4 AG sues Queens landlord for ‘egregious’ violations
QUEENS WEEKLY, MARCH 10, 2019
BY MARK HALLUM
A landlord who owns 58
buildings, totaling 2,500 rentstabilized
apartments, in Jamaica
and the surrounding
area is not only being sued
by State Attorney General
Letitia James, but also faced
a demonstration in southeast
Queens for allegedly collecting
illegal amounts of money
from tenants.
Zara Realty, based at
166-07 Hillside Ave., is accused
of charging tenants
from 38 rent-stabilized buildings
excessive fees, signing
improper leases, illegally
raising rents as well as denying
tenant rights, James’
suit details.
The state Homes and
Community Renewal (HRC)
conducted a two-year investigation
of Zara and found
the business had a history
of coercing tenants — the
majority of whom being lowincome
— into paying illegal
key money, room reservation
fees, advanced rent, and
excessive security deposits,
according to the suit.
“For years, Zara Realty
has engaged in an egregious
pattern of tenant harassment
and exploitation,” James
said in a statement. “Evading
our rent regulation laws
and forcing low-income tenants
to pay exorbitant fees
for fake services is deception
of the worst kind. This is a
notice to all unscrupulous
landlords who seek to hurt
New Yorkers, we will not
tolerate this behavior.”
On March 1, about 80
Zara tenants rallied against
the Zara Realty in Jamaica
including Chhaya CDC, a
Jackson Heights-based organization
that works to alleviate
poverty issues in south
Asian communities.
“This case brought against
Zara Realty by Attorney General
James and the Tenant
Protection Unit represents a
victory long in the making,
and an important step towards
housing justice,” Rima
Begum, a tenant organizer for
Chhaya CDC, said. “It represents
a victory for all the tenants
who live in Zara buildings,
who endure atrocious
conditions and harassment
from their landlord. Many of
our tenant leaders fight fearlessly
against displacement
every day and have waited a
long time for Zara Realty to
face justice.”
But Zara Realty played on
its immigrant origins in its
response to the allegations by
claiming the suit was inaccurate
and that the company
had offered HRC its full cooperation
over the last year of
the two year probe.
“Zara Realty was founded
by immigrants who came
to this country penniless
and achieved the American
Dream,” the company said in
a statement. “The allegations
contained in this suit, many
of them factually inaccurate,
will be vigorously contested.
Many of them also deal with
highly complicated legal issues
that are subject to various
interpretations under
the law, including conflicting
judicial opinions.”
An additional statement
from Begum challenged
Zara’s claim of
being in touch with immigrant
struggles with the
claim that the company
had targeted their 35 to 40
percent of tenants who are
Bangladeshi with limited
English proficiency.
Begum said Zara tenants
over the course of the
last three years came to
them reporting patterns
of harassment, rent stabilization
law violations and
bringing frivolous lawsuits
against renters.
Zara also said its use
of obtaining Major Capital
Improvement approval to
raise rates on rent controlled
buildings was in the interest
of investing in their tenants.
The company claims it
has a history of purchasing
old, outdated buildings and
providing modern housing to
its tenants.
“Tenant harassment is
illegal, and rarely do prosecutors
act to protect tenants
— but not today. Attorney
General Letitia James
is standing up for tenants
in my district who for years
have suffered harassment
and abuse from a landlord
notorious for its aggressive
mistreatment of working
people,” City Councilman
Rory Lancman said. “This
is why we elect prosecutors
— to hold the powerful accountable
for their exploitation
of the powerless.”
The suit additionally alleges
that Zara used “Jasmine
Homes, LLC” to move
tenants into buildings it
owned in order charge a broker
fee which the law prohibits.
They are also accused of
charging an amount equal
to three- to four-times the
monthly rent for security
deposits while the law states
that deposits are limited to
one months rent.
James also claims the
company charged up to $200
for each new key after changing
locks at the start of every
new lease.
Some tenants allegedly
paid up to $11,000 to move
into a rent controlled unit.
BY MARK HALLUM
A remedial action plan
is in the works for a state
Superfund site in Glendale
on the border of Forest Hills,
which has been known to
send a plume of toxic tetrachloroethylene,
or PCE,
a chemical used in dry
cleaning products.
The site at 75-09 Woodhaven
Blvd. may have come
under contamination in 1967
when the property, was used
as a knitting mill. The state
Department of Environmental
Conservation believes
may be the blame for the PCE
contamination. and since
late 1990s a Home Depot has
sat at the location.
After more than 20 years
of unsuccessful remediations
at and around the site,
however, the DEC is turning
to more aggressive methods
to reduce the toxic threat
and will be opening up a public
comment period both online
and through a meeting
on March 11 at 6 p.m., located
at Queens Library’s North
Forest Park branch.
But this is not the only remediation
attempt the DEC
has made at the site.
In 1997, before the Home
Depot was built, a volunteer
group conducted an excavation
to remove some of
the soil and air sparging, a
method of digging wells into
the ground to air out contamination,
was performed
in the 4,000 square foot area.
Ground water, however, may
still be contaminated and
a plume of PCE may still be
effecting the public to the
north of the site as it extends
over homes, businesses and
Forest Park.
Air sparging measures
have been expanded at least
twice throughout the early
2000s to address ground water
contamination 30 feet below
the water table, but this
has been shown to be insufficient,
DEC documents show.
DEC says the contaminated
ground water should
not be an issue for residents
since drinking water supplies
are piped in from elsewhere,
but ground vapors
rising may effect air quality.
The agency’s goal is to
return the site to its precontaminated
condition if
feasible but at the very least
minimize any risk to the
public.
The DEC plans to implement
In-situ chemical
oxidation (ISCO) which
is a method of pumping
chemical oxidizers into
the ground to expel PCE
and other toxic substances
from the soil and will impact
the contaminant’s
chemical structure across
a 14,400 square foot area
south of Seither Stadium,
where the Ridgewood
Glendale Middle Village
Maspeth Little League
(RGMVM) plays.
Queens Library at North
Forest Park is located at 98-
27 Metropolitan Ave. and
the DEC says a 30-day online
public comment period will
take into the concerns or
suggestions of residents in
the area.
Attorney General Letitia James (r.) and Councilman Rory Lancman (l.) rallied with tenants of
Zara Realty. Courtesy of Chhaya CDC
Remediation in the works for Glendale Superfund site: DEC
Toxic chemicals possibly left over from a knitting mill at a
site now occupied by Home Depot on Woodhaven Boulevard
up for more remediations. Photo via Google Street View