Landlord buys rundown buildings then goes after regulated apartments

By Juan Gonzalez NY Daily News

One of New York's biggest owners of rent-stabilized apartments is quietly carrying out an aggressive campaign to chase out many of its tenants. The Pinnacle Group LLC has filed more than 5,000 Housing Court eviction actions in the past two years, court records obtained by the Daily News show. That's an average of one court action for every four units that the company owns in the city. The company often buys a building in a low-income but up-and-coming neighborhood, such as Harlem, Washington Heights, the South Bronx, and Elmhurst, Queens; identifies tenants who, under the law, are vulnerable to being evicted, and begins eviction proceedings.

At Harlem's historic Dunbar Houses, a 534-unit complex that the firm took over last August, court records show that Pinnacle wasted no time. It initiated more than 250 eviction proceedings for nonpayment of rent or illegal occupancy during the first six months. At a 300-unit complex on Morrison Ave. in the South Bronx, the company took 173 tenants to court in 254 separate actions since acquiring the buildings in August 2004. For the entire Bronx, where Pinnacle controls more than 3,600 units, its lawyers filed nearly 2,000 dispossess actions during the past two years - an average of more than one for every two apartments. Joel Weiner, the company's chief executive and himself a lawyer, insists the firm's tactics are completely aboveboard and legal. "We only go to court when a tenant owes more than two months rent," Weiner said. Weiner acknowledged that he strictly enforces company policy that only the tenant-of-record on a lease can pay rent and occupy a Pinnacle apartment - going after those whom the company asserts are violating the policy. But neighborhood leaders say too many of Weiner's legal actions are based on flimsy or dubious claims. They say Pinnacle is using the courts and the law to harass and intimidate long-term tenants. "Their philosophy is, if I drag you into court enough, I'm going to wear you out," said a major Bronx landlord familiar with Pinnacle's efforts. "At least once a week, I get a call from someone in a Pinnacle building looking for another apartment," said the landlord, who asked not to be identified. It is unclear how