The heat was back on during the weekend, but today at 3:34 pm in the afternoon, the heat is not on. Just because it is 42 degrees outside doesn't mean that we are warm in a building that has no direct sunlight hit it during the day. I have to run heaters to stay warm and that just runs up my energy bill. I am tired of having to pay $250-$300 energy bills every month. My energy bills are high enough due to the fact that the energy company has no access to the meters and just charges me what they want to. I filed a complaint with 311 on 1/25, but when I checked today on the Service Request Lookup, they had no record of it and no one has come to check the building. My service request number is 1-1-821067711.

Still cold. Here's what happens: The heat is on in the morning around 5:00am until about 9:00am. Then it is off and you freeze all day until around 5:00pm. The heat remains on for a few hours and around 12:00am, it is off again. Many of the windows do not close all the way and it gets so cold in here. There are large holes between floors around the radiators that lets drafts in as well. If you are home during the day you freeze. If you are up at night or don't put enough blankets on your bed, you freeze. Yes, a lot of the people in this building work during the day, but why should the people who aren't out all day freeze? Tonight, I didn't have hot water. I turned the tap all the way as far as it would go to hot and all I got was lukewarm.

We called your landlord again and left another message. Please confirm that the above number for him is correct.
Please continue to call 311 to file official complaints with HPD for the public record.
You can also call your City Council Member for help:
Vincent Gentile
718-748-5200

Here it is...winter season again and guess what? The heat is off all night long and we are freezing. The Landlord only sends up heat in the early morning, late afternoon, and evening. The rest of the time, you're on your own to find heat, whether that be electric heaters that are dangerous and waste electricity or blankets. This is so awful that we have to suffer every winter.

We called your landlord,
JAMES BANTIS
7732 NARROWS AVENUE
BROOKLYN NY 11209
917-856-3199

on your behalf and left a message. HPD does not show any recent complaints of no heat for your building. Please continue to call 311 to file official complaints. If your heat is restored, please close this post.

Woke up this morning with no heat, We are freezing. It is only 10 degrees out and the freezing air is coming through all the windows that don't close all the way. Having to run electric heaters and wear several layers of clothing indoors.

We are having this same issue again this year. NO HEAT, especially at night. Happens every year and nothing is resolved.

This is. So true, we suffered all. Winter and had to pay for heaters.. Now the broken windows make sure the apartment never cools down in the summer. Not to mention the mold growing from. Bedroom and. Bathroom ceilings.. We had to paint and fix holes in the bathroom wall because he is not a landlord, he's a guy that just says PAY ME or out.. He's threatened to kick us out if we don't take a few hundred. Dollar. Increase. Next month, out of no. Where! Not to mention. This is rent stabilized so legally they got. Zero. Increase this year.. But he schemed. Wouldn't give us a written lease and. Will be throwing us out it seems. Because he can make more money if he fixes the place- umm hello?! Maybe fix. It for us every once. And a while, instead of us coming out of pocket and we could afford. Ghr rent raises- and. No. Lease? Never heard such. Non sense....

I thought I was the only one with as extreme issues as I am suffering under! I had no idea my neighbors had it as bad as we do.

Yes, we are threatened with rent increases all the time - as much as 25% - just out of the blue and not even on the anniversary of the month we began renting. He usually does this if we are a few days late with the rent payment. Since he insists on us handing him the rent check personally, and he is not always downstairs in the restaurant on the 1st of the month, we cannot help it if the rent is a day or two late. We have not received a written lease since the day we rented the apartment and that was a long time ago. He is impossible to approach and have a decent conversation with. He speaks down to women in the most condescending way possible. He lives in a nice house on Narrows Ave and in the meantime, we all suffer. I know his restaurant makes enough money that he can afford to fix issues, but he is too greedy to do so. Have you seen the prices he charges for the food down there? He has money. Of course, I would never eat at his restaurant. As lazy as he is about fixing the apartments, and cheap, god knows what you could end up with by eating there. The elderly lady on the third floor has been there since the 1960's. She doesn't pay very much for her apartment, that I know. He has been trying to get rid of them for years so he can get in that apartment and charge more. She still has the original apartment layout, so of course, if he got them out and renovated it, he could charge lots of $$ for it, legal or not. That tells you what kind of person he is.

A list of the issues we have been dealing with, continuously:

1) No heat in winter. Every winter. We have to run heaters, which makes our electric bill so high.

2) Our windows also do not close completely. Some just slide back down when you close them. One has a rusted screw in the metal frame around the window that we can't remove and that prevents it from ever being closed completely. We had to buy wooden posts to put in the windows just to keep the windows closed
.
3) When it rains, we have to put towels in almost all of our window sills. The rain isn't getting in through the windows because they don't close. Nope, the water actually comes in through the actual window frame inside of the house. I don't remember when the building was last repointed, but it hasn't been done since we have lived here. The water damage is so bad, that the paint has been slowly sliding off the window frame. There is mold on the windowsills.

4) We constantly have plumbing leaks. The kitchen especially, but also, for some reason, taking a long shower causes water to leak into another apartment and backs up the water in the restaurant (so disgusting to think about). The bottom of the cupboard under the kitchen sink is totally water damaged and caved in. The wooden floor by the dishwasher has become warped. He sends a plumber when it gets real bad, and it takes a few days for the plumber to get here. The plumber fixes it, but in no time at all, everything is leaking again. For some reason also, the wooden floor right outside the bathroom is also water warped. I don't think a sealant was used when the floors were put in. He probably just laid down the cheap floors and called it a day.

9) Our walls are practically made out of paper. We cannot hang anything on the walls or it falls. Pictures, shower curtain rods, shelving, etc. All fall out of the wall, even when using the proper anchors.

10) Have you seen the stairs? I am waiting to fall through them one day. On each landing of the stairs, the wood floor is cracked. When I do fall through the stairs, I am going to sue for everything. No maintenance is done to this building at all, but the restaurant looks really nice, doesn't it?

11) The live music is really too much to handle sometimes. I can barely hear my TV. I am sure the band is supposed to be playing inside of the restaurant, not next to the open door frames and practically on the sidewalk. I can hear them a block and a half away. When we rented the apartment, the landlord said it was sound proof. Ha!

12) Packages are constantly stolen. If you want something delivered, you should stay at home that day and wait for the package. You should put a note by the buzzers telling the delivery person to ring your bell good and hard (since the buzzer don't always work too good). Because packages are just left in the entryway and the door to our apartment building is glass, anyone walking by or eating at the restaurant can just open the door and steal. This has happened to me many times.

13) The garbage on the curb. It stinks. He puts mussel shells out and they are not always in the bags or have spilled out because he uses cheap garbage bags and they leak mussel and seafood juice. Unlike Skinflints down the street who I see washing off their sidewalk every morning, he never washes the sidewalks and it is disgusting.

14) The bread delivery people for his restaurant leave the bread, open and exposed in an open cardboard box, in our open entryway. I feel sorry for the people who have to eat that. You know that bread gets dirty sitting there half the day. I've seen people put their hands in the box and take bread right out of it too. However, if he catches you leaving anything in the entryway, he will tell you it is a fire hazard.

15) There are large holes cut in the floor around each radiator pipe. This allows every bug possible to come in, like roaches. Also, mice come in through those same holes from the restaurant. It's disgusting. We have to keep mouse traps. I think I will buy some kind of chicken wire or something like that and put it around the holes (of course...another expense out of my pocket). With the terrible heatwave recently, they are coming into the apartments to cool off.

16) Now for the worst of the worst. Because the radiator pipes leak, the ceilings have fallen down around the top of the pipes in *every* single room. We have had this fixed a few times, but either they would fix the hole while the ceiling was still moist or whatever they used was so cheap, it just fell off the next winter when the radiator was on again. The worst of it is in the room closest to the front door. You'll never believe this, but one year, we had a small celluloid toy from the 1940s fall from the hole in the ceiling - just like in Poltergeist. Also, I really feel sorry for the neighbors that share that wall with us. The water damage is so bad that not only is there a hole in the ceiling, but the wall is also damaged. The plaster came off that wall in some spots and we can see the wood skeleton of the building. And yet, he wants to charge us more. Unbelievable. I can't say anything to him. He blames me or threatens to raise the rent.

I've always been hesitant every time I've made a complaint on here, because I feel like if he sees it, he will know who we are from what I have said and we will be threatened to pay more or will be told to leave. He makes all of the tenants uncomfortable. Honestly, I have seen more than one tenant get up and move out in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, we can't get another apartment because we are already paying a hand and a foot for this one. We may never have enough saved up to get out of this dump.

It does no good to call 311 or report these things. He just gets nastier, more threatening and more intimidating. He will know you reported him and will want to get you out. It will take forever for someone to do the repairs and when they are done, they will be done cheaply and will not last or will get worse. If he gets fines from the building department, he just pays them and does nothing to repair anything. The only thing you can do is document everything and take photographs and videos. Because I bet you anything, he would charge you for damage if you moved out and steal your security deposit.

8) We also have mold on our bathroom ceiling. And get ready for this. A few years ago, we reported that the bathtub leaked and was causing mold. Someone came in and caulked right over the mold. We have permanent mold now. Also, the lever to close the drain in the bathtub doesn't work, so no baths for us...not that we would want to bathe in a moldy tub, but for general purposes I suppose it would be nice to have a tub that filled. There is no fan for air circulation or any way for moisture to exit the bathroom, so mold just grows like crazy.

(Sorry...not sure why my comments didn't post in the right order...)

I seem to be having trouble posting my issues 5 thru 7.

I thought I was the only one with as extreme issues as I am suffering under! I had no idea my neighbors had it as bad as we do.

Yes, we are threatened with rent increases all the time - as much as 25% - just out of the blue and not even on the anniversary of the month we began renting. He usually does this if we are a few days late with the rent payment. Since he insists on us handing him the rent check personally, and he is not always downstairs in the restaurant on the 1st of the month, we cannot help it if the rent is a day or two late. We have not received a written lease since the day we rented the apartment and that was a long time ago. He is impossible to approach and have a decent conversation with. He speaks down to women in the most condescending way possible. He lives in a nice house on Narrows Ave and in the meantime, we all suffer. I know his restaurant makes enough money that he can afford to fix issues, but he is too greedy to do so. Have you seen the prices he charges for the food down there? He has money. Of course, I would never eat at his restaurant. As lazy as he is about fixing the apartments, and cheap, god knows what you could end up with by eating there. The elderly lady on the third floor has been there since the 1960's. She doesn't pay very much for her apartment, that I know. He has been trying to get rid of them for years so he can get in that apartment and charge more. She still has the original apartment layout, so of course, if he got them out and renovated it, he could charge lots of $$ for it, legal or not. That tells you what kind of person he is.

A list of the issues we have been dealing with, continuously:

1) No heat in winter. Every winter. We have to run heaters, which makes our electric bill so high.

2) Our windows also do not close completely. Some just slide back down when you close them. One has a rusted screw in the metal frame around the window that we can't remove and that prevents it from ever being closed completely. We had to buy wooden posts to put in the windows just to keep the windows closed
.
3) When it rains, we have to put towels in almost all of our window sills. The rain isn't getting in through the windows because they don't close. Nope, the water actually comes in through the actual window frame inside of the house. I don't remember when the building was last repointed, but it hasn't been done since we have lived here. The water damage is so bad, that the paint has been slowly sliding off the window frame. There is mold on the windowsills.

4) We constantly have plumbing leaks. The kitchen especially, but also, for some reason, taking a long shower causes water to leak into another apartment and backs up the water in the restaurant (so disgusting to think about). The bottom of the cupboard under the kitchen sink is totally water damaged and caved in. The wooden floor by the dishwasher has become warped. He sends a plumber when it gets real bad, and it takes a few days for the plumber to get here. The plumber fixes it, but in no time at all, everything is leaking again. For some reason also, the wooden floor right outside the bathroom is also water warped. I don't think a sealant was used when the floors were put in. He probably just laid down the cheap floors and called it a day.

5) We have no fan above the stove. So everything in the kitchen is covered with grease from cooking. We have to disconnect the smoke detector, because without a fan above the stove, heat and smoke from regular cooking would fill up the house and set it off. The smoke detector is right outside the kitchen.

6) When someone uses the bathroom in the restaurant, we have no water. You could be trying to rinse the shampoo out of your hair and all of a sudden there is no water for about 20 seconds, while shampoo runs in your eyes.

7) The wall facing the laundromat is cracked from one end to the other.

8) We also have mold on our bathroom ceiling. And get ready for this. A few years ago, we reported that the bathtub leaked and was causing mold. Someone came in and caulked right over the mold. We have permanent mold now. Also, the lever to close the drain in the bathtub doesn't work, so no baths for us...not that we would want to bathe in a moldy tub, but for general purposes I suppose it would be nice to have a tub that filled. There is no fan for air circulation or any way for moisture to exit the bathroom, so mold just grows like crazy.

9) Our walls are practically made out of paper. We cannot hang anything on the walls or it falls. Pictures, shower curtain rods, shelving, etc. All fall out of the wall, even when using the proper anchors.

10) Have you seen the stairs? I am waiting to fall through them one day. On each landing of the stairs, the wood floor is cracked. When I do fall through the stairs, I am going to sue for everything. No maintenance is done to this building at all, but the restaurant looks really nice, doesn't it?

11) The live music is really too much to handle sometimes. I can barely hear my TV. I am sure the band is supposed to be playing inside of the restaurant, not next to the open door frames and practically on the sidewalk. I can hear them a block and a half away. When we rented the apartment, the landlord said it was sound proof. Ha!

12) Packages are constantly stolen. If you want something delivered, you should stay at home that day and wait for the package. You should put a note by the buzzers telling the delivery person to ring your bell good and hard (since the buzzer don't always work too good). Because packages are just left in the entryway and the door to our apartment building is glass, anyone walking by or eating at the restaurant can just open the door and steal. This has happened to me many times.

13) The garbage on the curb. It stinks. He puts mussel shells out and they are not always in the bags or have spilled out because he uses cheap garbage bags and they leak mussel and seafood juice. Unlike Skinflints down the street who I see washing off their sidewalk every morning, he never washes the sidewalks and it is disgusting.

14) The bread delivery people for his restaurant leave the bread, open and exposed in an open cardboard box, in our open entryway. I feel sorry for the people who have to eat that. You know that bread gets dirty sitting there half the day. I've seen people put their hands in the box and take bread right out of it too. However, if he catches you leaving anything in the entryway, he will tell you it is a fire hazard.

15) There are large holes cut in the floor around each radiator pipe. This allows every bug possible to come in, like roaches. Also, mice come in through those same holes from the restaurant. It's disgusting. We have to keep mouse traps. I think I will buy some kind of chicken wire or something like that and put it around the holes (of course...another expense out of my pocket). With the terrible heatwave recently, they are coming into the apartments to cool off.

16) Now for the worst of the worst. Because the radiator pipes leak, the ceilings have fallen down around the top of the pipes in *every* single room. We have had this fixed a few times, but either they would fix the hole while the ceiling was still moist or whatever they used was so cheap, it just fell off the next winter when the radiator was on again. The worst of it is in the room closest to the front door. You'll never believe this, but one year, we had a small celluloid toy from the 1940s fall from the hole in the ceiling - just like in Poltergeist. Also, I really feel sorry for the neighbors that share that wall with us. The water damage is so bad that not only is there a hole in the ceiling, but the wall is also damaged. The plaster came off that wall in some spots and we can see the wood skeleton of the building. And yet, he wants to charge us more. Unbelievable. I can't say anything to him. He blames me or threatens to raise the rent.

I've always been hesitant every time I've made a complaint on here, because I feel like if he sees it, he will know who we are from what I have said and we will be threatened to pay more or will be told to leave. He makes all of the tenants uncomfortable. Honestly, I have seen more than one tenant get up and move out in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, we can't get another apartment because we are already paying a hand and a foot for this one. We may never have enough saved up to get out of this dump.

It does no good to call 311 or report these things. He just gets nastier, more threatening and more intimidating. He will know you reported him and will want to get you out. It will take forever for someone to do the repairs and when they are done, they will be done cheaply and will not last or will get worse. If he gets fines from the building department, he just pays them and does nothing to repair anything. The only thing you can do is document everything and take photographs and videos. Because I bet you anything, he would charge you for damage if you moved out and steal your security deposit.