Fed-Up Chelsea Tenants Plagued With Lead Dust Go On Rent Strike

CHELSEA, NY — A group of tenants on West 17th Street are going on a rent strike, tenants said.

A handful of rent-regulated tenants at 336 W. 17th St. announced at a rally Tuesday led by the Cooper Square Committee that they are withholding rent after gut renovations sparked myriad complaints from tenants about cleanliness, safety, and health concerns, tenants said.

"Our health and quality of life [have] deteriorated," said Kiyoko Hovarth, a rent-regulated tenant at the building for 25 years. "We feel like we are living in an abandoned house in the middle of Chelsea, Manhattan."

"Our stress is rooftop height. We all decided we cannot live like this," said Hovarth, who's 74-year-old husband sustained a head injury after portions of the ceiling fell onto him in two January instances, causing an injury that led a neurologist to diagnose him with a traumatic brain injury and a dermatologist to diagnose him with itchy skin for six weeks, reports from doctors and a police report provided to Patch show.

"I was completely distressed," Robert Hovarth, a filmmaker, said of the incidents.

Records show Michael Besen of the Besen Group purchased the Chelsea walk-up in August 2016, which is managed by Besen's New York City Management.

Gut renovations led tenants to be exposed to lead-filled construction dust strewn throughout hallways and stairs eight times the federal limits in March, Patch previously reported. The tenants' association at No. 336 ultimately took the landlord to court in May, which will be heard by the end of the month, court records show.

Besen Group and NYC Management as well as the company's lawyer did not respond to comment Tuesday.

A lawyer on behalf of Besen previously downplayed the high lead levels as being on an "unused" portion of the staircase. The lawyer had also previously said the ceiling collapse in Hovarth's apartment did not have to do with the owners' renovations, though has not provided additional details.

A pattern of similar issues in the city in aging buildings with rent-regulated apartments sparked recently passed sweeping legislation to protect tenants from treatment tenants' advocates have said is a part of a larger goal to deregulate apartments.

"The business model is to revamp apartments to make your lives miserable to force you out and take over the building and charge market rate," said State Sen. Brad Hoylman, who added one bill passed in April, which has not yet been signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, would no longer require tenants to prove physical injury to prove tenant harassment.

"I want them to communicate with us. Treat us fairly. Make a nice home," said Mikala Kuchera, who moved into the building spring 2016.

She said she has dealt with constant hammering, sawing, loud music, shouting, and stomping from workers that has caused her belongings hanging on the walls to fall and break. Covers to contain dust inside of under-construction units are a false show of protection since they're not zipped, she added.

"It's a nightmare trying to navigate the bureaucracy of the various departments," Kuchera added. "We deserve the right to a safe home."