Landlords in a gentrifying section of Brooklyn are trying to force out black tenants in favor of white newcomers by ignoring repair requests, offering cash buyouts and forcing evictions, a new federal lawsuit charges.
Tenants at two large complexes on Brooklyn Avenue and Hawthorne Street in East Flatbush, just east of Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, claim that after Yeshaya Wasserman, Shay Wasserman and Yitzchok Rambod bought the buildings in 2009, the landlords immediately began mistreating longtime tenants to try to drive them out.
The suit alleges that white tenants are not subjected to the same shoddy treatment and that the owners are blatantly trying to boot existing tenants who live in rent-controlled units.
The landlords show a “persistent refusal” to make repairs for black tenants, fail to cash rent checks and then initiate eviction proceedings and even delay the delivery of front-door keys.
“In contrast, white tenants move into renovated apartments, their rent checks are cashed, they receive monthly rent statements and they are not subject to harassment,” the suit states.
The filing also alleges that white tenants face minimal rent increases when their leases expire, while black tenants are nailed with double-digit hikes.
“Entirely lacking a rational business justification, this course of conduct is blatantly designed to ambush black tenants who have lived in the apartments for years paying affordable rents and force them out, thus enabling defendants to re-rent the apartment to white tenants,” the suit states.
One longtime tenant claims that she has been without hot water since Friday despite repeatedly alerting her landlords.
Reps for the landlords did not immediately return calls for comment.