Guyanese- Subr@j Listed as one of New Yorks worst Slumlord - Part I
Accredited Source of Public Information: Daily News, Times Ledger
The city's worst landlords got their own awards ceremony recently and Queens activists named George Subr@j, a principal owner of Jamaica Seven LLC of Jamaica, as an "abusive" landlord for allegedly harassing renters to raise rents in some of the buildings which he and his brothers manage in Jamaica Queens. Zara Realty A Jamaica landlord was chosen as one of the 12 most abusive in the five boroughs at a public convention of hundreds of activists from 12 neighborhoods gathered to identify the city's worst landlords and to call for a city law that would protect tenants from harassment.
The main criteria were art and variety in harassing and intimidating rent-regulated tenants to get them to move out so the landlords could jack up rents, according to the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development.
Fake eviction papers, turning off gas, heat and hot water, changing locks, threatening naive immigrants, filing frivolous lawsuits, illegally raising rents and failing to make repairs were among the tactics used by the landlords, it is also alleged that they changed tenants' mailboxes and then requested a federal, state or city identification in order for the resident to pick up the new key, knowing that many residents may be undocumented and not have such papers, tenants charged.
In his response, George said that the old mailboxes were replaced by new ones, and that the company accepted foreign passports for identification as well as domestic IDs.
More than 250 people attended the ceremony - none of them laughing - and they voted by shouting and using noisemakers as the landlords' names and properties were announced.
The "winners" were selected based on crowd noise.
Other landlords cited were,Jacob Finkelstein, owner of 1356 Walton Ave., the Bronx; John Tsevelos, president of G-way Management and owner of 851 Franklin Ave., Brooklyn; Jay Podolsky, owner of 330 W. 95th St., 315 W. 94th St., and 316 W. 95th St., Manhattan; Nathan Schuchat, who owns properties on the lower East Side, including 141 Ridge St,David Melendez, who owns buildings in Bushwick, Brooklyn, including 198 Knickerbocker Ave.; Doug Peterson, who owns 974 Sheridan Ave., the Bronx; Benjamin Shaoul, who owns 332 Mott St. and 166 Elizabeth St. in Chinatown, and Julia and Carlos Guzman, who own 268 Dean St. in Brooklyn.
Housing advocate Michelle de la Uz, executive director of the Fifth Avenue Committee in Manhattan, said the 12 landlords' methods are leading to a loss of affordable housing in the city.
"Harassment is a fundamental part of what is going on in New York City, " she told the crowd.
Landlords are becoming more aggressive in pushing long-time residents out because they can get more rent each time a new tenant moves in, the advocates charged.
Some 10,000 apartments become de-regulated each year, de la Uz said. Landlords also buy buildings with the intent of forcing out tenants paying below-market rents and making the building more profitable with new residents paying higher rents, they said.
The organizers are seeking legislation that would allow tenants to use harassment as a defense in Housing Court.
Alejandra Munoz, who has lived for 16 years in her 112-unit building on 149th Street in Jamaica, said it has gone downhill since George bought the building in 2001. Her charges could not be independently verified.
She claimed he was filing frivolous lawsuits in Queens Housing Court in an effort to get her to move out.
"He took me to court for rent I did not owe," the factory worker originally from Mexico said. She shares the one-bedroom apartment with her husband and cousins, paying $1,074 in rent.
She added that she has seen a heavy turnover in recent years. She attributed part of that to his asking tenants to show a green card to renew their lease, something many families living in Queens do not have.
George vigorously disputed her charges which he characterized as baseless in a written response to the Times Ledger.
Munoz was being sued in Housing Court for paying her rent with a check that bounced, he said.
He added that she filed two complaints with the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal that were rejected.
George said it was the company policy to mail lease renewals three to four months before the lease expired.
Syed Hassan, a spokesman for George S., said the owner sought to follow city and state laws regulating housing.
"We don't want those not legally in the country," Hassan said, because of immigration raids several years ago.
According to our source that met with Syed Hassan who publish a pamphlet by the name of Independent voice lamented “ George is paying me a lot of money to slander Herman Singh so all the attention could be focused on Mr. Singh and not on the Subr@js’, He further went on to say Ram Jodha and Frank Singh also wants to nail Herman Singh to the coffin, Reggie Rawana and Jas Persaud brings in the ads, so I have to do what they want, I got noting and if I am sued I have nothing to give, said Hassan”.
When we spoke to Heman Singh, he said he is very disappointed by the actions of George S., because whenever George is in need of money in his pocket he always borrowed from him, Herman lamented that the last time George borrowed money from him, was to pay for himself and his girlfriend Sita’s trip to Guyana, which was by the way arranged first class, except George and Sita had to share the same room with Jas Persaud,and Lake Persaud along with a pimp that arranged prostitutes.
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