234 East 118th Street, Manhattan, NY 10035

The five-story, 10-unit building at 234 East 118th Street in East Harlem, owned by Herman Rubin, has a diverse history of maintenance issues and inspections since its construction in 1910 as an Old Law Tenement. Most notably, there have been persistent water leak problems throughout 2023-2024, with three separate slow leak complaints filed between November 2023 and January 2024, though these did not result in any violations after HPD inspections.

The building has experienced various maintenance challenges, including a heat and hot water issue in January 2023, and a mold problem in October 2019 that HPD could not inspect. A recent violation from July 2024 was issued regarding a fire escape obstruction caused by a window screen on the third-story balcony. The property has undergone regular rodent inspections, with the most recent in May 2025 passing, though there was documented rat activity in late 2024.

Bedbug reports show no infestations or re-infestations since December 2020, with only one unit noted as infested in the 2019-2020 reporting period. The building has been subject to several emergency complaints in 2019, including issues with doors, flooring, windows, and lighting, all of which were subsequently addressed. Inspections between 2020-2023 regarding potential illegal hotel rooms in the building found no violations, and a building stability concern reported in October 2019 was also determined to have no violations at the time of inspection.