Tenants on Jersey City’s west side declared a rent strike over the weekend, exclaiming that their landlord is a slumlord for ignoring rent stabilized status, failing to provide maintenance, and charging punitive fees.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Roach infestations, mice infestations, missing kitchen appliances, charging a hundred dollars for late rent when Jersey City’s maximum is 35, random $400 court fees in your portal when you never been to court, charging market rate rent without an exemption from rent control,” Bergen Grand Tenant Association President Liv Malone said in a statement.
The Bergen Grand Tenant Association at 429 Bergen Ave. held a rally Saturday to announce that they will be withholding rent until their demands are met.
Earlier this year, the building was deemed to be covered by Jersey City’s rent stabilization ordinance, retroactive to 2019 with only legal increases from that time, which Amir Ben-Yohanon, the landlord, has not reflected in charges to tenants.
The building is rent-controlled and was purchased by the current landlord, Bergen Ave Investments, run by Ben-Yohanan.
In the winter of 2024-2025, city inspectors from Jersey City’s Quality of Life Taskforce issued many citations to the landlord after his other Jersey City property, owned through a different LLC (West of Hudson Realty Group), 35 Kensington, after the tenants went six weeks without heat.
According to municipal court records, there is a warrant for Ben-Yohanan’s arrest in East Orange for breaking the law in regards to: “superintendents in dwellings,” “hot and cold water,” and “sanitation and safety of dwelling”.
“Here’s what I think: if we are bleeding financially, they should bleed financially. There have always been more tenants than landlords, more of us than them. When we move this way, understanding our power, withholding our rent money, anticipating their reaction and empty retaliation tactics, landlords are put back in check,” Malone added.
An organizer for the Jersey City Tenants Union, Eli K. (he declined to give his last name), echoed a similar sentiment.
“Amir Ben-Yohanon is a slumlord. Tenants at 35 Kensington went the whole month of December without heat, tenants at 150 Belmont don’t have heat right now. He’s overcharging you all, he’s not fixing anything, but he’s got money to build this new development over on Communipaw,” he declared.
“We’re here to come after everyone, every single landlord who is taking the fruit of our labor, half our paycheck just for us to have a roof over our head. But Amir in particular is a blight on tenants and we want him to hear loud and clear that this is gonna stop … We know what buildings this man owns, we are gonna be talking to those tenants. If he’s your landlord come talk to us.”
Ben-Yohanan is also the owner of several businesses including 859-869 Communipaw Ave which recently received $30 million in financing, according to The Real Deal.
Jersey City Ward B council candidate Joel Brooks, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, said the city must due better for their tenants.
“I was a rent control tenant for nine years and it took me almost that length of time to actually pay the legal rent. The system is broken for tenants in Jersey City. There’s two sides, there’s tenants and there’s landlords,” he exclaimed.
“We are the majority in Jersey City, we’re going to flex our muscles. Tenants all over Jersey City, you can organize in your building. All it takes is knocking on the doors of your neighbors, a few over for coffee, Jersey City Tenant Union – talk to them.”
This is not the first time Jersey City tenants have complained about the living conditions of Ben-Yohanan’s buildings.
Residents of 35 Kensington Ave. and 150 Belmont Ave. complained of no heat, water damage, a broken elevator, and more, on Christmas Eve last year, as HCV first reported.
Ben-Yohanan did not return an email seeking comment.
In 2020, he founded the influencer management company, Clubhouse Media Group.
According to a 2021 Daily Mail report, “CMG offers young influencers the opportunity to stay rent-free at so-called ‘content mansions’ in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Europe in exchange for creating branded social media content.”
The influencers, who were as young as 15, say he bullied them, forced them to go on dates, and made misogynistic comments about their periods.
Ben-Yohanan later sued the teenage girls for defamation for over $2.5 million, as Business Insider reported. CMG was acquired by Tonji Healthcare Group in August 2020 and taken public.