51 West 55th Street, Manhattan, NY 10019

51 West 55th Street is a 10-story, 36-unit New Law tenement building located in Midtown, constructed in 1916 and currently owned by Izet Sahmanovic. The building has experienced recurring heat and hot water issues throughout 2024 and early 2025, with multiple emergency complaints filed by tenants, some of which resulted in HPD inspections and violations being issued. Notably, there is one documented violation from March 2024 related to a pest infestation involving carpet beetle larvae in apartment 3D, along with several other pest-related complaints in early 2024.

The building underwent several safety inspections between 2020-2021, all of which found no violations at the time of inspection, though a significant elevator outage occurred in 2018 that resulted in a $1,250 penalty for creating hazardous conditions when the only building elevator was out of service. More recent issues include an appliance complaint regarding a refrigerator in August 2024, and violations related to non-self-closing doors at the building entrance and vestibule in January 2024, which were subsequently addressed. The building has maintained a clean record regarding bedbugs, with no reported infestations for the past seven years (2018-2025), and has passed multiple rodent inspections between 2010-2012, suggesting these particular pest issues are not currently a problem.

Two elevator-related work permits were issued in 2020 and 2021, indicating recent maintenance of this critical building system. The pattern of heat and hot water complaints, particularly the most recent ones in 2025, suggests ongoing challenges with the building's heating system, which has been a recurring issue throughout the reporting period. While some complaints have been promptly addressed and resolved, particularly regarding unsanitary conditions and security violations, there remains a pattern of tenants experiencing difficulties with building systems and maintenance access for inspections.