We are two tenant associations who joined together to defend ourselves against a corporate real estate investment hydra that seeks to expel us from our homes in order to maximize their profits.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Ben Shaoul Wants The Keys To Our Apartments



Here is a new communique from Ben Shaoul and Fortune East



This just in. Rolled up and stuck between the door knob and the door frame. I noticed it was only put on the doors of apartments that are rent stabilized, not on the door of the market rate apartments. Can you say harassment? Notice that the date is Valentine's Day. There is as usual, no Mgmt name, and no signature. I think I know why there is never a name on these letters. The man who "manages" our buildings is named Josh. He works for Magnum and PVE Associates. He presents himself as Josh Evans to some, or as Josh Greene to others in the same building. His real name is Josh Slepian. I guess with a name like Slepian you gotta do something. The name Slepian is recorded online regarding his association with Ben Shaoul and Magnum Real Estate Group. Check out this from the Villager....








Nearly all of us at 120 and 118 East 4th Street have had an unannounced, unwanted encounter with Josh Evans/ Greene/ Slepian. In one case he followed a tenant of 118 down the length of East 4th street to Second Ave grilling that tenant for information. Harassment?

17 comments:

  1. I love that they say that scheduling repairs with us is "very difficult". Really? They've been in my place ONCE, to change my fuse box. I was never contacted by management. I ran into the super in the hall and we set a date. The second request for access came in Thursday night requesting access to our apartments Mon, Tues, Or Wed. Not much notice. I called the office on Friday and explained that I was unable to take off work and was told that "they'd let me know". Monday morning I ran into Keith and the intercom technician and bang, set up an appointment for not only myself, but at least two of my neighbors who feel safe leaving me their keys. Not very difficult at all. By the way, we have been without intercoms for MONTHS! Their concern to be able to give us the best possible service with the least amount of trouble to us is touching!
    I have never met Josh...Slepian, Evans, or Greene.

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  2. The law says that the landlord gets your keys. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. You can't bitch about the landlord not obeying the laws and then scoff at them yourself!

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    1. Agreed about the first part, Chelsea87, but when your landlord has done nothing to make your life as their tenant habitable, and in fact has made your life a noisy, dusty everyday mess, communicates with you as an anonymous P.O. Box, and is trying to boot you out of your home, however squalid it is, it's kinda hard to hand them over.

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    2. It is extremely unsettling to be forced to give keys to our homes to an entity that hides the names of its principles, or that lies about their names, and that treats us with obvious disdain.

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    3. I had an unexpected visit from Josh. He came to my door with a ledger book, wanting to come in. I said no. He didn't look me in the eye, he craned his neck to look into my apartment to size it up. His Italian loafers and pretty face didn't disguise the lies, manipulation, and greed. He told me his name was Josh Evans. Thats a lie. This is the guy I surrender my key too! A person that lies about their identity?

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    4. When Josh came to my apartment, he lied about his name, and he wouldn't tell me what his association was with the building. He wouldn't give me a business card. Nothing. So it was like I was talking to a stranger or intruder in the building. He was very menacing.

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    5. Josh came to my apartment too, and he lied about his name and what his position was. I didn't know it was a lie until I read about him in a Villager article. Can a restraining order be taken out against him? It can't be legal in any way for someone to misrepresent themselves like that. That is the kind of thing a criminal does.

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  3. How can I contact you? I recently moved out of 118 and my have useful content for your blog.

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  4. If tenants received more than the front page of their lease, they might be aware of that article on it but since lease renewals are being sent out without any information on the back of them and without an addendum to the lease, tenants wouldn't be aware of Article #6 on page 6 or any other article or information since they don't possess it. Management has been remiss on a number of lease renewals to include any lease terms. How can they expect tenants to adhere to lease articles when they are not providing the information to their tenants? It is the landlord's and/or managing agent's responsibility to provide this information to tenants upon lease renewal. Any non-compliance with these articles rests on the shoulders of management and their agent in being remiss in providing the required information. If management wants to remain at fault, they will do nothing to rectify the situation they have intentionally created. However, should they desire to correct their wrongdoing, they should immediately send out lease backs and addendum to all their tenants, preferably and professionally by mail to the attention of each tenant by name and not by rolling up a piece of paper to be slipped alongside a doorknob from which it could fall from and once again, not make its way to tenants. Is not providing the information to tenants part of a plan to use against them in order to try to find them in violation of its terms? The violation is that the landlord and agent are not providing required information to their tenants. When buying a building, learn your responsibilities if you don't know them.

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  5. The way I read Article # 6 on page 6 is that the owner "may" retain a pass key to the apartment. I don't see where the lease article states management "must" have a copy of the keys for each unit as the "note," not an official part of the lease, prior to the article states.

    I'd love for someone to translate the following: "Tenants shall notify Owner or Owner's a gent a duplicate key." How can anyone possibly think that reads a tenant is to turn over a duplicate key to the owner or its agent? Was this article given over to a third grade student with lack of command of the English language to play lawayer with? No wonder people have been getting lease renewals sans backs and addendum - if this is an example of what the rest of the terms read, I, too, would be embarassed as an owner or agent to send it out. (The rest of the "note" also has other grammatical and punctuation errors. Are these people running a business or a circus?)

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  7. The behavior that Josh Slepian exhibits is psychotic and unhinged. Threatening and intimidating acts from this slimeball must not be tolerated. Please log every instance of bizzare, abusive and intimidating behavior, and always record your interactions on audio or video. You may need it to support a neighbor's testimony when this lowlife is finally taken to task.

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  8. I just found a video of Josh Evans Greene Slepian online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOLBQxk72NY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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  9. Why would it surprise you that the lease is virtually incoherent? Ever meet goon wannabee Josh Evans, Greene or whatever his name is? He's a barely literate fratboy type. It's like hiring an orangutan to do brain surgery, although orangutans are at least good natured.

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  10. www.joshkrat.com

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