By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-13 23:49:00 | Updated at 2024-12-14 02:40:33
2 hours ago
The city’s “worst landlord” has agreed to pay a historic $6.5 million in fines and restitution to its tenants for a slew of housing violations — including conditions that left 130 young children with lead poisoning.
Lilmor Management and its owner, Morris Lieberman, admitted in their agreement with the state and feds that they violated housing laws related to lead, mold and maintenance codes and that they openly deceived tenants regarding conditions in the more than 2,500 rent-stabilized apartments across the 49 buildings in their portfolio.
“Lilmor Management rented out apartments in hazardous condition to unsuspecting tenants, putting thousands of people in harm’s way,” state Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.
“Tenants in Lilmor’s buildings, including children, were forced to live with leaks, mold, infestations, and elevated levels of lead. Morris Lieberman’s days of harming tenants and their families are over.”
Damian Williams, the soon-to-depart US Attorney for the Southern District, hailed the settlement as providing “the most extensive relief ever achieved in a case of this kind.”
Liberman, Lilmor and one of their agents, Jason Korn, have topped the city public advocate’s “Worst Landlord” list for years and have had more than 30,000 housing violations across their properties. One of their Brooklyn properties, a building on Ocean Avenue, has alone had more than 5,000 violations since 2012.
Among the properties’ issues were chronic water leaks, mold, lead paint, heat and vermin infestations, said the AG’s office, which began investigating Lilmor in 2021 over complaints from residents and advocates regarding the “extremely poor conditions” and the lead levels found in children of tenants.
More than 130 children living in Lilmor buildings have tested positive for elevated blood-lead levels since 2012, officials said.
The city Housing Department has issued nearly 1,000 violations for lead-based paint hazards since 201, and more than 1,450 violations for mold, nearly 1,500 violations for leaks and a staggering 2,331 citations for rodent and roach infestations.
Court documents alleged Lieberman’s seeming indifference to the plight of his tenants in his response to an email telling him that 30 units were complaining of insufficient heat.
“And ?” Lieberman wrote in response.
Lilmor Management did not respond to a Post request for comment Friday.
The pact accompanied the filing of a consent decree, which would force the landlord to find and abate all lead-based paint violations across Lilmor’s portfolio, in addition to making other massive repairs.
“The consent decree we filed today, if [accepted] by the Court, would provide the most extensive relief ever achieved in a case of this kind, including requiring the defendants to make 2,500 apartments safe and sanitary and to pay $6.5 million, including nearly $3 million in restitution to impacted tenants,” Williams said in a statement.
That work would be overseen by an independent housing specialist picked by both federal and state officials, according to court filings.
