This week, we heard the story of Gowanus artist Margaret Maugenest, who hasn't paid rent for the loft she lives and works in since 2003. On Thursday, the State's Court of Appeals ruled her landlord was not allowed to evict her for it, because of maintenance, fire and safety issues in the space, which has never been fully converted for residential living. Maugenest told the Times she put aside all the money she would have been paying rent if the day came when her landlord actually did fix the space—but that never came: “We just want the owner to do the right thing,” she said of the buildings’ tenants.
Among the biggest problems was getting the stairs redone—tenants call them hazardous. “The residents have done a lot to keep the building from crumbling,” said Janice Everett, a textile artist and one of the first tenants. “But that was our responsibility and of course you want to live in a nice place, so you put a lot of money and effort in it.” Likewise, Maugenest did everything in her space, despite not owning it, including fixing the wiring, the plumbing, the hardwood floors and the windows. She also uses her abstract paintings to substitute for wallpaper.
David Berger, the lawyer of Chazon LLC (which owns the building), countered the tenants complaints, saying they just nitpicked on aesthetic issues that had nothing to do with safety. “If it wasn’t safe, they wouldn’t be living there,” he said. But now that the State's Court of Appeals have ruled against them, Chazon doesn't have many options. As for Maugenest, she told the Times she'll start paying rent again once the owner starts meeting deadlines for improvements.
