Alleged slumlord turned up the heat in retaliation for protest, tenants claim

September 08, 2010 10:00AM

The owner of a Chinatown apartment building that’s been called one of Manhattan’s most neglected turned on the heat last week amid temperatures that eclipsed 90 degrees, days after residents protested their substandard living conditions, a group of tenants have alleged. According to DNAinfo, the tenants at 197 Madison Street, which served as a backdrop for last week’s announcement of a new website that calls out the city’s worst landlords, are claiming that their landlord turned on the heat in the building in retaliation for the rally. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development said it responded to a complaint last Wednesday about heat in the building and issued a class C violation — considered a serious offense — against the owner for having the boiler on when the temperature was above 88 degrees. The agency said the landlord, New Golden Age Realty, which did not respond to a request for comment from DNAinfo, subsequently shut off the boiler. A repairman at the building said the heat was not a retaliation tactic, but rather the result of a malfunctioning boiler. [DNAinfo]

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