Landlord of Neglected Newburgh Property Arrested

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Photo © Chet Gordon/Times Herald-Record

One of Newburgh’s biggest problems is neglected and abandoned properties. They attract crime and most times have to be knocked down because they are past the point of saving. The rescue me series has proven that enough. Last Friday the Times Herald Record published an article stating that the City of Newburgh has now arrested the owner of the property above, 123 Renwick St. The owner has 16 cases that have piled up for the past 7 years.

Many people have complained that the City should heavily fine delinquent landlords so that homes do not sit and rot. The ideal situation would be to turn these homes over to new owners who will promise to repair them and live in them for 5 to 10 years. Hopefully this can continue full force.

Do you think the City will continue to press charges against repeat offender landlords?

13 Comment

  • I believe, with the help of the ineffectual Judge Culkins, this criminal landlord was let go after paying the first of his many fines and then allowed to pay only a dollar for the rest, for which he should have paid very much more. He is back on the street making for an uglier and more blighted Newburgh and with this inept judge things can only get worse until he is thrown out of office.

  • Wow, well I think the point of this was to scare him, and scare others. Only time will tell…

  • This is why i was forced to sell my home up the street because of garbage like this being allowed to happen!!…We bought our home on Renwick in 1973 and that building has been deterioationg since before then!!!…How can the City let this happen for decades!!…Action must continue like this and if the City won’t do anything then Albany must be notified or someone who cares…….Let’s see what happens. My dear friend lives directly across the street from this wreckage in a beautiful small home that she bought not realizing this problem and she has been fighting this fight!!! She walks out her front door and sees this garbage dump in a once beautiful neighborhood. This must stop!!! Especially in this day and age!! If these so called landlords do not take care of them with in a years time….the city takes ownership or the community and tear it down and make a park!!

  • It’s not just slumlords that Judge Kulkin goes easy on, it’s slum tenants. too (Newburgh’s other big problem). Last week I sat through tenant / landlord (aka eviction) proceedings that he was hearing and he gushed sympathy over a tenant who owed more than $3,000 in back rent and had caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to her apartment. She pleaded poverty, Kulkin gave her till the end of the month to leave and told her to be a good girl going forward, while the landlord was left with a $5,000+ hole in his pocket that Kulkin couldn’t give a damn about.

    Yes, the City should act tough on delinquent landlords. But it shouldn’t punish the good ones too. The poor landlord referenced above voiced an opinion I’ve heard repeatedly among owners of rental properties who have been burned badly by their experience in Newburgh : “I’m selling up and getting out”.

  • It’s a step in the right direction, but there are too many places in Newburgh that are like this and continue to go neglected. What we need to do is continually contact Code Enforcement or any other branches of the City’s government that may be relevant to the issue at hand and file complaints. Complaints can be anonymous but if enough people focus on one thing, it may just result in some improvements. There may be instances where hairs are frivolously being split over what should constitute a violation, but chances are if it bothers you, it’s bothering the masses, and one by one, we should let the city know we notice these things and they should be acting upon it.
    http://newburghappeal.wordpress.com/

    • I smell a CLASS ACTION suit coming to City of Newburgh by people who have lost their properties because of the way the City and the City Courts are treating this issue. The criminals who are destroying buildings and property are being let loose. There is NEGLIGENCE on behalf of the enforcement of property owners’ rights to not have their historic properties destroyed after they invest in renovations that are SUPPOSED to be good for 20 or 30 years but which are destroyed in less than a year. The City and Courts JUST DON”T GET IT that the regular threats of being evicted etc DON”T WORK against criminals intent on destroying. They don’t have ANYTHING TO LOSE. They are Down and Dirty Newburgh. It is always an urgent concern once a criminal has access NO MATTER– WHY– THEY HAVE THAT ACCESS. It should not be a housing court issue when a tenant is endangering other tenants in a building, not paying rent, and going crazy damaging.

      I think owners of properties that have been destroyed by tenants living in City of Newburgh should have recourse against the City for negligence at the time when the destruction occurs–not years later. The building owners should be able to file when they see renters start to damage properties, squat in properties, refuse to pay rent, create violations, instead of being referred to the housing court where THERE IS NO IMPARTIAL ARBITER.
      REMEDY…..I would call for a COMMUNITY ARBITRATION Board for housing issues concerning damages being done to buildings. UNTIL this issue is addressed, no commercial banks will be interested in funding projects.
      This is depressing property values in City of Newburgh. It is not OK for criminals to be left alone to continue the cycle of destruction that currently has existed in City of Newburgh. END THE CYCLE OF DESTRUCTION.

      • All landlord and tenant laws, regardless of how explicit the responsibilities and rights are outlined, still come down to the property owner seeking remedy from damages in a civil court after the fact. That is the ‘right’ one has. It is the same preamble that prevents illegal foreclosures. How’d that work out? I’ll speculate that at least half of Newburgh’s renters receive housing assistance. As such, those authorities issuing the checks require the use of ‘housing’ courts. No getting around it. There is the legal system and the justice system, the former does indeed “get it” and the latter is a mindset. As a business entity, landlords can take a tax deduction for damages to their property. Push comes to shove, the business can fold leaving the property to the ‘collector’. More vacant housing, more crime, more… . It’s why tptb are getting into the serfdom game (think healthcare, edu. etc.). The peeps are saying “no mas” but the ‘flow’ needs to be maintained. Once again, moral hazard is proving to be a bitch.
        https://www.thelpa.com/lpa/lllaw.html

  • Absolutely!!! What’s to stop these “delinquent landlords” from letting their buildings fall into an atrocious state? If there is no punishment for such a disgraceful act then what will ever change??? It’s so sad what has happened to so many beautiful buildings. Newburgh needs some serious TLC.

    • Read the following reply by Leo before you make judgements about “delinquent landlords” Kate.

      His story is more the NORM in City of Newburgh for honest people to be targeted and attacked by criminals in Newburgh before they ultimately lose their properties. It is more common than NOT. There needs to be action by the CITY against CRIMINAL TENANTS and SQUATTERS who are criminal trespassers once they try to not pay rent in order to provide themselves with a nice apartment for free. They know THE SYSTEM in City of Newburgh where the judge gives them months and months of free accommodation in privately owned properties.

      There is a pending Tenants’ Responsibility Law in Council. Please stay informed and please support people who are coming here to invest in the historic buildings to save them. It is NOT simply a “housing” court issue when buildings (in whatever stage of renovation) are destroyed by the acts of the tenants. It is savagery against our history. It is wholesale fraud against other property taxpayers and against banks and insurance companies as well as against our governments themselves. It is criminal.

      Many Many stories from locals in City of Newburgh about when they lost their renovated historic buildings due to excessive taxes and the criminal tenants who then play the game against property owners via the rigid City government agencies who never stick up for the property owners.

  • Hi all im unfurtainly also a house owner in city of newburgh let me explain u what i had, i purchase a house there few years ago & i rebuild the whole house but 1 night the criminals on the block broke in & they stole all the cooper & brand new boilers so i redid it again it cost me $15,000 & i finally got it rented, after 2 months the teanent moved out he couldnt live there anymore with kids it was dangerus so i tried to rent it out again but i had no luck in the mean time the people like animals broke in again & stole all the cooper boilers again!!!! i was broke financilay i want to the cops to keep an eye on the bldg & i boarded up with plywoods but they got in again so city toke me in court for unsecured bldg violation i explained judge culkin whats going on but he said i dont care u have to secure the bldg so i did it once more but hey broke in again i was like hay what can i do should i hire a security guard so in the mean time city kept sending court latters which i didnt go since the judge dont care for so they isued a arrest warrent for me & they kept sending court orders & warrents on a monthly basis i had no choice i was trying to sell it but nobode was interested buying it i offered for 5k but no offer came in so now they sending sheriff’s to landlords to arrest them.

    i appel to city of newburgh officals: please take care from your criminals & drug dealers,gangsters than u wouldnt have all those issues

    • I am so sorry for your loss of your property. I hope very much that this whole trauma will end for you. It is disgusting how this has played out against you. With CRIMINALS being enabled by the City of Newburgh and no one to assist you. I feel so badly for you.

  • I Live with my wife and kids in CHADWICK GARDENS APTS. in Newburgh NY, and this place is filled with drug dealers and junkies, ppl are constantly being robbed while maintenance looks away. The ppl working there need tobe drug tested and the Buildings need tobe inspected by a Real Building inspector, none of the buildings are up to code, they don’t fix anything…..This business is being run by a Slum Lord corporation. Fix it or close it down. Ppl have criminals living there thar are not on the list while the office looks away.

    • I think you had me at “criminals living there that are not on the list.”

      This exists because people who are always talking about “criminal justice reform” are not the ones victimized by the crimes. People in City of Newburgh and the police there are sick of seeing the criminals arrested and then let loose again. It is racism at its finest. You live there so it is YOUR problem.

      That is how middle class people think. That is why they don’t even go near to the City of Newburgh. Because they don’t want to be exposed to all that. They don’t need it. It’s tainted. They want to avoid it and forget about it. Because it is bad and not their problem. They don’t understand why it is so bad when people deal drugs and steal. They think those guys should be given a free college education at BARD. LOL.

      Maintenance there is not likely to be able to keep up with the damages being caused by the criminal tenants themselves.And those people are not going to be arrested just because they are dealing in drugs or mugging people. Have you ever had to report a crime in City of Newburgh? There is NO CRIME there. HAHA. Because there are no crime reports unless there is a dead body and they can’t keep it quiet. Please support the Tenants Responsibility Law which is coming up soon in City Council. This way, Criminal Tenants will be help responsible for what they are doing to the buildings.