Family still looking for justice 1 year after deadly Queens house fire
NEW YORK -- A year after a devastating fire killed three people in Queens, family members are still looking for justice.
They say after the blaze, they discovered the home had 20 building code violations.
For Chaitram Persaud and his wife, Ahilia, looking at the vacant lot still brings immense pain.
"You don't have your, your parents. Your mother, your father, your brother," Chaitram Persaud said.
It was June 17, 2022, when his parents, Nanda and Salima Persaud, and his younger brother, Devon, were all killed in a house fire on 125th Street in South Richmond Hill.
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All three lived in the basement of the three-story home that was converted into apartments.
"Difficult ... Because I will always remember them," Ahilia Persaud said.
What's even more difficult for the family is finding out the home had more than 20 violations that are listed on the Department of Buildings' information website, including one stating the owner had illegally converted the basement and attic into apartments.
"If my parents and brother, they knew the house had that many violations, they should have moved out," Chaitram Persaud said.
In 2022, the DOB received more than 13,800 complaints about illegally converted buildings. Officials say, however, when inspectors get complaints about illegal apartments, they can't even get into the building to investigate two-thirds of the time.
"I put in legislation to require them to go to court and get a court order to access the apartment, but the legislation didn't pass at that time," said former New York City Councilmember Oliver Koppell.
While that battle was lost years ago, the Persaud family is hoping theirs will be won.
"I want justice for my parents and my brother. I don't wish this on my worst enemy," Chaitram Persaud said.
The cause of the fire was deemed electrical, but the Persaud family is convinced there is more to it.