PRINCETON: Rooming house cited for bedbugs, conditions

By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
   A rooming house on Nassau Street was cited for bedbugs and multiple code violations this week after a tenant complained to the state about the living conditions.
   The landlord, Sanford Zeitler, was given until March 30 to treat the bedbug issue and provide certification of treatment from a licensed exterminator.
   Mr. Zeitler said he would comply with the state Division of Community Affairs (DCA) recommendations when reached by telephone on Wednesday night.
   ”I do not intend to dispute anything (in the report),” he said. “Yes, I plan to make any corrections they recommend.”
   Tenants said an exterminator was on the premises Wednesday, and the landlord, who said he has a treatment plan in place, confirmed it.
   According to the DCA report dated March 27, Mr. Zeitler has until April 27 to cover mattresses and box springs and May 31 to obtain a certificate from a licensed pesticide applicator. Tenants can remain at the rooming house during the process.
   Local Health Department officials are aware of the case and have been working with the landlord and the exterminator to determine the extent of the problem.
   The exterminator will be back in two weeks to check on the status of the situation and see if this week’s treatment worked.
   ”We’ll be doing an assessment and working with the exterminator to see how bad the problem is,” said David Henry, health officer. “With the extermination process, it may take a while to get control of the situation.”
   One tenant still needs to work with the landlord and exterminator for access to his room and prepare his space for treatment.
   The rooming house at 205 Nassau Street had a serious bedbug infestation in 2010 that resulted in a bedbug ordinance being enacted last year.
   Officials are examining the new law and how it might apply to this property.
   ”I don’t know the extent of this problem (to apply the new law),” said Mr. Henry, who is waiting for a copy of the DCA report as the state is in the primary role in this situation. “We work from a complaint basis, so if (tenants) don’t tell us we don’t know.”
   The state inspection on March 27 of the three-story, eight-unit building found 12 residents living there. According to the DCA report, the building is licensed for 10.
   Mr. Zeiteler will need to remove the two tenants or obtain approval from the local official and DCA.
   In response to finding a tenant in an unapproved rooming unit with blocked entrance and exits on the third story, the DCA inspector cited the owner to either obtain zoning and construction approval to occupy this rooming unit or relocate this tenant to a second story rooming unit.
   The people who are renting the third floor have turned it into a rooming house, said William Drake, Princeton Bureau of Fire Safety and Housing Inspection.
   ”What we’re going to do is bring that back to a legal apartment,” he said.
   There’s a problem with the way officials are measuring the space on the third floor; the DCA considers the space rooms and the local officials consider it an apartment, said Mr. Zeitler on Thursday afternoon.
   ”It was acceptable before and apparently it is not acceptable at the moment because the borough inspected it,” he said. He was not sure of the borough’s last fire and housing inspection on his property.
   Borough records show the last inspection was in 2007. If there are no tenant properties are to be inspected every two and a half years, and the state will step in and do inspections as well, said Mr. Drake.
   The municipal department heads will be meeting next week to discuss the property further, said Mr. Drake. No municipal violations were issued because the DCA inspection supercedes the local inspectors and ordinances.
   Tenants are not happy with the living conditions.
   The Packet has chosen not to identify the tenants to protect their privacy.
   They are saying the landlord made a displaced tenant from the third floor sleep in the kitchen area on Tuesday night and in an alternate room on Wednesday night that was unoccupied and not cleaned.
   The tenant moved out late Thursday afternoon.
   ”He (Zeitler ) packed all her stuff and told her she has to find a new place to live,” said a second floor tenant. “She was told to leave. He is putting her out on the street and he won’t give her any money back. He said ‘Sue me like everyone else is.’”
   The second-floor tenant said the landlord had offered to put the third-floor tenant in someone else’s room, who is on vacation until next month.
   ”He can’t be putting her in other people’s rooms just because they are out of town and not here,” said the tenant.
   The tenant had been living there five months after signing a one-year lease. The tenant pays her rent of $155 per week on Fridays.
   ”He always gets money from me,” said the tenant. “I’m never late.”
   Seven men live on the same floor as the female tenant.
   ”I wanted to get out of there, but I need an address,” the displaced tenant said. “This is not the way it was supposed to be; when I got there he was really nice and wanted to work with me. When I finally got in he changed.”
   She is not sure if her lease is terminated and the status of her living situation.
   At least one tenant said she is obtaining a lawyer.
   The inspector cited five pages of code violations in addition to the overcrowding and bedbug problems.
   Violations include smoke detectors not up to code, electrical issues and other maintenance problems.
   Another citation cites lack of a caretaker for the building, as required by Bureau of Rooming and Boarding House Standards regulations.
   There are nine people who use one bathroom downstairs, according to the tenant.
   ”The mold and the scum in the bathtub is disgusting,” the tenant said.
   The second-floor tenant said she signed a year’s lease for $850 per month with Mr. Zeitler and gave him $1,275 as a deposit.
   More than one tenant said Mr. Zeitler walks into their units without knocking or providing notice.
   ”(Mr. Zeitler) scares me,” said the tenant. “All day yesterday my chest was closing up on me. I’m staying away from him, I’m basically hiding. I refuse to pay rent.”