Inside New York’s most expensive “slum” – an apartment building with rents of almost $4,000. dollars, filled with “mold and rats”

Residents say a Brooklyn apartment building full of rat droppings has become the most expensive slum in New York.

Many residents of a dilapidated Bushwick property on Starr Street say they are paying nearly $4,000 a month to live with rat droppings on countertops, moldy ceilings and leaky roofs in a trendy neighborhood, forcing them to form a tenants’ union to fight the alleged slumlord, who is owner of this place.

Hunter Boone, 34, founded Starr St. Union a month ago after calling 311 multiple times about the poor condition and at times “intolerable” building conditions in his two-bedroom, $3,500-a-month apartment.

Boone said even he and his dog have contracted parasitic infections from the unpleasant conditions. By May, both suffered from long-term digestive problems and were unable to keep from eating due to exposure to rat feces, according to medical records provided by Boone.

“Then I thought, OK, I really need to get the city involved with this rat problem. …If someone is charging so much, why does the building look like this? Wouldn’t that make them slumlords? he said.

During a tour with The Post of the eight-unit building, Boone showed shocking conditions, including rats dropping countertops, water-damaged ceilings in the yard and exposed holes in the bathroom floor.

“There is a risk of fire here, this door cannot close itself properly at the entrance. I actually printed my own ‘fire hazard’ signs for this purpose,” Boone said, pointing out one of the building’s safety violations.

Starr St. Association Union is taking organized tenant and legal action against Cayuga Capital Management Ventures owner Jacob Sacks, who owns at least 21 buildings in the area.

Its properties average two open city violations per housing unit, which is worse than the citywide average of 0.8 per housing unit. according to JustFix data.

The Starr Street building itself does 49 open construction violations.

When contacted by The Post, Sacks defended his management of the property, saying there are only “four current tenants.” . . who like to complain and deny access”, which initiates a lot of complaints.

“The reality is that this is an activist tenant who, as you have seen, is deliberately trying to publicize the problem while at the same time preventing actual remediation work from happening,” Sacks said.

Boone claims his nightmare began when he sublet a two-bedroom apartment in April 2023.

The building is located across from a park and a few blocks from the L train line in a trendy neighborhood in north Brooklyn.

And although online rental ads show freshly painted rooms with stainless steel kitchen appliances, Boone said he soon realized the reality was far from idyllic when he heard rats running across the ceiling that first night.

“When I mentioned the rat problem to a previous tenant, he said, ‘Oh, isn’t that just New York?’ But you shouldn’t have rats in the ceiling, that’s crazy,” Boone said.

When Boone reported the problem to 311, Sacks tried to get him to leave the building, although documents Boone provided showed he was there legally, the resident claimed.

In December, Sacks told Boone he would only offer him a six-month lease for a staggering $600 more, bringing the total for the space to a whopping $3,500.

“At this point, everything points to fraud,” Boone said.

Unable to afford to move, Boone paid excessive rent until he found that the heating stopped working and he was forced to live in 45-degree temperatures. He also claims he had other problems, including a yard where the fence was in such poor condition that it was in danger of falling over.

“I thought this was absolutely crazy, I haven’t had a fever in a month. (…) The city came and confirmed it was 45 degrees in the apartment and the landlord immediately said, ‘Stop calling 311,'” Boone said

“But I told him it was crazy. I stopped paying rent because I thought, “I don’t have heating.” I’m allowed to do this. “

Court records show Sacks is suing Boone in housing court for $12,300 for unpaid rent and is seeking permission to evict him if he is unable to pay.

Boone, however, says he is using the case to expose Sacks to the city for his alleged neglect of his property and seek rent stabilization for apartments in the building.

After a month of canvassing, the union obtained full ownership of all eight units in the building.

Due to the lack of a permanent supervisor, residents brought complaints to the city’s Housing Maintenance and Development Department.

One union member in the building, who pays $3,250 for a two-bedroom apartment, described the chaos that followed when a pipe burst in his home, displacing his family for six days and forcing them to throw out all their groceries.

Although the leak was eventually repaired and the man eventually received a refund from Sacks, mold spores are visible on the ceiling, the resident said.

He also said the unit was infested with vermin.

“I left a bag of groceries on the ground, and when I came back later, I saw a hole in them,” said the tenant, who asked not to be named.

Security cameras Boone installed in the building spotted a person tearing down Starr Street Union posters, according to the footage.

Sacks has denied taking down the posters, but Boone believes someone in the building’s management was at fault, although there is no concrete evidence that any of them were involved.

An HPD representative praised Starr Street tenants for forming 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 by calling 311,” a representative told The Post in a statement.

“HPD records indicate that the landlord has begun making corrections and tenants may object if they believe issues remain unresolved, triggering a re-inspection by HPD for confirmation.”

Despite the conditions in the building, Boone said he has no intention of leaving the apartment until he resolves his case with Sacks.

“A lot of people in New York think it’s impossible to fight this stuff because it takes up a lot of their damn time,” Boone said.

“Now I will enforce my rights as a tenant and fight against it.”

Boone is scheduled to go to housing court on October 30.