"As an anonymous participant in financial markets, I never had to weigh the social consequences of my actions...I felt justified in ignoring them on the grounds that I was playing by the rules". George Soros

Friday, October 16, 2009

Queens Vantage Tenants Council Demands given to Neil L. Rubler

Queens Vantage Tenants Council Demands

The QVTC demands that

1.) Vantage’s Long Island City office be open until 8pm Monday through Friday and from 9am to 5pm every Saturday and staffed with multilingual representatives who can respond to tenant complaints at such times; and

2.) Vantage sets up temporary offices in certain of the centrally located buildings on a biweekly basis where tenants can communicate with a multilingual representative to resolve false billing, repair requests and other issues; and

3.) Vantage must permit tenants to tender rent personally in Vantage’s office and issue tenants a rent receipt with date and time when tenants pay their rent in this way; and

4.) Any rent bill which indicates a “previous balance forward” will enclose a copy of the tenant’s “resident ledger” in order to provide the tenant with an explanation or breakdown of the alleged arrears; and

5.) Every tenant who makes a complaint in person regarding false billing, repairs or other issue be given a written receipt with a tracking number; and

6.) Every tenant who makes a complaint of false billing receive a written response within 7 business days and such response will either acknowledge Vantage’s error and confirm correction of the tenant’s account or provide a detailed statement of what evidence (i.e. proof of payment) Vantage requires in order to remove the arrears charge; and

7.) Vantage must stop issuing late fees until such time as the current pattern of false billing is resolved; and

8.) In every instance where Vantage acknowledges that a tenant received a false allegation of arrears, the tenant receive a rent credit of $50; and

9.) All communications with Vantage via the 1-800 number be documented and that a complaint number be issue to calling tenants; and

10.) Vantage must respond to repair requests within 48 hours; and

11.) Vantage must also ensure that at all times, a person answers the phone and that tenants will never be directed to leave messages in a non-functioning voice mail service; and

12.) In all communications between the company and tenants, Vantage must ensure multilingual access (i.e. English, Spanish, Bengali, Korean) to tenants; and

13.) Vantage must authorize the superintendents in the buildings to take complaints and requests for repairs. These must be documented with a receipt, a copy of which shall be given to the tenant asking for repairs. Receipts must include a tracking number; and

14.) Within 10 days of this meeting, Vantage must give us a list of all buildings that do not have a full time superintendent living within 200 feet or 2 blocks. Vantage must also comply with hiring supers in those buildings immediately; and

15.) Vantage must notify the tenants of any MCI’s planned for the buildings at least 6 months prior to doing the job, and they shall also post it in the lobby of the buildings; and

16.) Vantage must also make itself available to tenants via e-mail, and establish a website with public information where tenants can track complaints. The site may also contain tenants’ accounts; and

17.) Vantage must send a copy of completed leases signed by both parties back to the tenants on time and as stipulated by law; and

18.) Vantage must also provide tenants with access to bulletin boards in the buildings to post public information; and

19.) In relation to both false billing and repairs, we demand that Vantage and its investors provide the QVTC with a report every 3 months for the next 18 months, detailing the following:

a. the number of false billing complaints received

b. the number of repairs requests received

c. the number of false billing complaints which result in admission of error

d. the number of complaints received from tenants who report that Vantage missed a scheduled repair appointment