Housing advocates said they will seek punitive damages in federal district court against a Queens landlord who allegedly refused to rent to African-Americans. Vyacheslav Uvaydov, the owner of a house at 71-04 171st Street in Fresh Meadows, allegedly told a tester posing as a potential renter that “he lived in a white neighborhood and there would be complaints if he rented to a black person,” according to a charge of discrimination issued by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development August 17. HUD found “reasonable cause” that Uvaydov had violated the Fair Housing Act by making discriminatory statements, according to documents issued by the department. The charge comes after an investigation of complaints filed by non-profit organizations National Fair Housing Alliance and Long Island Housing Services, which dispatched a “tester” to contact Uvaydov in August of 2007 after receiving a tip from an anonymous caller who had attempted to rent from him. [more]