Hempstead landlord, tenants in yearslong battle on rents, services

Tenants in two Hempstead apartment buildings say their landlord has overcharged them thousands of dollars in rent, and a state agency that's supposed to protect them hasn't consistently enforced regulations.

The battles have gone on for years. Since Manchester I LLC, based in Oyster Bay, bought a development with rent-stabilized units steps from the Hempstead LIRR in spring 2013, tenants say they've lost a community room, playground and the safer environment that security guards once provided. In some cases, the cuts in service prompted Homes and Community Renewal, the state agency that oversees rent regulations, to impose rent freezes. These directives forbid the owner from increasing rent until the state has verified the issues have been addressed.

According to tenants and HCR documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request, Manchester I hasn't improved conditions, has raised rents without justification and threatened eviction of residents who won't pay extra.

"They aggravate you," said David Lofton, president of the tenant association, of Manchester I. "They get you to come to court. You sit there for a couple of hours. You miss a day's pay. And then they'll postpone it — come back next month."

Manchester I and its attorney didn't respond to repeated requests for comment. The company is based in Oyster Bay, according to state business registration records, and led by Bradford Mott, who is listed as managing member, according to 2019 court filings.

The precise number of tenants covered by a rent freeze order at the roughly 240-unit development is not known. More than 85 residents of the 1971 complex at 251 Jackson St. and 150 W. Columbia St. were listed on 2015 rent freeze documents provided by Lofton, but that number has changed with tenant turnover.

HCR said it couldn't disclose how many apartments in the development are rent-stabilized because of rules protecting tenants' privacy. Tenants in apartments covered by rent-stabilization laws have the right to renew their leases with relatively predictable rent increases set by the county Rent Guidelines Board. Landlords are obligated to maintain services and face rent freezes if they do not.

When asked about a range of tenant concerns, HCR spokeswoman Charni Sochet said in an email that the agency's Office of Rent Administration "is committed to protecting the rights of rent regulated tenants by enforcing and administering the law as enacted by the NYS Legislature and interpreted by the Courts." But the agency did not address a number of specific issues raised by tenants who complain of inconsistent enforcement.

Rent freezes flouted

Tenants are often nervous about challenging Manchester I's increases because they fear a fight with the owner could put their home at risk, according to Samantha Fountain, who works in the village mayor's office.

She has helped many residents appeal rent increases, which led to court battles with the landlord.

Fountain said Manchester I has recently been more willing to settle disputes before they get that far.

But she estimated that she's come across more than 50 tenants who were overcharged at the development in the past roughly seven years.

"It's not easy for the tenants," Fountain said. "They're afraid to come forward."

E. Hardy, a tenant who didn't want her first name published, is one of those residents who didn't initially speak up. She noticed her rent went up by about $9 in 2016, although she was granted a rent freeze in 2015. Hardy didn't think such a small sum was worth a potential conflict. "I didn't want to have any issues, even if they weren't fixing things like they were supposed to," said Hardy, a resident since the 1990s.

But other increases followed, according to leasing paperwork reviewed by Newsday. Hardy, a 54-year-old legal assistant, now estimates she's paid at least $1,700 in unauthorized rent increases. She said she is trying to figure out how to get her money back.

Eviction threats

When tenants don't pay the higher rent, Manchester I files eviction cases that intimidate some residents into giving in, Lofton said. Renters who stick it out in court have won, he said. Court filings show that, since 2020, Manchester I has filed and withdrawn at least four eviction cases against tenants who were listed on rent freezes and who said they refused to pay increases.

Hazel Alexander, a retiree who has lived in the development for more than 25 years, said she discovered in 2020 that she had paid rent increases in 2018 and 2019, despite signing onto a 2015 rent reduction order that is still in effect. After Hazel said she stopped paying the $40.41 bump, the landlord filed an eviction case in October 2020, court records show.

Alexander said the landlord's error in charging the higher rent was evident in court and records show the owner withdrew its case against her in May 2021. Manchester I stopped charging her the inflated rate, she said. But Alexander hasn't gotten clarity on how she'll recover the roughly $2,000 she estimates she was overbilled.

"When you call [Manchester I], you don't get anybody," she said.

Lofton and his wife were hit with an eviction case in January 2020, the latest in a series of four cases filed and retracted against them since 2015, court records show. The couple is protected by a rent freeze in place since 2014 that has kept their rent at $1,200 a month, according to Lofton and HCR paperwork. But Manchester I sent statements claiming he owed roughly $70,000 in rent because, Lofton said, the company didn't abide by the agency's rent freeze order. He said the overcharges on his statements were corrected after he filed a harassment complaint with HCR.

"I've been to court up there a dozen times. They know my name," said Lofton, who is retired and goes to court to support neighbors facing evictions.

Issues linger

Several tenants shared concerns about the development growing more dangerous since Manchester I bought it almost nine years ago, and they said security guards were removed. Residents said they're one of the few buildings in the area without security, and homeless squatters occupy stairwells.

"Now I have to peep and make sure there's nobody in there before I walk in … Nobody should have to live like that," Hardy said about using the stairs.

Kevin Colgan, assistant chief of the Hempstead Village Police Department, said there has been a "significant" increase in calls from the development. During the seven years leading up to and including the ownership change, the department received an average 133 calls per year at the buildings. In the years since Manchester I took over, it has received an average of 238, Colgan said.

"We do have a fair number of trespass complaints that are coming in that we address to the best of our ability," he said.

HCR orders are not clear on the landlord's obligation to provide security guards. In the West Columbia Street residence, the loss of security personnel was cited on rent freezes issued in 2015 and 2021 that are still in effect, documents show. But at the Jackson Street building, HCR has deemed the loss of security guards too minimal of a change to merit a rent freeze, according to agency documents and Lofton.

The state agency has issued conflicting orders on a community room that tenants say has been turned into two apartments, HCR documents show. The agency has recently ruled in tenants' favor. But Manchester I highlighted the agency's inconsistency in lawsuits challenging HCR's rulings on the community room and on a playground tenants say was transformed into parking spots.

In settlements in July 2019 and February 2020, HCR agreed to hold a hearing on whether the landlord is obligated to provide the community room and playground, court documents show. The hearing is scheduled later this month, Lofton said.

Lofton said HCR has taken a too-lenient approach to enforcement — and that hasn't been very effective.

"They're not fining them," Lofton said. "If [HCR] was fining them for not putting things back in order … they'd be fixing these things."

The agency issued one $250 fine in 2017 for failing to fix conditions in the parking lot, which was noted in an early 2015 rent freeze, records show. Sochet, the HCR spokeswoman, didn't directly respond when asked whether the agency had issued other penalties that didn't appear in the FOIL documents.

HCR rarely takes enforcement action to follow up on violations routinely highlighted in rent freeze documents, according to Andrew Scherer, a professor at New York Law School who wrote a treatise on state landlord-tenant law. "They have the power. They don’t have the obligation," Scherer said.

An HCR official said the agency can launch compliance measures for emergency situations, but declined to say if it would take such action on its own initiative in less serious cases.

If a rent-controlled or rent-stabilized tenant believes they are not receiving vital services, HCR said they should contact its Office of Rent Administration or Tenant Protection Unit at 833-499-0343. Further information on tenant rights and how to file a complaint is available at rent.hcr.ny.gov/RentConnect/Welcome.

By Sarina Trangle

sarina.trangle@newsday.comSarinaTrangle

Sarina Trangle covers affordability and cost of living issues and other business topics. She previously worked as an editor and reporter at amNewYork.