April 26, 2025
Letitia James is a slumlord.
Is NY Attorney General Letitia James a Slumlord in Her Own Building? Tenants Say Yes
From pJ Media:
These include unauthorized construction work without proper permits, the alteration of a load-bearing wall without permits, the illegal use of apartments as hotel rooms, illegal conversion, a fence over the height limit, and a failure to notify authorities of scaffold work. In addition, all four tenants report problems with bedbugs.
As a guy who worked in property management for twenty years I can attest to the very easy complaints of tenants and how I would take this with a grain of salt - especially that last. Bedbugs are extraordinarily difficult to get rid of, and often they come back because tenants do not obey the directive to get rid of their stuff and so the bugs are hiding in their chair or comforter or whatnot.
A lot of this other stuff may or may not be legitimate. I rather doubt the tenants know the building codes, for instance. I also doubt any tenant would complain about unpermitted repairs; James would be actually improving their environment and few tenants would complain of that.
So, without actually knowing what these complaints are, I'm taking them with a grain of salt. Sadly so; I'm supposed to be on a salt-free diet! And I also suspect she IS a slumlord; she's got the profile of one. But I have to defend her in this instance.
Peeling paint is another thing though I know how it's pretty tough to keep up with it.
There is a simple way of handling this; the tenants could contact the local building inspectors office and get it certified. If the paint is lead-based she'll be stuck hiring a remediation company to fix the problem. That they haven't done that suggests it's not lead-based paint peeling.
Or the inspectors fear tangling with the AG of New York. But theycould always hire a private company to inspect the property and prepare a report.
Still, James made her bones championing housing rights for tenants. She stated:
If you are going to go there you nneed a squeeky clean rep yourself. Apparently, like most Democrats, the rules only apply to others.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
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Posted by: Dana Mathewson at April 28, 2025 11:59 PM (pdDZ2)
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