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Tenants: Conditions In Bronx Building Are Unlivable

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Tenants and their children have been demanding improvements in their apartment building, demonstrating outside a landlord's home in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.

They also took CBS 2's Tracee Carrasco on a tour of their apartments to point out the problems.

From the outside, the apartment building at 1348 Sheridan Ave. in the Claremont section of the Bronx looks well-maintained.
But ask any tenant in the building, and they will show you otherwise.

One woman who did not want to be identified said she had called management about problems in her apartment "a lot of times, a lot of, lot of times."

Her apartment was infested with bugs, and was rife with leaks and missing tiles. And that was just what was visible to CBS 2's cameras.

She said her apartment has been that way for three years.

Another resident, Mahamadou Madasa, said he as had the same problems and has been waiting for someone to fix it.

"So when we told the super, he said, 'I'm going to come fix it,' and never fixed it," Madasa said. "It's over five months."

The problems are not just inside the apartments -- they are outside the building, too. There are no locks for security on the front door, and there is no glass to keep any unwanted visitors out.

"We complain about the door, they never fix it -- the same thing," Madasa said.

Tenants said they believe the problems all started when Chestnut Holdings of New York took over the property several years ago.

"Those company, no good since this company take it, we have a problem," Madasa said. "When you call, they never pick up the phone."

That led to a protest Saturday outside company president Jonathan Weiner's Riverdale home

CBS 2 asked the building owner several times to come on camera, but instead, they released the following statement: "We actively manage our properties using onsite staff, and have attended multiple tenant meetings to address concerns, only to be turned away."

But the residents said that never happened, and said they are running out of patience.

Chestnut Holdings currently manages around 5,000 apartments in total.

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