A New York landlord is forcing tenants at two properties to share a single bathroom during renovations, causing such a desperate situation human waste is being tossed out of windows, residents say.
Nearly a dozen units at 3115 Sedgwick Ave in the Bronx are being forced to use one toilet as the building owner, Scott Morgan, upgrades apartments.
At a 50-unit property on East 196th Street owned by the same landlord, many residents are using a single toilet and shower, and are waiting up to 30 minutes to use the bathroom.
Nearly a dozen units at 3115 Sedgwick Ave in the Bronx are being forced to use one toilet as the building owner, Scott Morgan, upgrades apartments
Residents at the Sedgwick Ave property have been seen defecating in plastic bags and throwing them ‘out of the window’ because the line to the bathroom is so long.
Sonia Perez, 48, compared the living situation to a ‘gas station’.
‘You go in there, and there is urine all over the floor, water, everyone is just doing their necessity in the same bathroom,’ she told The New York Post.
‘It was disgusting, extremely disgusting. People were becoming angry and desperate,’ she added.
Morgan admitted to shutting off water at six units at the East 196th Street property and forcing residents to use a single communal bathroom – but tenants say up to 14 units are currently without water.
At a 50-unit property on East 196th Street owned by the same landlord, many residents are using a single toilet and shower, and are waiting up to 30 minutes to use the bathroom
One resident said that tenants were given ‘no notice – nothing in advance’ before Morgan started the renovations.
Morgan said he shut the water off in late summer to renovate bathrooms and kitchens and is having tenants use a single toilet and shower in a vacant unit in the building.
The water would be shut off for two to three weeks at a time, Morgan told The Post.
As of Wednesday morning, plumbers were working hard to install toilets and restore water in ‘every unit under renovation’.
The Fire Department has issued Morgan a summons for ‘failing to provide/maintain required flame-resistant materials in the kitchens and bathrooms in every apartment’.