{"id":251098,"date":"2026-06-01T17:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T17:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/251098\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T17:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T17:40:15","slug":"queens-tenants-rally-ahead-of-housing-court-hearing-to-demand-repairs-from-real-estate-firm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/251098\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens tenants rally ahead of Housing Court hearing to demand repairs from real estate firm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tenants from a residential building in a Queens neighborhood rallied outside the borough\u2019s Housing Court Monday morning to highlight what they described as a lengthy pattern of neglect from A&E Real Estate<\/a> ahead of the first hearing in a lawsuit filed against the landlord demanding repairs at the property.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Residents at 41-25 Case St. in Elmhurst have filed a lawsuit against A&E demanding that the company enact repairs at the building, which they allege faces hundreds of critical maintenance and safety issues, including persistent flooding and infestations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams<\/a> named A&E\u2019s associates Margaret Brunn and Donald Hastings as the worst landlords in the city in his annual rankings published earlier in the year, pointing to 331 open violations at the Case Street property and over 4,800 violations overall. At the time the lawsuit was filed, tenants said the number of violations at the Case Street building had risen to 372.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lawsuit is filed against 41-25 Case Street, LLC, operated by Brunn and fellow A&E principal Brian Garland, as well as against the city\u2019s Department of Housing, Preservation and Development (HPD) and the Department of Buildings. The lawsuit \u2013 a Housing Part action \u2013 was filed in April and calls on both A&E and the city to ensure that all \u201cviolations of housing standards\u201d are corrected.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neither A&E nor the city has responded to a request for comment from amNewYork.\n<\/p>\n

Queens tenants \u2018not immune\u2019 to neglect experienced by others in settlement<\/p>\n

Tenants noted in the lawsuit that A&E agreed a $2.1 million settlement with the Mamdani administration to address tenant harassment allegations and hazardous conditions at 14 separate buildings across Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn. They alleged that tenants at Case Street had \u201cnot been immune\u201d to A&E\u2019s \u201calarming neglect.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Luis Acevedo, a tenant organizer who has lived at the Case Street building for around 30 years, said Monday morning that he first began noticing problems with the building in 2023, alleging that residents often go without heat in the winter and deal with persistent flooding, causing furniture to rot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"FloodFlood damage in one apartment. Photo via AAFE.<\/p>\n

Tenants also outlined how they have faced persistent rodent infestations, broken security systems, elevator breakdowns and damage to walls and ceilings.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto via AAFE.<\/p>\n

Residents have also alleged that drug paraphernalia is frequently littered throughout the property, forcing families with young children to step over it in order to enter their homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ResidentsResidents have reported seeing drug paraphenalia throughout the property. Photo via AAFE.<\/p>\n

Acevedo alleged that the building\u2019s super is rarely responsive to issues, stating that tenants have frequently had to pay out of their own pockets for repairs in their apartments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe super doesn\u2019t want to do anything,\u201d Acevedo said. \u201cYou call him, he ignores you.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Prior to filing a lawsuit, tenants had written letters to A&E, called 311 to report violations and began rent reduction cases with the state\u2019s Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tenants get support from local pols<\/p>\n

Assembly Member Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas, who joined tenants at Monday\u2019s rally, said tenants have been facing issues for several years and had done \u201ceverything they can\u201d to address them before filing the lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve exhausted all resources and the problems continue to persist,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas said. \u201cThere are rats in kitchens, holes in the floor, mold. It\u2019s disgusting and no individual should live under these conditions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas noted that the Case Street development is located just outside her assembly district but said A&E have been reported at a number of properties across her district. Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas is also campaigning for the 13th Senate District, which covers the Case Street property.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t deserve to be in business if they can\u2019t take care of their units,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas said. \u201cSo I\u2019m standing in solidarity with the tenants to demand that A&E takes action.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas said it has been \u201cdifficult\u201d to deal with A&E and added that she has told the company directly that it should stop buying buildings in the city if it finds it difficult to manage them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to be held accountable and I\u2019m really proud of the tenants for stepping up,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas said.\u00a0
\n\"PhotoPhoto by Shane O\u2019Brien.\n<\/p>\n

State Sen. Jessica Ramos, who represents the 13th Senate District and is running against Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas in the Democratic primary later this month, was not present at the rally but shared a statement of support with organizers and called on A&E to resolve the issues as quickly as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHousing works best when tenants are heard, when property owners are responsive and these problems are addressed before they become a crisis,\u201d Ramos said in a statement.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

She said her office would continue to work on the issue so that families and residents can live with the \u201cdignity and stability that they deserve.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI am fed up. A&E, if you are listening to this\u2026 would you want to have water leaking from your ceiling so that it looks like it\u2019s raining?\u201d Ramos added.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Legal Services NYC and Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) are providing assistance and organizational support to the Case Street tenants for the lawsuit.\u00a0
\n\"ConditionsConditions in a bathroom at the property. Photo via AAFE.\n<\/p>\n

Mauricio Milagro, an organizer with AAFE, said the organization has been working with tenants for about two years and said the lawsuit is about more than just repairs, adding that the case aims to spotlight A&E\u2019s alleged neglect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been vermin, leaking, a lack of heat in the winter. Everything you can imagine and nothing is being done to fix it,\u201d Milagro said.\n<\/p>\n

Bianca Zarate-MacPherson, a senior staff attorney with the Tenant Rights Coalition of Legal Services NYC\u2019s Queens office, said the lawsuit is about \u201csending a message\u201d that landlords cannot be allowed to let violations \u201cpile up year after year with no consequences.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tenants from a residential building in a Queens neighborhood rallied outside the borough\u2019s Housing Court Monday morning to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[97952,18358,24262,66075,97953,33947,97954,2824,22987,39982,13860,9,24,63,122,124,123,97955,897,97956],"class_list":["post-251098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-41-25-case-st","tag-ae-real-estate","tag-aafe","tag-ae","tag-asian-americans-for-equality","tag-assembly-member-jessica-gonzu00e1lez-rojas","tag-building-neglect","tag-dob","tag-elmhurst","tag-housing-court","tag-hpd","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-queens-housing-court","tag-senator-jessica-ramos","tag-tenant-union"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}