I just moved into an apartment at 121 Seaman Ave., in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan.
The property is managed by the Dermot Company, which has been snatching up properties all around New York City and providing broker free rentals through sites like Rent-Direct.com, which is where I found my apartment.
The apartment seemed like a steal: A lot of space, a pretty nice building, a decent neighborhood (if far as hell from all civilization) and a reasonable rent. However, upon moving in to my new apartment, I made a few alarming discoveries: My kitchen is infested with cockroaches, I have only intermittent hot water, and there are no smoke detectors in my apartment.
Though, at my lease signing, Dermot assured me that they would be prompt in responding to any maintenance issues, I have found that they keep their maintenance line locked in “Do Not Disturb” mode 24/7 and do not return calls under any circumstances. It has been over a week since I have called to complain about these issues — all three of which are clear violations of NYC housing code — and I have yet to receive a call back.
Last night, I asked a neighbor about her experience with Dermot. She told me that the tenants in my building — those who have had the will to stay and fight — have been organizing against Dermot and that they’ve already called in the City Council for help. She says that she has personally filed a half-dozen complaints with 311 in the past year, that the hot water has been an issue for a long time, and that when she withheld rent, as was within her rights, Dermot wrecked her credit. She said that half the tenants have vacated in the last year, three on my floor alone, and that she’s moving out before her lease is up because she doesn’t want to deal with Dermot anymore.
A NY1 article published earlier this month (that I wish I’d read before signing my lease) says:
Tenants [of another property in Brooklyn] say they’re being forced out of their rent controlled and rent-stabilized homes by new landlords who are transforming them into luxury apartments. They claim they’re being harassed with all sorts of tactics, from frivolous lawsuits to challenges to their leases, to being denied basic repairs.
[...]
Jackson’s been living in a rent-stabilized apartment at 99 Lafayette for 16 years. She says her problems began when the building was bought by the Dermot Company in February. The same developer also owns 266 Washington, where many long-time residents shared similar stories.
I called my City Council representative to look into this matter. The conversation began like this:
“Hi. I just moved into the neighborhood and have found my new landlord to be somewhat negligent. It’s a management company called Dermot.”
“Do you live at 121 Seaman?” the councilman’s associate asked, instantly naming my address.
“Uh… yeah.”
“Yeah, they’re a big problem,” she said, warning me that I should file a rent overcharge form in order to check whether they’re also ripping me off on the rent, which has been her experience. She also urged me to attend the upcoming tenant meeting in my building, which she will be present at.
I offer this as a cautionary tale to my fellow New Yorkers and those presently hunting for apartments in NYC: Stay the fuck away from Dermot. They are, to put it mildly, indifferent to the needs of their tenants; and to put it fairly, douchebags.
Act in solidarity with your fellow renters and help bring pressure to bear on Dermot. Blog, Digg, or otherwise share this article with as many New Yorkers as possible.
[Update] Thanks to Gothamist and Consumerist (which scored me a brief-but-gone mention on Gawker this morning), I actually got a call back from Dermot today… Let’s see if they actually follow through on my issues now.
29 Comments
Sounds like fun…
Rate your landlord/rental company at http://www.pickalandlord.com
Please keep us updated!
i was a broker for a time in manhattan… dermot is widely regarded as a slumlord.
stay away from them!
I’m sorry to hear about your troubles. I moved into another one of Dermot’s buildings in Inwood at 29-45 Sickles St. While we have had our share of cockroaches, we’ve been pretty pleased with our apartment. I do agree that they NEVER return calls. We have to depend on our super to fix little stuff. Our building had a tenants meeting a couple weeks ago. The original tenants are upset because they feel they are being forced out of the apartments so dermot can renovate and raise the rent for a new tenant. Good luck and thanks for sharing.
Why is it you re always tested in some way? You a bad guy in a previous life?
it’s b/c g-d is loving and benevolent
“I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh.”
very loving and benevolent
Ray, and you’ll fight the coackroaches with that?
My size 12 boot is sufficient for roaches. A sword would just be overkill. (though i do own one sharp enough to slice paper the thin way, split hairs, etc. more like a 3 foot giant razorblade) hi.
Hmmm, are you into LARP?
Two damage! Two damage! Lightning bolt!
No. not me. Just like weapons. I uh, own a lot of odd things.
Such as? I collect NYC mini mugs (got 36 different ones), whimsical snowman figurines, antquities ranging from Art Nouveau jewellery to a neolithic millstone, books on European Jewish history etc.
Here I go disclosing my interests on a public forum. I have a collection of nutcrackers, particurally of the Erzgebirge variety, skulls, and a sick obsession with analog modular synthesizers. My book collection isn’t large enough, but mostly including the topics of crime, medicine, art, freakery, and general meanness. hi.
Erzgebirge nutcrackers? My mother collects those, too. If you want any more, let me know.
can it get any more banal?
Are you challenging us to it?
Just get a bunch of Combat Roach traps. those babies work!
It’s all my fault for quoting Deuteronomy.
It’s ok, Ray, don’t worry. We can always return to the overall topic by suggesting your nutcrackers as means in the fight against the cockroaches.
call Robert Grimble, he is a NYC attorney specializing in these kinds of situations. I had a long lasting and hellish nightmare situation with my landlord - went to court and won.
You can also call HPD (housing and preservation). They’re pretty toothless these days, but it starts the process of generating a paper trail for the inevitable legal parrying.
As for the roaches, you can try the homebrew catnip remedy or hire a private exterminator should the landlord prove unwilling. So long as there is documentation of repeated attempts to remedy the problem–as well as the landlord’s obstinance to fix the problem–you can deduct the difference from your rent.
PS-Welcome to the neighborhood.
See you on the A Train.
PS.
I’m up the block if you need a tour of Upstate Manhattan.
Mark Weinstein suggested I try and bury the hatchet, considering I was an obnoxious fuckwad on Jewschool …
…thought I’d premise that so you didn’t think I was a stalker.
…
Monk Eastman! great name.
“As brave a thug as ever shot an enemy in the back.”
Fan of Asbury’s gangs of new york?
Hello
My name is juanita and I’m a community organizer a Pratt Area Community Council. We are working with tenants that live in dermot’s buildings, PACC want to thank you for being this issue out for other people will know what this bastard is doing to our community. So I want you to know that they are our target so if you want to join us in this fight please contact me at 718-522-2613 ext.24. We are looking to plan something big real soon please call if you are willing to join this fight against Dermont.
Thank you,
Juanita
I’m in the same boat in a Dermot managed apartment in Astoria. I was bitten alive as soon as I moved in…after putting up with their incompetent exterminator for 3 months, we became convinced that we have bed bugs. The super was in denial, and it took us another month, after our publicity campaign, to find out that our building and the one next to it have been infested for over a year…without being treated properly. Cockroaches have been a problem since day one, and luke warm water in the kitchen too. The super is sympathetic but lazy. And Dermot’s maintenance line only return phone calls 2 out of 10 times. Our apartment is a market rate apartment and we are fed up…not to mention ways to redress for the time, money, and efforts we spent just to have a proper home.
I have the same problems with these scum bags in queens. I live in the Opal a 80/20 so called luxury building. Can you believe these lying fucks registered my 1 br apt to DCHR for $5,500. This was three years ago! Can any body tell where in f**king Queens u can find a 1 br apt for $5,500 ?!
Dermot just bought 180 Borinquen PL. in Williamsburg a week ago and already put flyers under everyone’s door demanding we reinstall our air conditioners with brackets that are secured to the brick facade or they will be marked as abandoned and seized.
They have given us one week to do this and it is done on the pretense on bringing the building “up to code”. Meanwhile my ceiling leaks, paint is chipped and peeling all over the building, the buzzers haven’t worked for 3 years, the building is infested with roaches, and the hallways on the 5th and 6th floors have exposed rafters covered in mold (that’s the short list). I would call that not up to code.
To the resident of 121 Seaman.
I’m a neighbor of yours in a Dermot Building as well. I’d like to attend one of those meetings if possible to learn more. I am hoping to form a tenant’s group here.
2 Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[...] An example why rent control doesn’t work. It’s also an example that if your City Council representative can instantly match your problems with your address, it’s not a good thing. “Hi. I just moved into the neighborhood and have found my new landlord to be somewhat negligent. It’s a management company called Dermot.” [...]
[...] management companies every day, but most don’t do much about it other than move out. Not this scorned tenant, the self proclaimed “Orthodox Anarchist”. He’s on a crusade to bring down Dermot Company, an [...]
Post a Comment