Joel Loutan, the owner of a multifamily residential building at 1514 East 172nd Street in the Bronx, is to serve jail time until he corrects alleged violations at his property, the city Department of Housing and Development said.
Loutan allegedly failed to comply with AEP Orders issued by HPD, did not appear in court on numerous occasions and did not comply with court orders to correct housing code violations including roof replacement, repainting exterior walls, rewiring the entire building and replacing the heating plant.
Bronx County Housing Court Judge Jerald Klein found Loutan in civil contempt of an earlier order and judgment on Wednesday, and directed that he be fined and remanded to jail until the violations are corrected.
The four-unit property, which currently has 30 open housing code violations – more than seven per unit – was placed in HPD’s alternative enforcement program, an initiative that targets the 200 most distressed buildings in the city for remediation. –Julie Strickland