Illegal apartments are not just in the Lincoln Park area. They are also in the DOWNTOWN AREA (particularly the multi-family houses on Manila Avenue). I have written and called City hall about these illegal apartments but they have not done anything or responded to my calls. I have seen how these people live in these illegal apartments and it is so appalling. On top of that , the landlords are getting away with these illegal apartments. It is bad enough that rents are so expensive and the landlords are getting the extra income without reporting them to the proper agency.

Healy ignores the need for building inspectors

Earl Morgan Column -- Jersey Journal -- September 04

H iring more zoning inspectors, not to mention reorganizing the Buildings Department, does not seem to be a priority for Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, despite the number of new, two-family homes going up with illegal third apartments.

The city's housing task force ventures out, day after day, issuing copious violations for these offenses, but almost as fast as summonses are being written more homes with illegal apartments are being built.

Sources say that sometimes a developer will obtain a certificate of occupancy for a home and then the plumber will return and break through the drywall to hook up the water, sewage and gas lines and - voila! - you have a third apartment in a two-family house.

Logic would seem to dictate that the city do a better job of policing construction of these homes.

Several weeks ago, The Jersey Journal ran a story about a house being built with a fire hydrant blocking its driveway and followed that up with a column in this space about nightmares other city residents are having dealing with developers whose projects are affecting their property.

The stories touched off an avalanche of calls and letters to this newspaper from residents and business owners complaining of developers encroaching on or damaging their property in some way. The number of calls and complaints that proved to be valid is a clear indication that there is a problem here crying out to be addressed.

Healy's answer to this crisis was to consider hiring more inspectors - not for the Buildings Department but five more police inspectors, which are not needed.

There are already five police inspectors, the full complement called for in the department's table of organization. The request to promote more people to that rank, at a time when the city is planning to go hat in hand to Trenton to ask for more state aid, was too much even for the mayor's minions to swallow. Healy faced a revolt from some of his own directors, who balked at signing off on the idea.

From the New York side of the Hudson River, Jersey City, with its skyscrapers, hotels and boat slips, looks like a mirror image of Manhattan. So why is - or was - the Healy administration mulling a plea to Trenton for more state aid in the form of what used to be known as "distressed cities aid?"

Considering City Hall's constant boasting about the resurrection of Jersey City, and how it has become a desired destination on the East Coast to live and run a business, why is it asking Trenton to bail it out of a budget slump?

Indeed, how can this happen in a city with the likes of Goldman Sachs, Donald Trump and Merrill Lynch - just to name a few of the global entities that have established themselves here. You wonder why a property tax bonanza hasn't produced a bountiful harvest for the city coffers.

Landlords add to trouble by ignoring call to court

Thursday, August 16, 2007
By EARL MORGAN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Patricia Ferary and her husband, Dion, failed to appear in court yesterday to answer charges of housing code violations, and now they face bigger problems, officials said.

Arrest warrants totaling $40,000 were issued yesterday for the pair when they stood up Jersey City Municipal Court Judge Richard Nieto, city officials said.

Ferary and her husband were cited last week and fined $30,000 for operating illegal apartments in properties they own on Oxford, Bidwell and Armstrong avenues.

Landlords caught operating illegal apartments can be fined as much as $10,000, said Matt Barrett, who works for Jersey City's Fire Prevention Bureau. The Ferarys were among the owners of 10 new two-family homes on Oxford Avenue that were hit with fines for illegal apartments.

The Ferarys could not be reached for comment yesterday.

An Oxford Avenue tenant of the Ferarys, a woman with a 2-year-old, said she came home one day last month and found the stove, sink and kitchen cabinets of the illegal apartment had been removed. The tenant told The Jersey Journal that she's been eating in restaurants or ordering takeout food since then.

When owners are cited for illegal apartments, by law they must return the rent and security deposits collected from tenants, who then must find another home.

The Ferarys' Oxford Avenue tenant, who appeared in court yesterday, said she has nowhere to go, Barrett said.

The court and the city are attempting to make accommodations for the woman and her child, Barrett said.

Can't people just look at a map if they don't recognize a street name? because the editorialization of the neighborhoods in the thread titles seems to more often be inaccurate than accurate.

Despite the geographic proximity to Lincoln Park, Oxford Avenue and everything south of communipaw is most definitely considered West Bergen. The title of this thread would be akin to suggesting that an event happening in Hamilton Park is going on in Newport.

all that aside - the article clearly states that 5 properties on oxford avenue were found to have illegal apartments, which leaves 195 illegal apartments citywide.

why can't news stories speak for themselves?

Just the tip of the iceberg and they are only catching people who are trying to keep their heads above water and banks at bay. They (city hall) needs to look at developers, slumlords and even high end rentals that allow multiple tenants living in 1 bedroom apartments. I've inspected an apartment that had clearly 5 adults living in a 1 bedroom apartment - they sleep in shifts.

As interest rates rise, more and more people will convert basements or lofts into illegal apartments and I can't blame them, so long as safety isn't compromised

Fines for over 200 illegal apartments

Wednesday, August 15, 2007
By EARL MORGAN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

When members of Jersey City's Housing Task Force visited Oxford Avenue to eyeball a fire hydrant blocking a driveway of a house under construction, they say they discovered illegal apartments in a number of newly built two-family homes.

Jersey City Firefighter Matt Barrett, who is a member of the task force, said illegal apartments were discovered at 99, 125, 127, 129 and 199 Oxford Ave., and the owners were hit with violations of the fire code subjecting them to fines of up to $10,000.

Barrett says one owner, Pat Ferary, is a serial offender. She is accused by the city of having other illegal apartments in houses on Armstrong and Bidwell avenues - and including the Oxford Avenue summonses, she faces $30,000 in fines, officials said.

Barrett said prior to the Oxford Avenue inspection he had been convinced by Ferary that the two-family house she owned at 99 Oxford Ave., whose owner is listed as Dion Ferary, Pat Ferary's husband, had no illegal apartment.

"Then (another) woman walks in and tells me she lives in an illegal apartment behind the garage at 99 Oxford," Barrett said.

When the task force inspected 99 Oxford last week, the tenant said the landlord entered her apartment and removed the stove, sink and kitchen cabinets while she was out. The tenant said she and her 2-year-old daughter have been eating out since July 31, when her gas range disappeared.

Pat Ferary could not be reached for comment.

Barrett said illegal apartments are a major problem in Jersey City. "We've issued violations for over 200 illegal apartments since January," Barrett said.

Barrett can recall at least three occasions when residents of the illegal, rear apartments, died of smoke inhalation - because firefighters didn't know there was a third family in the building.

The task force includes personnel from the city's Neighborhood Improvement Department, Fire Prevention Bureau, the city's Department of Buildings, and the Police Department when needed.

During last week's Oxford Avenue visit, a Jersey City Housing Authority worker was called to 129 Oxford, where JCHA officials say the tenant in an illegal apartment is receiving a Section 8 housing subsidy.

JCHA officials say the home's owner, Monica Vega, told them she needs the $1,000-a-month rent she gets from her Section 8 tenant to pay the mortgage and taxes on her house. She was fined $10,000, JCHA officials said.

"When we bought the house the owner told us we could rent the bottom floor," Vega said.

Barrett said tenants in illegal apartments must move and the landlord, if found guilty, must refund all the rent they've been paid as well as their security deposit.

Barrett said the task force also found an Oxford Avenue family using a propane tank to cook.

"The family said their electric range didn't adequately heat their food, so, they hooked up the tank. That's a serious fire hazard," Barrett said. "We had the Jersey City Incinerator Authority come haul it away."