'Kushner Village' tenants sue to block paying rent until fire system concerns are met

Source: CNN

A group of tenants filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing Kushner Companies of illegally collecting rent and creating dangerous living conditions by failing to maintain working fire sprinkler systems in four New York City apartment buildings.

The tenants in "Kushner Village" in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan want a state judge to block Kushner Companies from collecting rent and force it to complete work on the sprinklers and other fire safety measures.

Kushner Companies, the lawsuit states, "have circumvented fire safety and other protections required by the [Department of Buildings] including: failing to install operable sprinklers throughout the Subject Buildings; failing to legalize the height of the existing boiler chimney that services all four buildings; and other fire egress conditions that threaten the lives and safety of the Plaintiffs."

The tenants are asking the judge to block Kushner Companies from collecting rent until the city's Department of Buildings has approved a certificate of occupancy -- a document from the city indicating the buildings meet certain building codes and are in compliance with the law.

Kushner Companies did not respond to a request for comment. Kushner's lawyer referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately comment on the litigation.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/15/politics/kushner-companies-lawsuit/index.html

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In one of the buildings named in the lawsuit, CNN has reviewed DOB records and found that there are more than 39 complaints, fines totaling thousands of dollars, and three stop-work orders on the property ... and found there was a "failure to maintain building in code-compliant manner." The inspector wrote "I observed in cellar valve to sprinkler system was closed and gages were showing no water in the system. Failure to provide an automatic sprinkler system."

According to the new lawsuit, the tenants allege that Kushner Companies representatives "have badgered tenants for rent payments, despite the COVID 19 epidemic raging at the time." It alleges that they used tactics that "were intended to, and did scare tenants of the Subject Buildings into paying rent that was legally not collectable, during the COVID 19 epidemic."