Landlord Want to Evict Tenant Over "Zoo Conditions"

Move over Crazy Cat Ladies of New York, a West End Avenue tenant may just have you beat. The Post reports that court papers have been filed by a building owner against 71-year-old tenant Jacqueline Bartone, calling her apartment a "zoo" and listing the pets that reside with her -- including three dogs, several reptiles and cats, "and as many as a dozen birds, including an African Grey parrot and a macaw parrot."

Bartone and her human roommate (her husband) swore under oath there are "only" three dogs and five birds with them in the one-bedroom, where they have lived for 41 years. They suspect their current $1,043/month is why the landlord is trying to run them out.

The building's management agency says they were shocked by the "nonlivable condition" (which the couple denies) but neighbors are showing their support of their animal-loving neighbors by writing letters. The couple even has one from The New York Times' Ethicist Randy Cohen.

Sometimes pets undetected in an apartment for a period of time can be grandfathered into a lease. Late last year another 71-year-old woman was threatened with eviction in the West Village for having two cats in a no-pets apartment building, but the appellate court ruled she could stay. Similarly, in 2004 a landlord threatened to evict a 7-year-old girl's dog who was suggested by a therapist and helping her cope with depression.

Photograph of the Zen Hideaway for pets

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By Jen Carlson in News on February 4, 2008 3:51 PM

Comments [rss]

krista

1) Bartone does not represent the average senior citizen. Most senior citizens live on a fixed income and could never afford this kind of lawyer/s nor could they afford the birds Bartone keeps in her apartment.

2) African Grey parrot and a macaw parrot.

Animal lover? I don't think so!

The birds Bartone keeps in her apartment;

The Macaw has been referred to as the "Rolls-Royce" of parrots.

"By the second half of the 20th century the birds became gram for gram more valuable than heroin; so valuable that the drew up to $40,000 on the black markets."

-The Race to Save the World's Rarest Bird- (Hardcover)

Because of the pet trade, traders use terrible and illegal methods to trap and transport birds that they have illegally trapped. Illegal trappers have gone into the remote areas of the world and dangerously decreased the population of many species of parrots. They will kill the parents to get to their nest and take the very young chicks. The chicks are then shipped to the pet trade, which during transport it is believed that 9 out of 10 chicks will die!

A recent analysis suggests that up to 21% of the global population may be taken from the wild annually, primarily for the pet trade of the wealthy.

-World Parrot Trust-

So you think you are an animal lover because your rare pet was hand-reared in captivity.

Hand-rearing process of Parrots; they are force-weaned. This deprives the birds of parental interactions, which results in the birds becoming imprinted on humans at maturity.

Shame on you Bartone.

How about feeding a starving human? www.thehungersite.com

Krista

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

www.peta.org/ -

Brooklyn Book Worm

Egad, suddenly an African Grey -- the most elegant, most articulate, most obedient, most long-lived and most costly of all parots -- is denounced as a "jungle beast." He or she is probably more articulate than the average New York lawyer.

Alas, bird-lovers will doubtless find the search for a defense lawyer increasingly difficult. As tenant law becomes more restrictive, tenants find it more difficult to find representation. Erstwhile tenant lawyers, like my firend Steve, are leaving the field; he's becomve Executive Director of a large co-op.

cucarachita

I love it when 1,043.00 a month for a one BR is considered ridiculously low! That's not actually that cheap, particularly for a senior citizen! There are people renting at 474 a month in the same area. I know, because when I lived there the wrong rent slips were occasionally slipped under my door.

The rents in this city are truly getting out of hand.

joecw

This article highlights a growing problem across New York City – landlords suing senior citizens at housing court. If you want to see a real zoo, you need not search apartments – just take a stroll over to housing court. Housing court is the busiest court in the city and one of the busiest in the nation.

Our city’s senior citizens are particularly vulnerable at housing court: Arguing legal cases with attorneys who have years of experience at the court and an understanding of how the court works. Any reasonable person can see that that is an unfair fight.

Ms. Bartone is particularly fortunate – she has an attorney. Many senior citizens being sued by their landlords do not have the financial ability to hire attorneys and the number of free attorneys comes nowhere near to meeting the need. A recent study by the Brennan Center for Justice showed that at least 85 percent of all low-income seniors do not have counsel while other studies show that over 90 percent of landlords do. This glaring imbalance needs to be corrected – it’s an affront to justice.

Over 90 housing groups in the city are supporting legislation that would establish a right to counsel at housing court for low-income seniors facing eviction or foreclosure of their homes. Don’t take their word for the necessity of this legislation; just stroll the hallways of housing court and ask yourself this: Would you send your grandmother to housing court without a lawyer?

joecw

This article highlights a growing problem across New York City – landlords suing senior citizens at housing court. If you want to see a real zoo, you need not search apartments – just take a stroll over to housing court. Housing court is the busiest court in the city and one of the busiest in the nation.

Our city’s senior citizens are particularly vulnerable at housing court: Arguing legal cases with attorneys who have years of experience at the court and an understanding of how the court works. Any reasonable person can see that that is an unfair fight.

Ms. Bartone is particularly fortunate – she has an attorney. Many senior citizens being sued by their landlords do not have the financial ability to hire attorneys and the number of free attorneys comes nowhere near to meeting the need. A recent study by the Brennan Center for Justice showed that at least 85 percent of all low-income seniors do not have counsel while other studies show that over 90 percent of landlords do. This glaring imbalance needs to be corrected – it’s an affront to justice.

Over 80 housing groups in the city are supporting legislation that would establish a right to counsel at housing court for low-income seniors facing eviction or foreclosure of their homes. Don’t take their word for the necessity of this legislation; just stroll the hallways of housing court and ask yourself this: Would you send your grandmother to housing court without a lawyer?