NYLAG Files Major Suit Against Slumlord on Behalf of 10 Tenant Households in Bronx Building with Unlivable Conditions & Persistent Harassment

2440 Walton Ave tenants alongside the New York Legal Assistance Group, West Bronx Housing and Neighborhood Resource Center and local officials urge courts to assign a 3rd party administrator to fix building's 100+ violations - fire damage, flooded basement, live wires, mold and more

Bronx, New York - New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), representing tenants organized in partnership with the West Bronx Housing and Neighborhood Resource Center, filed a petition urging the court to appoint an Article 7A administrator that can take over management of 2440 Walton Avenue in the Bronx. The Bronx residential building has hundreds of unresolved housing code violations, including a basement that floods regularly with live wires hanging from the ceiling and six units with unlivable damage and subject to vacate orders after a fire in April. NYLAG initiated the 7A proceeding on behalf of ten households at 2440 Walton Avenue because the building owners and management continually refuse to make urgent and legally mandated repairs as well as subject the tenants to repeated harassment and lockouts.

"I just want to go home so badly, but there's no home left to go back to right now," said tenant Diana Rodriguez, whose apartment has been unlivable for months due to extensive water damage. "I'm just exhausted and beat down - mentally and physically - from the years of inaction, harassment and disrespect. It's obvious the landlords don't care about us. All they care about is money. These landlords need to be held responsible for not providing their tenants a safe place to live. For me, justice would mean seeing Bradley Zar exposed as the rat he is."

"I'm doing the best that I can, but this is dehumanizing," said tenant Quasar Garcia, who has been forced to live in a shelter since October after hazardous conditions forced him to vacate his basement apartment and the Zar brothers illegally locked him out in retaliation for reporting the violations to the City. "The landlords know what they are doing - they can't pretend in court that they don't. They've stripped me of my freedom, my privacy and my peace. All the weight of the system needs to fall on their shoulders."

"The landlords are very unprofessional; it's so frustrating that we have to reach out about the same issues over and over, but our complaints just get dismissed or ignored," said tenant Marylin Lopez. "It's really sad to see my neighbors living in such terrible conditions. That's why it's so important that we're standing together as a community and using our collective voices to demand the landlords fix the problems in every apartment, address and take our future concerns seriously, and provide livable conditions for everyone."

"No one should have to settle for such bad service from landlords," said tenant Efraín Cazalez. "Especially if everyone in the building is paying rent, landlords have the responsibility to uphold their end of the bargain. We work hard to pay our rent. We're not asking them for free handouts. We're just asking for a safe place to live and to be treated with basic human decency."

"The landlord of 2440 Walton Avenue's persistent refusal to redress hazardous conditions demonstrates that owners are plainly unable to meet the basic obligations to make the building habitable, and their behavior makes clear that judicial intervention is necessary," said James Tourangeau, senior coordinating attorney with New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG)'s Tenants Rights Unit in the Bronx. "Unfortunately, this pervasive campaign of tenant harassment coupled with a consistent practice of doing less than the bare minimum is emblematic of a broader, cynical calculation that it's cheaper to not make repairs and pay the resulting fines than simply follow the laws requiring them to do right by their tenants. By filing this 7A suit, New York Legal Assistance Group and tenants' rights organizations can demand accountability, discourage retaliation by bad landlords, seek urgently needed repairs, and ultimately empower tenants to work with a preservation partner to purchase the building for its long-term use as safe and affordable housing." 

"Everyone deserves to live in a safe and healthy home," said Victor Alvarez, tenant organizer with the West Bronx Housing and Neighborhood Resource Center (WBHNRC). "We are proud to stand with tenants as they work together to improve their building's conditions and ensure their voices are heard. We're calling on the City to improve operations and patch up the loopholes that landlords constantly exploit to provide relief to tenants in a timely manner before it's too late!"

"What is happening to the 2440 Walton Avenue tenants reflects what many tenants are suffering through in New York City," said Katherine Cabral Volquez, tenant organizer with WBHNRC. "The landlords of 2440 Walton Avenue got away with mistreating the tenants because the systems in place to protect tenant rights and keep landlords in check are either outright failing or are too slow to bring about urgent change. Despite everything the tenants have endured in their homes, they still have intense passion and drive to fight for their rights, and West Bronx Housing will be there with them every step of the way."

An Article 7A proceeding is a special legal process under the New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (RPAPL) that allows tenants or certain city agencies to seek court intervention where building conditions are dangerous to a tenants' life and safety and persist for more than five days; essential services are non-existent in a building; or the owner or their agents harass, illegal evict, or deprive services or commit acts that are dangerous to life, health or safety. Once in the 7A program, a New York City Department of Housing Development and Preservation (HPD)-approved administrator is appointed by the court to take over the operations of a building. The administrator takes over rent collection and can use the collected rents to make necessary repairs. A 7A administrator can also access City capital to make repairs if rents do not cover the cost. Very few 7A cases are filed, and even fewer are supported by the City, resulting in only about two dozen buildings in New York City that currently have a 7A administrator.

Currently, the tenants of 2440 Walton Avenue live in a building with hundreds of unresolved housing code violations, including a flooded basement with tenants on the same floor, live wires hanging from the basement ceiling, mold and broken flooring. In April 2026, a fire broke out in the building, which resulted in four units currently subject to vacate orders, bringing the total number of units with vacate orders to an astonishing six in this 17-unit building. Those units currently still have fire damage, leftover fire retardant and water damage. The building owners also falsified certifications that they made repairs and allowed the entire building to fall into hazardous disrepair. Because of these lies, HPD sued the Zar Brothers in housing court about this practice of falsely certifying that they cured violations that they never actually fixed.

In addition to the hazardous conditions, building owners Bradley and Ryan Zar of Point 2440 Realty LLC, alongside their super and building manager engaged in a concerted campaign aimed at suppressing the tenants' rights, including locking out tenants from their units and discouraging tenants from reporting conditions to government agencies. As an example, the building super repeatedly donned a neon yellow jacket labelled "Code Enforcement" in and around the building, misrepresenting himself as HPD inspector to tenants and even the police. This type of behavior, committed against these tenants as well as tenants of the other buildings they own, already landed the Zar brothers on the certification watch list and made them the target of multiple HPD lawsuits over the last two years.

"Every tenant has the right to safe, well-maintained housing," said HPD Commissioner Dina Levy. "HPD will continue to support the tenants at 2440 Walton Avenue as they seek the appointment of a 7A Administrator, one of the most significant tools available to ensure that rents are used for maintaining a property and resources are available to support systemic repairs."

"Landlord harassment is unacceptable under any circumstance, but especially for residents who have already endured the trauma that comes with surviving a fire," said NYC Council Member Pierina Sanchez. "I thank NYLAG and West Bronx Housing and Neighborhood Resource Center for helping organize residents at 2440 Walton to begin 7A proceedings. It is deeply unfortunate that this landlord has failed to make the repairs required by law, while also harassing tenants simply exercising their rights. A 7A proceeding allows the court to appoint an independent administrator to take over management of a building to protect the health and well-being of its residents. No one should have to live in a home with hundreds of hazardous, active violations, and no one should have to survive a tragedy before seeing responsible building management. That's why I introduced Int. 657, the SAFER Homes Act, which would strengthen the City's ability to remove the most negligent landlords from ownership and place buildings under responsible third-party administrators. I join the tenants of 2440 Walton and their advocates in calling for the appointment of a third-party administrator to achieve better conditions for these neighbors."

"The conditions at 2440 Walton Avenue are unacceptable, and the pattern of lockouts and intimidation demonstrates the landlord is more interested in avoiding accountability than housing their tenants safely," said Assemblymember Yudelka Tapia. "I support NYLAG and the tenants of 2440 Walton Avenue in this 7A petition, and I will continue to stand with them as they fight for the safe, stable housing they deserve."

"I proudly join NYLAG, the West Bronx Housing and Neighborhood Resource Center, and most importantly, the ten households at 2440 Walton to urge the court to appoint an article 7A administrator to address the unacceptable building conditions, including multiple housing code violations, and harassment by the owners and building management of Point 2440 Realty LLC," said State Senator Gustavo Rivera. "This court decision would hold bad landlords accountable for atrocious living conditions these tenants have been subjected to, while finally giving these families an opportunity to enjoy healthy, safe homes."

"The outright negligence and extremely offensive language of the landlords of 2440 Walton Avenue show their utter contempt toward their tenants," said WBHNRC Executive Director Joshua Stephenson. "I hope that this action sends a crystal-clear message to them and to any other bad actors who make the lives of New York tenants harder: when you treat your tenants this way you will be held accountable. We are proud to partner with NYLAG to support the tenant association at 2440 Walton, and we call on the courts, HPD and the City, to get these tenants the repairs they deserve."

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