At a rally two weekends ago, city housing officials failed to show up and answer for what tenants at an embattled Grand Concourse building describe as an egregious and costly error.

For months, the tenants at 2720 Grand Concourse, a rent-stabilized building, have been hounding the city’s Department of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) to take action and reverse a highly controversial rent increase.

The $31.57 per room increase was awarded in January and showed up on the rent statements of befuddled tenants. The increase awarded by DHCR was supposedly for major capital improvements (MCIs) that tenants say were either never done or were greatly exaggerated by the building’s landlord, Jacob Selechnik.

Backed by the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition and the Urban Justice Center, tenant leaders appealed DHCR’s decision to approve the rent increase. But DHCR has yet to rule on the appeal, which was filed in February.

After 90 days, if tenants haven’t heard from DHCR, they can assume their appeal has been denied or they can file for a 60-day extension. Tenants at 2720 decided to file for an extension in early May and still haven’t heard from DHCR. If DHCR fails to rule on the appeal or rules against it, Urban Justice League lawyers said the next step would be to take the tenants’ case to New York Supreme Court.

Originally, DHCR agreed to attend the rally put on by the Coalition on May 31 at Tolentine Church, but backed out at the last minute. Tenants from 2720 were going to publicly ask them to reverse the MCI rent increase.   

In February, DHCR ruled that Selechnik’s management group was illegally and exorbitantly applying the approved MCI rent increase to tenants and ordered them to stop. (Legally, a landlord can only impose a 6 percent rent increase each year to rent-stabilized buildings like 2720. Selechnik was asking for double, sometimes triple, that amount.)

But problems persisted. Many minority and Spanish-speaking tenants were still being charged the exorbitant rate and being taken to court for not paying it. Tenants say they are being harassed by a landlord, Selechnik, who is considered by housing advocates to be one of the worst in the city.

Selechnik’s lawyers have not responded to frequent inquiries by the Norwood News to explain the landlord’s actions.

Calls and e-mails to DHCR were not responded to.

So far, tenants say, at least five renters at 2720 have moved out as a result of the rent increase or the stress related to dealing with it.