After Bronx building blaze, NYC Council to crack down on landlords who fail to maintain self-closing doors
In response to last week’s horrific apartment fire in the Bronx, the City Council is working on a package of bills that would crack down on landlords who fail to maintain self-closing doors in their buildings — including by slapping stiffer fines on them.
The effort is being spearheaded by Democratic Councilman Oswald Feliz, who was elected last year to represent the section of the Bronx that includes the Twin Parks apartment tower in Fordham Heights where a fire killed 17 people on Jan. 9.
The blaze, which erupted from a malfunctioning space-heater in a second-floor apartment, was supercharged after two doors in the building didn’t self-close as designed, allowing smoke and flames to spread through the complex at a rapid clip.
While it remains unclear why the doors glitched, Feliz told the Daily News on Monday that the city is too lax on landlords who violate a 2018 law requiring all apartment buildings in the city to have self-closing doors.
NYC law mandating self-closing doors in the spotlight after fatal Bronx building blaze
“We know those violations could cause tragedies like the one we saw last Sunday. If we know that, we should require our system to do much more,” said Feliz, who worked as a tenant lawyer before his election.
At the moment, a city building owner dinged for a self-closing door violation can simply tell the Department of Housing Preservation and Development that the issue has been corrected without providing proof.
Feliz’s legislative package would require HPD to manually reinspect any building written up for self-closing door violations within seven days, according to a fact sheet provided by the councilman’s office.
If the reinspection determines that a violation has not been rectified, HPD would dispatch city workers to fix it, bill the building owner for the repair costs and also fine the owner, the fact-sheet says. Feliz said a dollar figure has not yet been set for that fine, though he promised it would be substantial enough to “deter” landlords from ignoring violations.
In addition, Feliz said his legislation would jack up the maximum fine from $250 to $1,000 for building owners who falsely tell HPD that they have fixed a broken self-closing door.
“We don’t want to have a system where landlords feel like they could fail to correct conditions and the only consequence is that HPD comes and fixes it for them, especially when it’s something as serious as self-closing doors,” the councilman said.
FDNY investigators are still looking into why self-closing doors malfunctioned during the Twin Parks fire.
The building is owned by a consortium of real estate companies called Bronx Park Phase III Preservation, whose executives have said they are cooperating in the investigation.
Among the executives is Camber Property Group principal Rick Gropper, who was a member of Mayor Adams’ transition team committee on housing.
A spokesman for Adams did not return a request for comment on Feliz’s legislative push, though the mayor said last week that he believes “landlords have to learn” from the devastating Twin Parks fire.
Feliz also has a connection to Gropper, receiving a $250 donation from him for his 2021 Council campaign, and $250 from Andrew Moelis, another Camber principal, according to campaign finance records.
Feliz said he has only met Gropper once — outside the Twin Parks complex on Jan. 9 in the aftermath of the fire. He said Gropper and the other owners have “been very active” in helping with securing temporary housing for the building’s displaced tenants.
