Landlords want housing courts open
Small landlords in the Bronx complain of scamming tenants, missed payments
Getting ready for fl u season
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,BTR SEPT. 25-OCT. 1, 2020 3
BY JASON COHEN
As millions of New Yorkers
could face eviction in October
and have held rallies demanding
housing courts remain
closed, there is another group
of people being affected —
small landlords.
While the Safe Tenant Harbor
Act prevents people from
getting kicked to the curb, it
does not encourage people to
not pay rent. However, due to
COVID-19 many are choosing
other necessities like food and
health care instead.
For the past month or so,
several small landlords have
been conducting a modest protest
in front of the courthouse
at Lou Gehrig Plaza. Among
those there are landlords
Jean Claxton and John Sheridan
and a lawyer they hired,
Roger Evans.
“They need the courts
to open,” Evans said to the
Bronx Times. “The working
class of landlords is being
denied justice.”
Evans stressed that those
protesting aren’t landlords
with tons of buildings, but everyday
folks who may rent to a
few people.
The lawyer questioned
what these people are suppose
to do if a tenant’s lease
is up or people are living in
their building without a lease.
Without receiving rent, landlords
are not able to pay for the
utilities and property taxes.
Evans along with the
landlords, are pleading
with Chief Administrative
Judge Lawrence Marks, to
open the courts.
“The banks aren’t saying
people can’t pay their
mortgage,” he said.
Sheridan is a teacher in
Hunts Point and a small landlord
who rents a single-family
house in the Bronx, the house
that belonged to his greatgrandfather.
He is currently
having diffi culty with the
tenants at that property and
it is causing fi nancial hardship
and emotional stress for
his family.
In late May, he and his wife
made the decision to sell the
house that has been in his family
for more than 100 years.
When they told their tenants
of their decision in early June,
they were excited. For the nine
years they had been renting
from Sheridan, they claimed
many times they would buy
the house with the assistance
of wealthy relatives. Sheridan
even offered to sell the house
at a signifi cant discount.
“By now, my wife and I
were supposed to be looking
forward to our retirement,”
Sheridan said in a letter to
Marks. “The sky was supposed
to be the limit after all of our
hard work and fi nancial sacrifi
ce, and now all we do is argue
over fi nances and experience
daily emotional stress regarding
our future and our lives.”
Initially, they went along
with the arrangement to have
a realtor begin showing the
house. But when the tenants
realized that family fi nancing
was not possible, everything
changed. When the realtor
called to show the property,
the tenants balked, claiming
coronavirus concerns. Meanwhile,
the tenants were secretly
showing the house to
buyers who agreed to keep
them as tenants.
The tenants’ lease ended
Aug. 31 and they refuse to
leave the house. They claim
they will continue to pay rent
and will even negotiate a new
lease with a new owner.
“I understand that as Chief
Administrative Judge of the
State of New York you have the
authority to open the housing
courts in NY City and State
to full capacity,” he said to
Marks. “That is all that I ask.
No special favors or dispositions.
Just a chance to plead
my case before a judge so that
justice can fi nally be done and
my family can fi nally have
some peace.”
Claxton, 69, of Concourse
Village, also sent a letter to
Marks. Claxton, a retired payroll
processor of 33 years, rents
a six-unit residential building
in the Bronx.
She inherited the buildings
from her late husband, Alfred
who passed away in 2012. She
takes care of them but one tenant
has taken advantage of her
and the system since 2013.
“From March of 2014, to
the present month, all that
I’ve been doing Judge Marks/
Judge Silver, is going back
and forth to the Bronx Housing
Court, begging for relief
of this tenant, who has done
nothing for the last eight years
as a tenant in my building, but
defraud the welfare and human
resources systems,” she
said. As a result of his ability
to skillfully defraud the system,
I’m literally ‘laughed at’
by him, for his so-called, beating
the system every time.”
Currently this tenant is
in three months arrears. The
last month’s rent payment that
she received was from June,
which he was court ordered to
pay by the 10th of each month.
The court placed the tenant on
one year’s probation that began
from Oct. 1, 2019, and is
scheduled to end Sept. 30, but
he has been in violation of the
court order since March, using
the COVID-19 pandemic as
an excuse.
Instead of being able to enjoy
her retirement and spend
time with her daughter and
grandkids, she is dealing with
this. She demanded the courts
reopen and toss him out.
“I’m at the breaking point,”
she said to the Bronx Times.
“Tenants get away with nonsense.
I just want him out of
the building. Small landlords
are people. Small landlords
need help.”
The landlords protesting at Lou Gehrig Plaza. Photo courtesy of Roger Evans
Congressman Espillat gets his fl u shot Photos courtesy of Montefi ore
BY JASON COHEN
With fl u season quickly approaching, a Bronx hospital organized a vaccination event for
members of the community.
On Friday, Sept. 18, Congressman Adriano Espaillat, Senator Jamaal Bailey, Assemblyman
Jeffrey Dinowitz and Councilman Andy Cohen joined Montefi ore Health System for a
community fl u shot event at Mosholu Montefi ore Community Center.
Espaillat received his shot on site. Montefi ore and Duane Reade/Walgreens are working
together to keep Bronxites healthy this fl u season by offering low to no-cost fl u shots where
they live, work and play.
Visit the Walgreens website to learn how to get a fl u shot.