Mar 30, 2009 11:43 pm US/Eastern
I-Team: Landlord's Units Said To Be In Disrepair
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
Broken doors, smashed windows, rotted wood and bugs. These are the conditions found at apartment after apartment owned by landlord Anwar Faisal of Brookline.
Faisal's company, Alpha Management, owns thousands of units. In just over a year-and-a-half, the i-Team found 73 complaints filed against Alpha Management.
No heat, no hot water, leaking pipes – one tenant said the rats were so bad, she had to live in her car.
"His ability to manage his units and service his tenants is in question," said Don Irish is with Boston's Department of Inspectional Services.
At first, Faisal refused to speak with us, but later agreed to sit down with the i-Team.
Curran: How would you describe yourself as a landlord?
Faisal: I believe that I am one of the successful landlords in Boston, and we're doing a very good job.
But that's not what we heard from dozens of tenants. "It was leaking down here," said Chad. And then… it started dripping down."
"Our refrigerator was broken for two months," said another one of Faisal's tenants.
A young mother is worrying about the health of her baby. "This house smells like mold," she said. "And with a baby, it can't be like that."
Rent from Faisal's buildings helped him buy a sprawling $6 million property in one of Brookline's most exclusive neighborhoods.
"I would like to see him put some of that $6 million into property management," said Irish.
Curran: If you moved into an apartment building and you're paying a lot of money in rent, and this place has rodent droppings and trash… would you want your family members to do that?
Faisal: No.
WBZ showed Faisal video of several of the apartments we visited, and he insists his company responds promptly to complaints.
Faisal claims many of the complaints are from people who are behind on their rent or are being evicted.
"The only protection they have is to call the housing inspector," said Faisal.
Tenants do. In 2008, 23 complaints went all the way to housing court before the problem was fixed.
Despite the complaints, the i-Team found there are some satisfied tenants. "They (are) usually pretty good about fixing things," said one woman.
WBZ asked Faisal how many units he owns. He said he has a least 5,000 tenants, but didn't know exactly how many units he owns.
I says he's buying hundreds of new properties every year.
Irish says he's encouraged by some of Faisal's progress.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
