Tenants in East Orange, N.J. take stand, say they want immediate repairs to their troubled building
EAST ORANGE, N.J. -- Tenants of a New Jersey building are fighting back against their landlord.
People living there showed CBS New York collapsed ceilings, moldy bathrooms, and water damage in their homes.
They're now taking the building's owner and management to court.
Carla Evans said at first her four-bedroom apartment in the historic East Orange building seemed like a dream for its spaciousness, but now it has become a nightmare.
The mother of six showed CBS New York what she said is mold in her bathrooms.
"You are breathing it in, especially in the bathrooms because you can't take a good shower," Evans said.
Evans also said her kitchen is unusable.
Evans, along with dozens of others residents of 75 Prospect St., banded together on Wednesday. They said complaints over the past seven years about mold and collapsed ceilings as a result of major leaks have been ignored.
"About two weeks ago the leaks got so bad that the ceiling actually collapsed and fell on me. I was hospitalized for that," said Erica Coleman, president of the tenant association.
Other residents said they risk their lives because of broken elevators.
"The other option is to go up four flights and walk across the roof of the building. I chose to walk across the roof of the building,' Denise Wright said.
A Rutgers University legal group is filing lawsuits on behalf of the tenants against One Wall Communities and several management groups.
"We are filing a complaint to request that the court appoint a receiver to assume the role of landlord and take immediate management of the property here," said Alaina Thomas, of Rutgers Law School's Housing Justice and Tenant Solidarity Clinic.
"There are fines that are being given to this owner about the violations," East Orange Mayor Ted Greene said.
Greene said enforcement officers will be back and force the owners to make repairs.
When told the tenants seem to be saying it has been going on for a while and no one listening to them, Greene said, "I am not going to say no one is listening because we have been here anytime they are calling us."
Tenants like Ibrahim Ahmed, who has a massive hole in his bathroom ceiling, said he'll keep paying more than $3,000 in rent, but won't move out.
"We are uniting. We want to stand together to fight for our rights," Ahmed said.
CBS New York reached out to the management groups, but one hung up the phone.