Jumaane Williams may have to add a new name to his annual list of slumlords — his own.
The NYC public advocate, a big supporter of tenants rights, has allowed his property in Canarsie to deteriorate and rack up city violations, unpaid water and utility bills, lawsuits and complaints.
He’s owned the two-family house at 1392 E. 98th St. since 2005, records show, and once lived at the address.
Williams, who once worked as a professional tenant advocate, neglected to register the address with the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development. He was cited by the agency in November for failure to file. Mayor de Blasio was busted for the same thing in 2013 for his Brooklyn house. The oversight carries a civil penalty of up to $500.
The property also has delinquent water and sewer charges, and as of this week the elected official owed $1,194.53 to the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, an agency spokesman confirmed.
The money pit has also been repeatedly fined by the Department of Sanitation, racking up five violations between 2010 and 2014. One $100 ticket was issued on Sept. 4, 2012 for improper disposal of bedding. Another $100 citation on Oct. 28, 2011 was for having recyclable materials in the (non-recyclable) trash. An uncleared icy sidewalk in 2014 cost another c-note.
Even if a tenant was fault for these violations, the property owner is on the hook for the fines, a rep for DSNY told The Post.
“He was an a–hole. He was never there. He just come to collect the rent and that’s it.”
Williams has also been sued three times by National Grid in Brooklyn Civil Court over his alleged refusal to hand over gas meters. Eventually, the utility showed up and locked the devices, its attorneys at P. Schneider & Associates told The Post.
“The gas meter is the property of National Grid. It is located in locked premises and National Grid has attempted to get its property back, but has been unable to obtain access to get the meter,” one 2015 suit reads. “There is no customer on record for this meter and no one is paying for service on this meter.”
Though Williams reported rental income from the property in 2018, locals on the block say it’s been at least a year anyone has lived at the address. The mail has stopped coming, and the house itself is falling apart. The Post observed torn mesh windows, peeling paint, missing shingles, rotted wood, and bags of garbage piling up on the front lawn — at least one of which was filled with bottles of Seagrams gin.
One ex-tenant said Williams was not a good landlord.
“He was an a–hole. He was never there. He just come to collect the rent and that’s it,” Andre Thompson, who lived in the house from 2009 to 2012, told The Post. “If it breaks, you gotta fix it. He won’t come or send no one.” Thompson said the situation ultimately got so bad, he stopped paying rent, forcing Williams to initiate eviction proceedings in December 2010.
The house also went into foreclosure after Williams stopped making payments on a $300,000-plus mortgage. The case is still pending.
The housing headaches fly in the face of Williams’ public career as a tenant advocate, whose office regularly releases a list of the city’s worst landlords. In the past Williams, who once declared “tenants’ rights are human rights,” has also advocated for renewing city rent control laws. While in the City Council, he chaired the housing and buildings committee.
“Keeping up with the thousands of laws and regulations as a property owner in this city can be difficult. Perhaps he was too busy making lists of bad landlords to be a good landlord himself,” Jay Martin, the Executive Director of the Community Housing Improvement Program, a landlords interest group, told The Post.
“As reported extensively by The New York Post … these issues are related to a property that has long been tied up in foreclosure proceedings. These issues will be resolved in the foreclosure process,” said Williams’ attorney Alice Nicholson.
Additional reporting by Georgett Roberts
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