New York Attorney General Sues Real-Estate Management Firm
It was announced yesterday, October 25th, that New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing Greenland Property Services LLC and its related entities (Green National) for not complying with parts of an agreement made with her office earlier this year.
Attorney General James Sues Landlord for Failing to Address Building Conditions
Green National agreed to correct all its outstanding code violations in its buildings, abide by the city's nuisance abatement order at the Skyline Apartments, and pay the state a $300,000 penalty.
The agreement also required Green National to retain an independent monitor to review its code compliance procedures and submit monthly reports to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG).
Though Green National has corrected dozens of violations, they have failed to retain a monitor and fix some other violations in a timely manner. This has resulted in Attorney General James to sue Green National to enforce the entire agreement and require Green National to install a monitor and pay civil penalties for non-compliance.
Who is Green National?
Green National owns and manages more than 800 apartments in buildings throughout the Syracuse area. The tenants in these buildings are mostly people who earn modest or fixed incomes, people with health challenges, people receiving aid from government programs, and the elderly.
The OAG started its investigation against Green National in March 2021 in response to reports of rampant crime, unsafe conditions and unabated code violations.
Green National's Initial Agreement w/ the Office of the Attorney General
In February 2022, Green National entered into an agreement with OAG that required them to fix all outstanding code violations within 60 days of when the agreement went into effect and fix new violations with the time period set by the city's Code Enforcement unit.
Green National corrected dozens of violations, including repairing broken locks, repainting, fixing leaks, replacing broken toilets, addressing roach and mice infestations, and more.
Despite accomplishing these corrections, other violations, such as addressing the non-functioning elevator at the James Apartment building, remain unresolved. Also, Green National has not hired an independent monitor or submitted monthly reports.
As a result, Attorney General James retained the full $300,000 penalty paid by Green National for failing to address violations in a timely manner and called on the company to install an independent monitor to oversee and report on the status of outstanding violations, per the agreement.