Tenants from 10 crumbling Bronx buildings gathered in the courtyard of 2770 Kingsbridge Terrace on Sept. 29 for an emotional candlelit prayer vigil, fed up with conditions in apartments that many describe as unlivable.

Their homes, which include 2505 Aqueduct Ave., 2500 University Ave., and 75 W. 190th St.,  have been in foreclosure proceedings since private equity firm Milbank Real Estate defaulted on its $35 million mortgage last year. Now, the buildings are in the process of being sold to a mystery buyer who refuses to be identified, and residents and advocates worry the sale will mean more neglect.

“We shouldn’t have to live like this,” said Sergio Cuevas, whose apartment at 2785 Sedgwick Ave. is plagued by leaks, mold and rotting floors. “I don’t invite anyone over to my home.”

The vigil was held just hours after a Bronx Supreme Court judge ordered LNR Property LLC, the servicer to the loan attached to the buildings, to pay $2.5 million in the next 30 days to start repairs on some 3,000 violations. Housing advocates hailed the decision as a milestone.

“As far as I know, this is the first decision of this kind,” said Jonathan Levy of Legal Services-NYC, which filed the legal motion on behalf of tenants.

Housing advocates and a number of city and Bronx elected officials have stepped up efforts in recent months to draw attention to situations like Milbank’s. During the housing boom, private equity firms bought up buildings across the city, particularly in low-income neighborhoods, in hopes of making renovations and hiking rents.

But experts say many of these companies were overly optimistic, and when income wasn’t enough to cover mortgage payments, the owners skimped on maintenance to save money or defaulted on their loans, while tenants’ apartments deteriorated.

“These buildings are in this condition because of greedy speculation, plain and simple,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who launched a program in September that assesses damage in overleveraged buildings, in the hopes that a more detailed list of needs could help tenants advocate for repairs. Her City Council report estimates it could cost up to $26 million to make Milbank’s 10 properties livable.

But Ray Radparvar, an assistant property manager at Milbank’s Bronx office who oversaw the buildings before their foreclosure, said the report’s cost estimates are an extreme overshot. “I managed these buildings for three years,” he said. “There’s no way you would need $20 million in repairs.”

The 10 properties were already in bad shape when Milbank bought them in 2006, Radparvar says, and the company did make renovations to fix them up. When they had trouble making mortgage payments, they tried to negotiate with lender Wells Fargo, but to no avail.

The bank initiated foreclosure proceedings in April 2009. The courts appointed Joseph Cicciu, from Bronx housing group Belmont Arthur LDC, as receiver for the properties, in charge of collecting rent and making repairs.

Radparvar says the buildings have gotten worse since Cicciu and his group took over. “They’re bringing our name down,” he said.

Cicciu, however, insists that many of the units were already “complete disasters” when he became receiver, and that he’s doing the best he can with the money that’s available.

Nearly a quarter of the apartments in the portfolio are vacant. “There are still people living in conditions that they shouldn’t be living in,” he said. “There just aren’t the dollars.”

The $2.5 million that LNR has been ordered to pay should help in fixing the properties’ problems, though Dina Levy, an organizer for the housing group UHAB, said it’s unclear if the order would stand if LNR succeeds in transferring the properties to a new owner.

Tenants, led by organizers from the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, want HPD to block the sale, and have demanded the potential mystery buyer come forward. They worry a new owner won’t be able to afford needed renovations on properties saddled with so much debt. An HPD spokesman said the agency has little power to intervene in the sale, since it’s a private deal.

LNR has declined to comment.

Milbank’s residents have made it clear that they’ll keep fighting to fix their homes. At last week’s vigil, dozens of tenants stood in a circle with flickering candles, singing and reciting prayers. “Together, our voice will be heard. We cannot give up,” said Sedgwick Avenue resident Maggie Maldonado, in a rousing speech met with cheers from the crowd.