Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2), a declared candidate for Jersey City mayor, is calling on the council to amend a safety measure for tenants to include elevator repairs in light of repeated and/or extended service outages in at least four buildings.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
According to O’Dea, multiple residents across the city are suffering because elevators in their building, such as 630 Bergen Ave., 2555 Kennedy Blvd. (Boyd McGuiness Senior Citizen Housing), 320 Fairmount Ave., and 32 Gifford Ave., “have put their tenants’ lives at risk by not making the necessary repairs to the elevators.”
He continued that these are all apartment buildings that exceed five floors, with first responders coming to Boyd McGuiness yesterday due to an elevator out and a resident getting stuck inside. HCV previously documented some of the struggles at 630 Bergen Ave.
“A couple of years ago, I worked with community organizer, Joel Brooks, in addressing a similar situation at 96 Duncan Ave. We were able to get a judge to declare a public health emergency in order to accomplish our goals. That action led to the creation of Ordinance 22-091,” O’Dea added.
“Amending this ordinance to include emergency elevator repairs will hold landlords accountable. They can either be proactive and address these repairs; or be forced to pay a heftier repair bill. This ordinance allows the city to declare a public health emergency, bring in a licensed contractor to make the necessary repairs, and stick the repair bill with the landlord. The city must empower itself to protect its residents.”
While an ordinance to establish the amendment is not on tomorrow’s agenda, Ward D Councilman Yousef Saleh, Ward E Councilman James Solomon, and Ward F Councilman Frank “Educational” Gilmore have committed to sponsoring it in the near future.
“I’m proud to co-sponsor this law, which would empower Jersey City to hold the city’s worst landlords and developers accountable. Our city’s tenants deserve to know the city has their back when landlords aren’t keeping their buildings safe and livable,” Solomon said in a statement.
“I want to thank Commissioner O’Dea and my colleagues on the city council for advancing this law to make the city more accessible to renters and working families.”
The local legislation, approved in October 2022, says that “it is the responsibility of dwelling owners to maintain property in terms of providing heat, operable plumbing and solid infrastructure.”
I live in the former Fairmount Hotel on Kennedy Blvd. It is a seniors-only building. At this moment (6:45pm, Thurs, March 7th, 2024) this 6-floor building of senior, many disabled or with seriously limited mobility, has has been without elevator services since early Tuesday.
This has been going on for the past two years. On average is seems to happen about once a month and it is not uncommon for it to be out of service for days at a time. For example, we had no elevator service over this past 4-day Christmas and again no elevator over the 4-day New Years weekend.
This former “finest residential hotel” in New Jersey was built in 1912 but restored about 25 years ago at great expense (roughly $95K per apartment) using tax dollars to created modern kitches, baths, HIVAC systems, sprinkler systems, etc – and then basically was gifted to https://ingerman.com/property-management/ a multibillion dollar company with a typical corporate attitude.
A year ago, I put them on notice they would have start a serious plan to bring the elevators up to a reliable standard and inform us residents of it or I would start withholding rent. Their response denied there was a problem with the elevator. And then ignored further requests for action.
After giving them enough time to act responsibly, and after more repeated elevator breakdowns, I started withholding rent that past September. They are now suing me for doing that. We’ve had hearing dates with motions filed against each other so we have no yet come to an actual confrontation. Our next court date is March 15th.
I am holding the rent in escrow and have filed sworn documents with the court that I will deposit that unpaid rent at any moment that the court says they want to hold it pending the outcome of this lawsuit. The law does allow that as long as I offer the rent to the Court to hold.
I am not a lawyer nor am I offering legal advice. I am only reporting what I am doing. Rent withholding should not be done casually. There are rules you must follow. I am only saying that I am confident of my rights to do what I am doing. In my experience. few tenants are aware of their rights. Many landlords, like mine are not eager to let people know those rights, even though landlords are required by law to do that.
For example, as the NJ Dept of Community Affairs web site says,
“Landlord-Tenant Information forms and publications available from this website are intended to assist both residential landlords and tenants to understand their rights and responsibilities. The principal publication is Truth in Renting, which is available in both English and Spanish. Landlords are required to distribute Truth in Renting to their tenants.
The booklet is available free and may be downloaded from this website. ”
https://www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/codes/offices/landlord_tenant_information.html
I hope that landlords are being brought to Court where similar situations exist. Too many seem too be counting on getting away with it.