A former tenant of Residences at Tarryhill, a low-income housing complex in Greenburgh, claims the landlord has refused to fix her condemned apartment.
Carla Cialone is demanding that HarborView Properties I and its Tarryhill Management Co. affiliate compensate her for costs she incurred when she lost her apartment, according to a lawsuit filed Aug. 8 in Westchester Supreme Court.
Refusal to repair the apartment, the complaint states, “constitutes an unlawful eviction under New York law.”
HarborView has not yet been served with the complaint, an unidentified leasing agent said in response to a general email inquiry, and “the attorney will handle it when the time comes.”
The Residences at Tarryhill opened in 1997 on an 8-acre site off Old Tarrytown Road that was previously used for a public elementary school. It received financial support from Westchester County and the New York State Housing Finance Agency.
The complex, designed by WMW Architects, groups 87 apartments in six 2½-story buildings and features entrance porticos, picket fences and expansive lawns.
HarborView Properties, based in Mamaroneck and led by Frank T. Chiarello and Dale and Lynn Kaufteil, invests in apartments, offices, hotels and mixed-use projects from Connecticut to Florida.
In 2016, HarborView bought Tarryhill for nearly $10.8 million, according to Westchester property records, and mortgaged it for $8.5 million to Signature Bank.
Cialone is described in the complaint as a disabled mother of a 12-year-old disabled girl. She has lived at Tarryhill since 2004, with financial assistance from the Westchester Housing Choice Voucher Program.
On July 25, 2019, a fire damaged the property, according to the lawsuit, and 15 days later flooding caused a sewage backup that damaged and destroyed furniture and personal belongings.
Several times before the flood, Cialone claims, a plumber had been called to clear backups and had discovered that the drain line was defective. The complaint does not say who or what caused the fire or how much damage was done.
A building inspector condemned the apartment as unfit for human habitation a year ago, according to the complaint, “as a result of the fire and/or sewage backup.”
Cialone asked HarborView to fix the apartment or provide a comparable place, the complaint states, but the company has refused or delayed making repairs and claimed there were no available units.
Cialone claims she had to stay in hotels until she found another apartment at a higher rent.
She is demanding that HarborView repair her apartment and allow her to resume living there at the same rent she had been paying, and to compensate her for damaged personal property, higher rent at the new apartment, and for enduring “extended stays at hotels.” She wants treble damages for alleged wrongful eviction.
She is represented by Yonkers attorney Robert F. Zerilli.
