Tenants at 125 Court St. file suit against Two Trees

May 14, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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Claim rents, increases are fraudulently based

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — The tenants of the Two Trees Management Co. rental building at 125 Court St. in Downtown Brooklyn have filed a class action lawsuit against their landlord, according to a report on Curbed.com based on a press release.

According to Curbed, they have hired Jack Lester, a lawyer who was involved in the recent Stuyvesant Town case.

The complaint claims that Two Trees is in violation of the 421a law due to “fraudulent misrepresentation of the Housing Preservation and Development (HPD)-approved rents for each unit and fraudulent lease renewal increases that used a deceptive base rent and did not adhere to the Rent Guidelines Board’s increases.”

A check of StreetEasy.com revealed that recent asking rents range from $2,200 per month for a studio to $3,750 per month for a two-bedroom.

A number of the building’s tenants are also in the midst of a rent strike, alleging water damage that has caused mold and buckled floors in their apartments. They also say the building has "defective appliances, plumbing, unkempt common areas and garbage rooms, frequent elevator outages, and non-working security cameras.”

A Two Trees spokesperson sent the following response to Curbed.com: “These allegations are completely baseless and have absolutely no merit. Beyond that, our focus has been providing the highest quality of service to our tenants and we will continue to do exactly that.”