Many Boston residents struggle with negligent landlords and property owners that put their lives at risk on a daily basis. From blocked fire escapes that could lead to entrapment to the broken windows and door locks that may result in break-ins, the possibilities for disaster are endless. These are the unfortunate realities for many, such as resident Mary Stathos.
Colucci, Colucci & Marcus, P.C. is a Massachusetts-based law firm offering professional and experienced Boston property owner negligence attorneys to the public. If you should find yourself in a similar situation to Mary Stathos or the residents of Medford apartments, please reach out to us for immediate assistance.
Mary Stathos is a young, former tenant of Anwar Faisal. The apartment he rented out to Stathos featured deteriorating linoleum, rotting wood, and faulty refrigerators. Many of Stathos’ concerns surrounded her safety in the apartment, eventually leading her to reach out to Faisal in an attempt to request maintenance on the apartment. All of her requests were denied.
Stathos even feared that her table would fall through the floor at one point. Dragging it into her bedroom, she was concerned for the living conditions she found herself in. Now unable to refrigerate her food, she had been relying on un-perishables such as canned soup and vegetables. This Medford apartment even featured fire escapes blocked by trash and non-functioning washing machines. The problems presented a clear liability concern, prompting Stathos’ first call to local authorities.
Alpha Management was the offender in question. In fact, their first communication with Stathos following her ordeal was a notification of a rent increase of $75 a month. Even after local authorities were the ones that had to fix her front door, Alpha still failed to respond to future requests for maintenance. It was only when she stopped paying her rent that Alpha began to answer her calls.
Faisal, the owner of Alpha Management, is notorious in Boston. He has been the subject of numerous articles written by magazines and newspapers produced throughout the New England city. His landowning resume features cockroach and bed bug-infested living spaces, in addition to faulty door and window locks.
Alpha’s biggest concern might be an organization of tenants under the direction of the Greater Boston Tenants Union. Stathos and other neighbors began organizing under the common goal to find justice for how they had been wronged. They united under their common goal for habitable living conditions. One neighbor of Stathos even said that her apartment had a fire before she moved in, the damage of which Alpha had never fixed.
Nicole Eigbrett, the director of community organizing for the Community Action Agency of Somerville, claims that the system of tenant rights in Boston “is failing.” Under current Massachusetts law, tenants are the ones that bear the burden of reporting health-code violations in apartment buildings – not the landlords. In addition, local boards of health and the Boston Inspectional Services Department may be inaccessible for tenants as they have little time or resources after dealing with their difficult living situation. Those that do take action also run the risk of being evicted and having no place to stay.
The issues experienced by Stathos and others are not restricted to Alpha Management. Other landlords have been putting their tenants at risk throughout the greater Boston area creating serious cases of premises liability. Fire hazards and other health risks are important to the safety of you and your family. If you believe you may have a case that one of our Boston property owners’ negligence attorneys at Colucci, Colucci & Marcus, P.C. can solve, please reach out to 617-917-3917 or click here for dedicated service.