NYC’s Priciest Slums: $4000 Monthly Rent With Mold and Rats

By: Benyamin Davidsons

An apartment building in north Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood has received complaints that it may be among New York City’s most expensive slums.

As reported by the NY Post, several residents of a building on Starr Street complain that they are paying about $3,500 a month in rent to live with rat feces, moldy ceilings and leaking roofs. The 4-story building is located at 147 Starr St., in the trendy area directly across from Maria Hernandez Park and close to Central Ave M. Residents are so fed up that they have formed a tenant union to fight the landlord who owns the 8-unit building, built in 1931.

Per the Post, the Starr St. Union was started about a month ago by Hunter Boone, 34. The resident had repeatedly called 311 to complain about the disrepair and occasionally “unlivable” building conditions in his two-bedroom apartment. Boone says that he and his dog both even contracted a parasitic infection. In May, the two suffered from prolonged digestive issues and were unable to keep food down because of exposure to rat feces, per medical records provided by Boone. “After that, that’s when I was like, OK, I really need to get the city involved in this rat problem. … If someone is charging this much, why does the building look like this? Wouldn’t that mean that they are quote-unquote a slumlord?” he said.

Boone moved in on April 2023, subleasing the two-bedroom apartment. The online listings for the rental had pictured freshly painted rooms with stainless-steel kitchen appliances. Boone said it didn’t take long, however, before he heard rats in the ceiling, and realized it was far from his dream apartment. In December, the building owner offered Boone a six-month lease extension raising the price by $600, bringing his monthly rent up to $3500. “When I mentioned this rat problem to the prior tenant, He was like, ‘Oh, isn’t that just New York City?’ But you shouldn’t have rats in your ceiling, that’s crazy,” Boone said.

Per the Post, the Starr St. Union is taking organized tenant and legal action against Cayuga Capital Management Ventures, which has at least 20 other buildings in the area. The firm’s properties each have an average of two open city violations per residential unit, which is worse than the citywide average of 0.8 per unit, per data from JustFix. The Starr Street building itself has 49 open building violations.

Cayuga Capital Management Ventures’ owner defended the property, alleging there are just “four current tenants . . . that like to complain and deny access,” initiating the whole list of complaints. “The reality is this is an activist tenant who you have seen is intentionally trying to inflate the issue and meanwhile prevent actual repair work from happening,” said Jacob Sacks. The building owner is suing Boone in housing court for $12,300, over nonpayment of rent and is asking for permission to evict him if he is does not pay, court records show. Boone admits that he stopped paying the rent after the heat stopped working in the winter. “I stopped paying the rent because I was like, ‘I don’t have heat. I’m allowed to do this.’ “

An HPD rep commented lauding the tenants of Starr Street for starting a union. “The tenants of 147 Starr St have taken important steps to hold their landlord accountable by uniting to address building conditions and filing complaints through 311,” the representative told The Post.