MJP –
A rat-poop-filled Brooklyn apartment building has become the priciest slum in New York, residents claim.
Multiple residents of the battered Bushwick site on Starr Street say they are paying nearly $4,000 a month to live with rat feces on the countertops, moldy ceilings, and leaky roofs in the trendy area — causing them to form a tenant union to fight the alleged slumlord who owns the place.
Hunter Boone, 34, started the Starr St. Union a month ago after repeatedly calling 311 over the disrepair and occasionally “unlivable” building conditions in his two-bedroom apartment, priced at $3,500 a month.
Boone said he and his dog even both acquired a parasitic infection from the nasty conditions. In May, the two suffered from prolonged digestive issues and were unable to keep food down because of exposure to rat feces, medical records provided by Boone show.
“After that, that’s when I was like, OK, I really need to get the city involved in this rat problem. … If someone is charging this much, why does the building look like this? Wouldn’t that mean that they are quote-unquote a slumlord?” he said.
During a tour of the eight-unit building with The Post, Boone showed the shocking conditions — including rat dropping on his countertops, a condemned backyard water-damaged ceilings and exposed holes in his bathroom floor.
“This a fire hazard right here, these doors can’t close properly on their own at the entrance. I actually printed out my own ‘fire hazard’ signs for this,” Boone said, pointing to one of the building’s emergency violations.
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The Starr St. Union is taking organized tenant and legal action against the owner of Cayuga Capital Management Ventures, Jacob Sacks, who has at least 21 buildings in the area.
His properties have an average of two open city violations per residential unit, worse than the citywide average of 0.8 per unit, according to data from JustFix.
The Starr Street building alone has 49 open building violations.
When reached by The Post, Sacks defended his stewardship of the property, alleging there are just “four current tenants . . . that like to complain and deny access,” initiating the slew of complaints.
“The reality is this is an activist tenant who you have seen is intentionally trying to inflate the issue and meanwhile prevent actual repair work from happening,” Sacks said.
Boone says his nightmare began as soon as he subleased the two-bedroom apartment in April 2023.
The building sits across from a park and a few blocks from the L-train line in the trendy north Brooklyn neighborhood.
And although online listings for rentals there show freshly painted rooms with stainless-steel kitchen appliances, Boone said he soon realized the reality was far from idyllic when he heard rats scurrying in the ceiling on the first night.
“When I mentioned this rat problem to the prior tenant, He was like, ‘Oh, isn’t that just New York City?’ But you shouldn’t have rats in your ceiling, that’s crazy,” Boone said.
When Boone reported the problem to 311, Sacks tried to force him out of the building, although records provided by Boone show he legally resided there, the resident claimed.
In December, Sacks told Boone he would only offer him a six-month lease for an eye-watering $600 more, bringing the total for the space to a whopping $3,500.
“At this point, all signs are pointing to fraud,” Boone claimed.
Unable to afford the move, Boone paid the jacked-up rent until he claimed the heat stopped working and he was forced to live in 45-degree temperatures. He also also claims he had other issues, such as a backyard where the fence was in such bad condition it was about to fall over.
“I was thinking this is absolutely insane, I haven’t had heat for a month. … The city came and confirmed that the apartment was 45 degrees, and the landlord was immediately saying, ‘Quit calling 311,’ ” Boone said
“But I told him this is nuts. I stopped paying the rent because I was like, ‘I don’t have heat. I’m allowed to do this.’ “
Sacks is now suing Boone in housing court for $12,300 over his nonpayment of rent and is asking for permission to evict him if he is unable to pay, court records show.
But Boone says he is using the case to expose Sacks to the city for the alleged neglect of his properties and win rent stabilization for the units in the building.
After a month of canvassing, the union has full participation from all eight units in the building.
With no live-in superintendent, residents have resorted to going to the city’s Housing Preservation and Development department for their complaints.
One union member in the building who pays $3,250 for a two-bedroom unit described chaos when a pipe burst in his home, displacing his family for six days and forcing them to throw out all of their groceries.
Although the leak was eventually repaired, and the man eventually received reimbursement from Sacks, mold spores are now visible on his ceiling, the resident claimed.
He also said the unit is overrun with vermin.
“I left a bag of groceries on the ground, and when I came back later, there was a hole chewed straight through them,” said the tenant, who asked not to be identified.
An individual has been spotted on security cameras that Boone installed in the building ripping down the posters for the Starr Street Union, footage showed.
Sacks denied he ripped down posters, but Boone believes someone from building management was responsible , although there is no specific evidence that either was involved.
An HPD rep commended the tenants of Starr Street 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 through 311,” the representative told The Post in a statement.
“HPD records indicate that the landlord has started making corrections, and tenants can object if they feel issues remain unresolved, prompting a reinspection from HPD to confirm.”
Despite the building conditions, Boone said he has no plans to leave the apartment until he can settle his case with Sacks.
“A lot of people in New York don’t think they can fight this kind of stuff because it takes so much of your f–king time,” Boone said
“I’m going to now enact my rights as a tenant, and I’m going to fight this.”
Boone is set to go to housing court on Oct. 30.
Juniper Calloway is a dedicated journalist with 3 years of experience in covering hard-hitting stories. Known for her commitment to delivering timely and accurate updates, she currently works with MikeandJon Podcast, where she focuses on reporting critical topics such as crime, local news, and national developments across the United States. Her ability to break down complex issues and keep audiences informed has established her as a trusted voice in journalism.
