Former Queens DA candidate named on annual worst landlord list

December 17, 2019 David Brand

The building at 381 Vernon Ave. has accumulated 429 HPD violations this year, according to the public advocate's annual landlord watchlist. Photo: Google Maps

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A Queens-based attorney and former candidate for Queens district attorney was named one of New York City’s worst landlords by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams Monday, after a building she owns accumulated more than 400 violations from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development so far this year.

Betty Lugo, a defense attorney and former prosecutor who finished last in June’s Democratic primary for Queens DA, was ranked as the 48th worst landlord on Williams’ watchlist based on complaints reported at a three-unit building she owns in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Lugo is listed as the agent, shareholder and head officer of the LLC that owns the building at 381 Vernon Ave. The property, located near the Bushwick border, has accumulated 429 open HPD violations and five open Department of Buildings violations, according to Williams’ landlord list.

The HPD website shows daily complaints of no heat or hot water at the building from Jan. 16 to Feb. 16, as well as additional heat and hot water complaints in March and April. The heat and hot water complaints resumed last month.

Tenant Nelson Alvarado said he has lived in the building for 50 years and that the heat and hot water problems began in 2011 when his brother owned the building. “They’re just not being responsive,” he said of the past and present landlords.

Lugo did not respond to phone calls and text messages seeking comment, but her law partner and property co-owner Carmen Pacheco disputed Alvarado’s account.

She and Lugo have done “everything possible to rectify” the situation, Pacheco said. Alvarado poked a hole in the roof after they repaired it and he has put a chain around the front door that prevents the landlords or HPD from accessing the building, she said.

“He’s painting us as a slumlord and we’re not,” Pacheco said, adding that they purchased a “brand new, state-of-the-art boiler” for the building.

“We just want to fix it,” she added.

Alvarado has also filed complaints for mold, pests, exposed wiring and broken or defective doors in the building this year. The most recent complaint was filed for mold on Dec. 3, according to the HPD website.

The annual list of problem property owners began in 2010 under then-Public Advocate Bill de Blasio 2010. Williams’ predecessor Letitia James continued the tradition. The majority of the buildings owned by the ten worst landlords on Williams’ list are located in Brooklyn. One is located in Woodside. Several other buildings on the list are located in Ridgewood near the Bushwick border.