A reader writes:
A major NYC real estate corp [Dermot Management] is seriously fucking its tenants, myself included, and I just signed my lease a week ago and am now stuck with these bastards.I just moved into an apartment at 121 Seaman Ave., in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan.
The property is managed by the Dermot Company, which has been snatching up properties all around New York City and providing broker free rentals through sites like Rent-Direct.com, which is where I found my apartment.
The apartment seemed like a steal: A lot of space, a pretty nice building, a decent neighborhood (if far as hell from all civilization) and a reasonable rent. However, upon moving in to my new apartment, I made a few alarming discoveries: My kitchen is infested with cockroaches, I have only intermittent hot water, and there are no smoke detectors in my apartment.
Though, at my lease signing, Dermot assured me that they would be prompt in responding to any maintenance issues, I have found that they keep their maintenance line locked in “Do Not Disturb” mode 24/7 and do not return calls under any circumstances. It has been over a week since I have called to complain about these issues — all three of which are clear violations of NYC housing code — and I have yet to receive a call back.
Last night, I asked a neighbor about her experience with Dermot. She told me that the tenants in my building — those who have had the will to stay and fight — have been organizing against Dermot and that they’ve already called in the City Council for help. She says that she has personally filed a half-dozen complaints with 311 in the past year, that the hot water has been an issue for a long time, and that when she withheld rent, as was within her rights, Dermot wrecked her credit. She said that half the tenants have vacated in the last year, three on my floor alone, and that she’s moving out before her lease is up because she doesn’t want to deal with Dermot anymore.
A NY1 article published earlier this month (that I wish I’d read before signing my lease) says:
Tenants [of another property in Brooklyn] say they’re being forced out of their rent controlled and rent-stabilized homes by new landlords who are transforming them into luxury apartments. They claim they’re being harassed with all sorts of tactics, from frivolous lawsuits to challenges to their leases, to being denied basic repairs…
…Jackson’s been living in a rent-stabilized apartment at 99 Lafayette for 16 years. She says her problems began when the building was bought by the Dermot Company in February. The same developer also owns 266 Washington, where many long-time residents shared similar stories.
I called my City Council representative to look into this matter. The conversation began like this:
“Hi. I just moved into the neighborhood and have found my new landlord to be somewhat negligent. It’s a management company called Dermot.”
“Do you live at 121 Seaman?” the councilman’s associate asked, instantly naming my address.
“Uh… yeah.”
“Yeah, they’re a big problem,” she said, warning me that I should file a rent overcharge form in order to check whether they’re also ripping me off on the rent, which has been her experience. She also urged me to attend the upcoming tenant meeting in my building, which she will be present at.
I offer this as a cautionary tale to my fellow New Yorkers and those presently hunting for apartments in NYC: Stay the fuck away from Dermot. They are, to put it mildly, indifferent to the needs of their tenants; and to put it fairly, douchebags.
-Orthodox Anarchist
More like Dermot Mismanagement [Orthodox Anarchist]
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@Sonnymooks: So…where is that wonderful SAG at? I know he is busy but this is a PRIME target for his concerns!!!
I have tons of expeience with renting, and if I had any advice it’d be this:
NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER rent from a corporate landlord, management firm, or any other kind of business. If they have a background check or any kind of application tell them your not interested and walk out.
Find a nice old lady (or man) that owns property and uses it as his retirement fund and rent from them.
I know some of you will say “oh good luck finding that!”, but it’s not that hard. The last four apartments I’ve had over the last 11 years were all privately owned. I never had a single problem getting anything maintenance related resolved. And as an added bonus the people you rent from are good and decent people, not some corporation worried about profit.
@JKinNYC: No not at all, I hate L.A. I moved out here against my will. My wife wouldn’t move because her family is all here. I can’t wait to get the f’out myself.
Traffic jams yep we got em in spades.
Minimal mass transit unfortunatly so. I have to take 4 different buses just to get to the subway station.
Weather..ehh I am tired of sun all the time. I actually miss the rain, and not the light misting of moisture they call rain out here. I want the torrential downpour with thunder and lightning type.
I wasn’t bashing NYC at all I was just saying its all about perspectives. And there are a hell of a lot of people in NYC.
Cuomo? He is busy chasing make believe bad guys, he is also an idiot.
[Bryant Park Pond = open; photo via Bob Egan/The Spacefinder] · Dumbo landmarking hearing report: Jed Walentas cowboys up [HDC] · Astor Place cube gets cloned, racially purified [Gothamist] · New UWS condo building Avonova offering prizes galore for sales [TrueGotham] ·…
New York has a law called “Warranty of Habitability,” which means you should have no problem doing a “repair and deduct,” which is where you perform the repairs and deduct them from the rent.
Many states have similar laws, I’ve encouraged friends to try this route when their landlord was being slow to fix things. Fortunately for them, the problem was fixed before it went any further.
[www.lawny.org]
Good luck.
@christoj879:
I’ve dealt with tenants who have tried to use “warrant of habitability”, its often misused by both the landlord and tenants, and NYC would be wise to one day clarify it. That said, a company like Dermont (and Pinnacle) would refuse to acknowledge it, and simply start ripping apart your credit while litigating the crap out of said tenant.
Thw Warranty of Habitability is a tool better used against a small mom and pop type landlord or a family owned building type of situation, then against a large corporation, most of the tenant tools of redemption get blunted by larger management companies where there is a disconnect in the decision making between owner, and the advice he gets from his/her/their lawyers who always wish to proceed in the most aggressive manner possible, even when simple costs to benefits and risk to rewards say this is the wrong course of action.
I.E. think of the major real estate company that sues a tenant in small claims court over owing say a couple of dollars they deducted from the rent to buy maybe a mouse trap, and that company spending hundreds of bucks an hour getting a lawyer to pursue what is basically pocket change, then realize that large management companies can and will do this……and destroy said tenants credit rating, and stain the credit report while they are at it.
Follow everyone’s advice with the aim being to create a paper trail of the management’s insufficiency. At least you’ll have proof with records on your side when you need it!
My experience with this type of thing was in the state of Wisconsin which is far less friendly to renters than NYC is. Nonetheless, when my building’s ceiling caved in during a roof repair, I took many photographs of the leaks and damages in my apartment, complained to the housing authority and just moved out (ignoring the required 60 day notice) and returned the keys by mail. The management was so completely mis-managing that they knew they were up a creek legally. Almost everyone in the building ended up moving out. When we received a bill for the rest of the year lease’s rent due (several thousand dollars) from the management company, we returned it to them with a letter basically stating that they had no legal recourse given the state of the building and they knew it so they didn’t pursue it. On that note, not sure if anyone’s recommended this yet, but try getting the Department of Health in there. I bet you could get them to declare it uninhabitable it the roaches are that bad, or at least have them demand extermination asap.
dermontsucks.com and dermontmanagementsucks.com are both available…
@akalish:
The NYC department of health is pretty much overwhelmed, as are several agencies which would normally be of use.
That said, I know Pinnacle (not sure if Dermont also fits this, they probably do) simply ignores NYDofH and other agencies, takes the hit on fines (actually, gets fined, and simple deadbeats) and persecutes said tenant anyway with court, by forcing said tenant to miss work, to handle a unjustified court case, where the agencies paperwork proves the management company is negligent, but said company steamrolls right ahead undeterred and continues fighting, thus, in a sick twisted and perverse way, hurts the tenant in several different ways, from credit, to time, to money, etc.
NYC laws are very pro-tenant….if they are dealing with small landlords, family landlords, or simply mom and pop, a big corporation however, will steamroll said tenants ass at will, with no problem and fight said government while doing it.
My experience with Dermot goes somewhat similar to the article–market rate two-bedroom in Astoria with lots of space and light. But what we couldn’t see by seeing the place for half an hour are: bed bugs, cockroaches (in all the rooms and kitchen), squeaky floors, and just luke warm water in kitchen. It took me 5 months to realized the insects that were biting me occasionally were bed bugs. Turns out the apartment had a bout of it in summer 2006, but they hired an incompetent exterminator who sprayed pesticides all over, which ended up killing only a few, but both buildings are now hugely invested. It took us another 4 months, after calling Dermot’s VP of Operations, to finally hire another exterminator. But the cockroaches keep coming back and the super had not done anything to keep the floor above us from squeaking, nor make sure we have hot water in the kitchen.
Finding this blog and comments makes me feel like I’m not insane for wanting to kill Dermot. But what’s the recourse? wait out the lease and spend another few thousand dollars to move??
@depardoo: Ha! Even if no one else thought it was funny.