by David Cruz 

In a case that’s stretches back to 2006, thousands of Bronx tenants will begin settling their legal matters with a shady landlord who attempted to drive them out of their rent-regulated apartments in order to raise rents.

An informational meeting is slated for August 14 in Harlem for locals affected by the Pinnacle Group, the owner of nearly five-dozen buildings in the Bronx. Tenants impacted by the group between 2004 and 2010 will gather Aug. 14 at 6:30 p.m. at I.S. 172 in Harlem to understand the terms of the settlement ad how to file a claim.

Despite notices sent out to thousands of tenants, Kim Powell of Buyers & Renters United to Save Harlem, a tenants rights group, said she doesn’t trust Pinnacle to have done so.

The Pinnacle Group agreed to a settlement last year, with tenants able to file claims to recoup monetary losses that ranged from time spent taking on Pinnacle to making repairs to their home to avoid eviction. Roughly $2 million has also been earmarked for attorney fees. The Legal Aid Society has agreed to aid tenants understand any legal challenges.

The case stretches back to 2006 after an investigative series by the Norwood News revealed the Pinnacle Group used questionable tactic against neighbors living in Pinnacle’s collection of properties in the northwest Bronx and parts of Harlem. Powell claims amenities such as heat and hot water were turned off as a way to force tenants out, while also withholding the processing of on-time rent checks.

Powell’s group later filed the class action suit that alleged Pinnacle committed conspiratorial acts to oust tenants. Pinnacle’s reach was wide in the northwest Bronx, with the property group in charge of five-dozen properties in Melrose to Fieldston.