157 West 119th Street, Manhattan, NY 10026

The five-story, 20-unit Old Law Tenement building at 157 West 119th Street in Harlem, owned by Jeanna Graves, has experienced several significant maintenance and habitability issues over recent years. Most notably, as of October 2024, Apartment 18 has multiple open Housing Maintenance Code violations including active rodent infestation, missing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, inadequate hot water supply, gas issues, and various problems with doors, ceilings, and plastered surfaces. The building has a recurring rodent problem, with multiple inspections in 2023-2024 showing "Rat Activity," though the most recent inspection in May 2025 passed.

In 2022, there was a series of heat and hot water complaints throughout the building, and from 2018 to 2019, there were several violations regarding building maintenance, including an active ECB violation related to masonry issues that imposed penalties totaling $63,750. The building's management has generally addressed violations when inspected, though there have been multiple instances of requiring follow-up inspections and additional work to resolve issues completely. The property has maintained a clean record regarding bedbug infestations since 2019, with no reported cases in the past six filing periods.

Recent permit activity shows consistent maintenance and improvement work, with several permits issued in 2023-2024 for various repairs and upgrades. While some historical issues have been resolved, the current open violations in Apartment 18 suggest ongoing maintenance challenges, though the building has passed initial rodent inspections in 2025 and maintained a bedbug-free status for several years. The property has demonstrated periodic responsiveness to violations, with multiple housing code complaints being closed through inspections, though some cases required multiple follow-ups to verify proper resolution.