Court orders infamous landlord to repair crumbling Queens building – again

Tenants of 89-20 161st Street rally alongside their attorneys and organizers outside the Queens Civil Court demanding landlord Ved Parkash answer court orders to repair the building. Eagle photo by Noah Powelson

By Noah Powelson

Tenants living in a Jamaica apartment building embroiled in a long court battle with their infamous landlord won a temporary victory on Tuesday – but they say they aren’t ready to celebrate quite yet.

Tenants of 89-20 161st St. in Jamaica, which is owned by landlord Ved Parkash, rallied outside Queens Housing Court on Tuesday after Parkash agreed to repair one of the buildings’ two broken elevators. Parkash was originally scheduled for a contempt proceeding this week for failing to answer court orders to repair the elevators, but a settlement was reached. To avoid facing contempt, Parkash is required to submit a budget and a plan to fix one of the building’s elevators before the next court hearing.

While the settlement is a small victory for the tenants, demonstrators weren’t confident Parkash will follow through. Parkash, who was named the worst landlord of 2015 by then-Public Advocate Letita James, has amassed thousands of violations from the Department Housing Preservation & Development and hundreds of complaints from the Department of Buildings over the past decade.

“Even after many court settlements and state agency orders for repair, things have only gone from bad to worse,” Maansi Shah, tenant organizer with Chhaya, said.

Tenants, tenant organizers and legal advocates from Legal Services NYC endured the brisk afternoon winds outside Queens Civil Court holding signs of protest and chanting calls for justice following the hearings. Fifteen tenants of the 161st Street building started a rent strike in January of this year, and said they would maintain the strike until the building’s variety of issues are resolved, especially the elevators.

“Living in that apartment, I have to cancel my appointments because I can’t climb the stairs,” Enrique Standard, who lives at the 161st Street building, said. “A lot of the time when I take the elevator it’s not working the proper way, it’s very dangerous. I get nervous and I suffer from bad blood pressure. If my kids invite me to any social activity I can’t make it, it really affects my entire life.”

Standard was one of the six tenants who filed the original lawsuit against Parkash in 2023, suing him to fix leaks, infestations, restore hot water and restore elevator services crucial for elderly and sick tenants. Tenants at the rally said the work Parkash has done on the elevators has only been temporary fixes and small patch ups to comply with court orders, but they are still prone to breaking.

“It is very clear the elevators need replacement. Not just band-aids, not just patches, replacement. We are here today demanding that,” Carlos Ortiz, a tenant organizer at Catholic Migration Services, said. “We are giving Parkash a last chance to replace the elevators, otherwise we will absolutely follow through with the court and make sure he is penalized fully.”

But the elevators are only one part of the litany of problems plaguing the building. The building has received over 227 complaints the last two years, and the city has issued over 100 violations since August of 2024.

Segundo Villagomez, another one of the original tenants who filed the lawsuit, called Parkash’s handling of the building “unconscionable.”

“It’s exhausting to have to call Parkash all the time and then denounce him to the city for all the things he won’t fix,” Villagomez said in Spanish through a translator. “Including elevators, the entrance to the building, the heat, the rodents and pests and roaches that we’ve had to live with for years.”

At the same time the 161st Street building tenants announced their rent strike, a fire broke out at a 98-unit Bronx apartment building owned by Parkash, collapsing the room and evacuating over 250 people. One of the tenants of the Bronx building joined the rally on Tuesday, and said her own building faced years of similar neglect before the fire broke out.

Rallygoers also called on the city to foreclose the 161st Street building and take the property away from Parkash.

But for now the tenants, who are represented by Queens Legal Services, wait to see how Parkash responds to the court's orders to repair the elevator.

“There were two signed orders, ordered by the judge, for Parkash to fix the elevators in 89-20 – That has not happened yet,” Priam Saywack, the deputy director of the Tenants’ Rights Coalition at Queens Legal Services, said. “Today we had our first court date for contempt. If the elevators are not fixed, if there is not a plan to fix the elevator…if that does not happen by the next court date there’s going to be a hearing.”

“DOB…and our communities need to continue to hold Parkash accountable,” Saywack added.

The next hearing for the 161st Street building will take place on May 1 at Queens Civil Court.