 50 years, and I’m not going to spend $20,000 to fix something that hasn't been a problem for 50 years."

We told you how simple it was to put an anti-scalding valve in place, for like $1,000. He stormed off.

March
7th: Landlord/Landlady came up for something, peeked in and grilled John grilled on why we needed so many things that run on power in the office. John asked if we would have access to the basement while they spend the summer away and the response was “that shouldn't be required because they put a breaker box in the apartment bathroom 15-20 years ago with "new power". (During the summer, if we run the microwave at the same time as the air conditioner, the breakers for our floor trip in the basement). Amid her fears and relating a story of 9 children dying in a fire in the Bronx, John tried to reassure her that all was fine, the desk lamp drew more power than everything else in the office.

John showed her the broken and loose tiles in both the kitchen and bathroom and asked when they could be fixed, as our son was starting to crawl.

Her initial response was that or child shouldn't be allowed in the kitchen or bathroom.

She went on to say that "My husband is old, and can't fix things anymore. If you can't fix these little things, we need to raise the rent". He replied that Jane had been there for 5 years and has never expressed concern over a single repair issue with all the rent she has paid in 5 years ($100,000+), not a single penny has gone back into maintaining this
apartment. Landlady’s response was that "the rent was too low."

21st: John came home to our apartment and heard what he thought was our smoke alarm beeping with a "low battery" warning. He brought out our stepladder to get up and change the battery out. Once in reach, he realized the beep was coming from elsewhere. He found it to be coming from our Carbon Monoxide detector (which also features an Explosive Gas detector).

The detector was flashing with a solid screen and beeping every few seconds. He wasn't sure what was happening, if the monitor was malfunctioning, so he hit the reset button. The unit beeped long and loud, and began flashing "GAS" while beeping loudly. It then flashed to the number "189", went back to flashing "GAS" then the reading on the monitor jumped to "215" and began flashing "GAS" again. At this point, he was really scared. He wasn't smelling gas, but the monitor had me really fearful, especially after the night 2-3 weeks ago where there was a strong smell of sulfur in the building.

He grabbed the baby, his sweater and hat, the diaper bag and quickly went downstairs to caution the landlady. He knew our upstairs neighbors weren’t home, as he had just run into them heading out as he was getting home. Landlady struggled to understand, he tried to clearly tell her that "the gas detector in our apartment was indicating an explosive gas in the apartment". She wanted him to stay and talk. He told her clearly that he was scared, and had to get the baby out of the building. He promptly grabbed the stroller and went out the door and away from the front of the building, in case of an explosion.

As he went down the front stairs, a friend approached, asked why he looked so freaked out, and he began to tell her about the gas detector alerting when landlady appeared on the front steps and began yelling at him, telling him he was crazy for not calling the police. He was so scared by the alarm that he had even left his wallet and cell phone in our apartment. She was screaming at him, saying he should have called the police before leaving the apartment. All this while he was trying to secure the baby in the stroller and be away from the front of the building, in case there was an explosion.

She went on, she told him to “get out of the house". He told her that he was out of the house, and suggested it would be safe for her and the family to get out. She responded by yelling "I mean you get out of my house forever". She went on to say that he wasn't nice to her, and she didn't want me in the house any more. He responded by yelling back to/at her: "Do I understand this right? You are evicting me for warning you of a possible gas leak?" Things then turned into ugly yelling back and forth at this point. At one point she ranted about whether we were trying to “scare them out of their own house” and when she kept saying, “I evict you, I evict you”, John said at one point, “No, I evict YOU”.

John went to the station to let them know what was happening (it was a block away). While he was telling the receptionist at the front desk about the alarm, she got on the phone with the fire department he told her that my landlady was publicly screaming at him that I was evicted on the street in front of our apartment. An officer at a back desk interrupted to say that the fire department was already on their way, and that there is no way we can be evicted for this.

When John got back within view of the building, Landlady began screaming (as firefighters passed going into the building) that he was crazy.

He approached the firefighter who looked to be in charge, and told him about the alarm. (Landlady yelling at him the whole time, with Landlord yelling to the firefighters about him having too much "electric" in my office).

A few minutes later a firefighter came out and asked John to go in and show them the alarm. The firefighter stayed with the baby on the street. John showed them the monitor, and they began to check it out, they eventually said that the battery was low on the monitor, which was strange, because the monitor was plugged in, and wasn't running on the battery. They reassured him that their monitors weren't showing dangerous gas levels. (At this point, Landlord was in our apartment, still yelling about how John’s office "has too much electric".)

After the firefighters left the apartment, John went for a walk.

When he got back to the apartment, Landlord and Landlady were out front, talking with the guy who lives next door and another (quite tall) man.

Landlord started at this point, telling me again how we use "too much electric" and that there is no reason for us to go to the basement to reset the power, because the upstairs breaker that they installed should be fine. John reminded Landlord again that this wasn't new power, just another switch, and that the breaker in the basement is more prone to tripping than the newer one in our apartment.

Landlord then said that he needs us to move out because "(his) daughter needs our apartment". John’s response was something like a "Yeah, sure..." or something similar and John went upstairs after apologizing to the neighbor who had to witness some of our yelling earlier.

March 22nd:
Landlord was waiting for Jane in the hall as she left for work, asking her if she could talk. At first she said no, then he said it’ll just take a few minutes and then the Landlord goes on a rant saying tenants have to leave and how could John call the names, caring for him and their ill adult child Tina for 40 years, etc. and really didn’t want to hear what Jane had to say. Jane tried to be diplomatic and said of course we will leave but we don’t know how long it will take and the landlord said that was ok and was saying that anyway he needs the apartment for their daughter because they are getting old and they need someone to come take care of them etc. And he kept ranting and getting louder…

April
9th: Jane gets an email from the landlord’s daughter saying she wants to talk. They play phone tag until the 17th.

Morning of 17th, when Jane was leaving to go to a conference, Landlord was waiting outside for her and asked if he could talk. She tried to tell him it that mornings aren't good, she has to go to work, can they speak later, but he said "Just one minute - I didn't sleep all night thinking about what your husband said, that he was going to evict me, evict me from my own house" and he kept going on and getting louder and was unwilling to stop and let her interject. At that point John came down and asked him to stop screaming her and then the Landlady came out and John kept saying to Jane, "Just leave, just leave", so she did since at this point she was crying and late.

Jane called landlord’s daughter from the back of the cab. Jane requested that the landlord stop lucking around and waiting to pounce on her, which has now happed maybe a half dozen times.

Daughter was very defensive of them, saying "Well, they're afraid and they don't know how to get ahold of you", and Jane explained that she’s had the same cell and home phone number for 5 years.

They came to agree that if Landlord fixed the tiles then we would pay the April rent. This was after some back and forths that had Jane distraught enough to say, “Listen, I am so upset I have to get off the phone”. Daughter said landlords evicted them in March, and that should be plenty of notice, with Jane saying this was an argument that’s gotten out of control, started just because David was trying to act in what he thought was the best interest of the safety of everyone in the building.

18th: Visit from precinct, Landlords sent them over to check us out, John answered door, explained his side. Officer left.

19th: Daughter called Jane again in the morning and they agreed that Landlord would come on Sunday and he would fix the tiles and we would pay the rent. Daughter said that landlord asked that noone be home and Jane ok’d. Daughter again pushed for when we were leaving and if we were leaving, and Jane reminded her that we did want to leave but it wasn't so easy for us - we have a lot to consider with John’s frequent commute to Boston, the baby and her job. I said I thought that I didn't think that it would be a long time and she agreed to be flexible if we need more time in. We agreed that we would use the deposit as May rent and go from there. And that we would check in again in early May.

April 22:
Landlord came over at 2:00 as scheduled to fix the bathroom and kitchen tiles as discussed. Jane paid him the rent for April as she had agreed and then asked him to sign a receipt for it. As he was reading it he asked, "What's this? Do you have a lawyer? Do we need to get a lawyer?" and she said "No, it’s just a note that we wrote, I just want to confirm that you got the money." He agreed to sign the receipt for the April rent, and took a copy for himself.

Landlord started in on talking about the past. He was going on about how he never had problems like this in this house before, etc. To that comment Jane replied that it was my interpretation that this is just one fight that got out of control.

When Jane told him that they also needed to be able to verify how much rent has been paid here since she moved in for our records and his reply was, "I signed the other one, what do you need this for? The other one proves it." Jane tried insisting but he kept saying no and she backed down, thinking that this was an easy request to fulfill and hopefully the landlord’s daughter wouldn't have a problem helping them understand.

When John came back and then went to go try to ask, Jane took the baby into the bedroom. She heard raised voices but didn't want to leave the baby alone, nor did she want to bring him down into that angry noise. She couldn't hear what was being said.

John was really mad and left to take a walk. After he left, Landlord called Jane and said that John told him that if he wanted us out, he would have to get a lawyer. Landlord asked "do I have to get a lawyer?" and she didn't answer. He was carrying on about how he's on heart medication and if he has to go to the hospital because of this, then everyone will get involved. Jane told him that all we wanted was for them to sign the note we wrote verifying how much rent we have paid here so we can have our records up to date both for our own tax reasons and for proof of expenses with future landlord or bank lender if we buy a home. He asked again why we need that, answering himself that Jane has the returned checks and he pays his taxes so what is John going to do with this document? He said that John was asking about the IRS and the landlord asked again what he was supposed to do and noting that he pays his taxes. Jane explained again that it was just for records. She even noted that explicitly, when she was living there alone and had her own business she claimed part of the rent as a deduction for the office and we just want to make sure all of our documentation is straight. But he asking questions and answering them, "For five years? I don't even remember the last two months" and "What does he want this for?". Jane kept saying she had to get off the phone - but didn't want to hang up on him. Landlord was asking that they not deal with John anymore, and asking, "Who is this guy? We don't know him", even though she pointed out that he’d been living here for two and half years and there's never been a problem. In fact, they had often asked him to “play man of the house” when they are away for the summer.

Landlord also said that Jane was not a problem but they couldn't live with John and that he's seen a few lawyers and they all said it was his house and if he didn't like us, we had to go but he didn't want it to come to that. I kept saying, "I'll talk to John, I have to go now" and finally succeeded in ending the phone call somewhat politely, which is likely more than it deserved.

Letter given to Landlord & Landlady on the morning of April 23, 2007 (see documents). Explicitly ask not to have them enter our apartment when we are not there.

April 26, 2007:
John went out to move the car, and then went to get Jane some morning coffee when he ran into Landlord.

Landlord started yelling again, and a friend happened to be on the bench in front of the shop, and experienced the whole thing. It climaxed with landlord making an awkward attempt to kick John.

John was so flustered he went home without the coffee and took over with the baby so Jane could go to work. After baby was fed, he decided that enough was enough, and filed a harassment complaint against both Landlord and Landlady. There is no reason for them to be yelling at me or my wife. We only asked for simple repairs to make our apartment safe for the baby, and they've gone nuts, yelling that we have 30 days to get out.

The police advised John to call 311, and file a complaint about the safety issues in the house. Most pressing for us is the loose and broken tiles in the kitchen and bathroom, but we also think that the hot water problem has to go on record. John calls.

Letter given to Landlord & Landlady on April 27, 2007
See documents, asking again for them NOT to enter apartment (which is illegal anyway).

MAY
May 9
Housing inspector supposed to come; never does connect with John. John calls landlord’s daughter in an attempt to make peace but she ends the call.

May 10, 2007
HPD Inspector comes, super-nice Greek (?) man. He’s not very concerned about the tile issues, but is very concerned about lead from the first time he comes in, and is tremendously concerned about the scalding hot water. When the kitchen faucet got over 160 degrees, he said that was enough. John told him to wait, and it quickly jumped to over 180 degrees. He said that was enough.

On May 11, 2007, the baby and John get back from our walk (about 1:45?), and the landlord started yelling about us not using the front steps. In defiance, John sat down and gave the baby cheerios.

Landlord proceeded to curse at him on and on and on .... while John just laughed.

Landlord said he hopes the baby ends up like their ill daughter, because that's how God punishes you when you're bad.

Landlord told John that Jane had 3 different guys here before him. Said he was bitch, slut, whore ... constantly reminding John that he was a motherfucker. Insults continued, directed at John’s mother as well ... landlord was really trying to get him upset, John just laughed at him, which only got him more and more fired up. All this was in front of the baby.

Later, when John went back up to the landlord went on about taking things off the walls in the apartment, (He is an artist, and some of his work had been hanging in there)

John called 911 and requested someone come by.

He gave a statement, then a lieutenant detective pulled up outside, one of the cops had to move the car, the other talked with the det. Lt for a few. Guessing it's the Italian Lt. who came by unannounced one day to hear what was going on. Guessing he's a friend of the daughter’s.

John asked the officers if they'd please ask the landlord to stop harassing us.

They took the rest of what he had to say, then went out and talked to the landlords. About the same time, a plumber left through the stoop gate. The cops went from the front down into the basement apartment to talk. They were there for probably close to 30 minutes.

After about 20 minutes, while the cops were still there, John rang the basement doorbell, to hand the letter while the cops were there (less conflict). No answer. Thinking the bell might not work, he knocked on the inside basement door. Landlady answered. He offered her the letter, she refused, and male officer stepped to door and asked John to go back upstairs. John asked if he'd hand them the letter, Officer said that wasn't his job, John agreeably went upstairs, and left the letter on the floor outside Landlady's apartment.

10 or so minutes later, the officers were out front, reading the letter with their backs to Landlord .... they then (seemingly) summarized, and handed it back to him. Landlord and the male officer exchanged pats on the back as they parted.

11th is the night they yelled about the stroller in the hall, landlord swearing like crazy– and landlord was yelling that he would call 911 in between breaths …

MAY 11 LETTER
See documents.

May 12
Video footage catches landlord coming in, doing something (painting?) on the wall, we think later he’s trying to cover up cracking paint.

May 14 - letter to Jane from friend

“Jane:

I don't have your email address handy so I'm sending through John. Here's my perspective of what happened last Friday on your stoop. It was surreal. John and I and the babies had gotten iced tea at Mazzola's. It was a gorgeous day and perfect for sipping on a stoop. So we parked the strollers and sat down with two happy babies to chat and take a load off our backs at the end of a long day of parenting/working. Landlord (sp?) then appeared and did not look happy to find two parents and two babies enjoying the sunshine. I'm not sure what he said first but he launched into a tirade that we shouldn't be sitting on his stoop having a party as his stoop is not a park. He kept gesturing towards Carroll Park, ordering us to go to a real park. John repeated a few times in a gentlemanly way something to the effect of "Landlord, please leave us alone. Please leave us alone." He kept repeating that his stoop is not a park. It was bizarre. In a neighborhood where sitting on a stoop and chatting is an integral part of the culture, how can anyone possible imply that we were being disruptive sitting with two babies and iced teas and chatting?!?! The way he was acting, you would have thought we were two teenagers smoking pot on his steps!

I hope you get this situation resolved. It's a horrible way to have to live, especially with a baby.

Best,
XYZ

May 19
Video footage: illegal entry: 6:32am he comes in, 6:43 he is in jeanette’s dresser, doing what?; again in Jane’s dresser again at 6:50; he takes photos; out at 6:53

May 22
We get the baby tested for lead paint (he’s fine)

May 26
Video shows12:43 pm landlord & contractors enter the apartment with daughter; all there until 1:21pm;

May 27
Video shows 7:07AM landlord and daughter enter until 7:45AM; daughter makes effort to conceal entry by moving ball/toys near door back to where they were

Friday June 1, 2007:
John and the baby meet attorney Michelle and her son while playing on the swings at Carroll Park. John becomes suspicious at first (overhearing Michelle’s phone conversations about “Serving Tenants”) that Michelle is there to serve him with eviction papers. He end up talking with Michelle and she’s super-cool, super-helpful, and has tons of great advice for us. Informs us that the illegal entries into our apartment are a serious criminal matter, and that Landlord would be immediately arrested when we went to the police with that. She also said that the 5th floor apartment violating the Certificate of Occupancy means that no tenant in the building should be paying rent, as the building is in violation of the C.O. (even if the apartment isn’t currently being rented, just the fact that it’s set up like an apartment makes it a violation). Michelle also said that the landlord entering our apartment without is criminal trespass and that the landlord would be arrested for it … especially considering that we have video of it.

John went to the 76th Precinct early in the afternoon and spoke with both an officer and the desk sergeant who said that this was not a criminal issue, that it was an issue for Housing Court. So he went to Housing Court at 141 Livingston Street. The woman he spoke with there said that this was absolutely a criminal issue and not a Housing Court issue. She looked in the computer under both tenant names, and found no eviction proceedings currently under way. She suggested that considering that the 76th Precinct wouldn’t help, that he should go to the criminal court at Schermerhorn and Smith and pursue a restraining order and criminal action there. It was after 4:30 when he got to that courthouse, and was advised by security that everything was closed up for the day.

June 1
Changed the locks on our apartment door.

June 2
Just before we went out of town, John called other tenants (1 couple) and gave them a spare key to the door in case of emergency.

Craig wraps up the call with "Gee John, I hope you don't get whacked".

June 2, 2007
PLUS JUNE 2 LETTER – SEE DOCUMENTS
Landlord and Landlady refuse to accept the letter when John tries to give it to them around 4pm. Landlord supposedly calls the police. In the midst of all this, Landlord makes another threat on John’s life, saying “I’m going to have you killed”.

A few hours later, the doorbell rings, John goes to get it. It’s a guy named “Tony”. “Tony” came to pick up a letter for Landlord. John says ok, runs upstairs; grabs the letter and go back down to give it to him. As he does, he asks for Tony’s last name. He refuses to say, so he asks for the letter back, Tony says no, then John grabs it back and asks “Tony” to leave, saying that he’s not welcome here. Tony argues, saying he’s absolutely welcome here… John tells him that until Landlord or Landlady tell us that he is their guest, he’s out…

Landlord/Landlady soon appear and say that Tony’s welcome, so John goes back upstairs - decided he should go back to the stoop and take “Tony’s” picture as he leaves, not knowing who he was, the photo would likely help… should he end up dead.

“Tony” eventually comes out the door, and is immediately enraged, when he sees John trying to take his picture…Tony pushes and shoves John, and tries to smack the camera from his hands. Tony is walking toward the 76th Precinct, and encourages John to go there with him. Meanwhile, Jane has called 911 regarding “Tony’s” visit. On the way to the 76th Precinct house, “Tony” stops and talks with several officers that seem to be arriving for their shifts. One officer just getting out of a Jeep actually received a hug from “Tony”. They both walked up to the desk, and started to talk when Lt. Alvarado said that he wanted to hear from “Tony” first, and asked John to sit down until “Tony” was finished. “Tony” spoke for a bit, at one point Tony reached into his pocket and showed the Lt. something I thought might be a badge or a business card, then they both nodded and “Tony” left the building.

John got up and asked Lt. Alvarado if he knew who “that guy” was. He said “no, I don’t know him”. John told him that he had come in to file a complaint against him and would like his name. Lt. Alvarado said that he didn’t care, that he wasn’t going to take any complaint. John told him he had an audio recording of him threatening him after our landlord said he was going to have him killed. Lt. Alvarado said: “ I don’t care and I’m not going to take any complaint from you.” John was floored. All he could think to do was ask if he should just go to the press with his refusal to help. Lt. Alvarado said “Do whatever you want, I don’t care.”

Monday June 4 through Saturday June 9, 2007:
Vasilius and his team come into our apartment to do lead repair work and painting.
We are very clear with them that we don’t want Landlord in the apartment unless we are present.

On Tuesday, June 5 as we let Vasilius and his painting contractor into our apartment, we hear yelling, cursing, as Landlord is running up the stairs toward our door. John quickly tries to close the door, as he barges through it screaming: “I’m going to kill you, you motherfucker!!!” Jane was in the living room with the baby, a front-row seat Vasilius and the paint contractor were also here for this.

On Wednesday, June 6, Vasilius calls to ask us if there is someplace else we can be, as it is a challenge for his crew to remain productive while the baby needs to be napping here. We mention to him that we have no family nearby, but Landlord has an apartment on the 5th floor that sits vacant.

Sometime later on Wednesday, June 6, Landlord convinces Vasilius crew chief Jimmy to let him in to take down his artwork from the walls. We notice the big mirror and white plaster cast missing the next morning and ask Vasilius to have Landlord sign a note that acknowledges that he took his art. Landlord refuses.

After the job, Landlord refuses to do walk-through when we’re clear with Vasilius that we don’t want Landlord in our apartment unless we are present.

Saturday June 9
Jane goes to local precinct with baby and files police report. Bursts into tears while explaining how unsafe she feels on her own street and asks why they wouldn’t take her husband’s reports twice. They say a detective is going to arrest him on Tuesday.

Tuesday June 12
No one comes. Jane calls and gets case number and is told Detective Miller would be there tomorrow.

Wednesday June 13
No one contacts us re: the police report.

Thursday
Jane calls the police and they say the detective is not on duty until Sat at 4PM.

SUNDAY JUNE 10th
We were served our holdover papers, by a knock at the door around 10AM.

Tuesday June 12th
We received the certified letter notifications

More to follow...