203 West 139th Street, Manhattan, NY 10030

The four-story, 4-unit residential building at 203 West 139th Street in Harlem, built in 1891 and currently owned by Reginald Williams, has experienced several notable issues in recent years. Most concerning is an active Environmental Control Board violation from October 2019 related to unpermitted demolition work on the ground floor that involved wall and ceiling finishes removal, with reported water damage affecting multiple floors and a penalty of $6,250 still outstanding.

The building has multiple open Housing Maintenance Code violations from 2021-2024 regarding the failure to file annual bedbug reports, though there is no indication of current bedbug issues and all recent rodent inspections from 2023-2025 have passed. There is a concerning pattern of violations related to failure to file external low pressure inspections, with four active violations from 2023-2024.

Several complaints have been filed against the building in recent years, including concerns about illegal hotel rooms (2023), work without permits (2021), and a vacant and unguarded building (2024), though inspections did not substantiate any violations in these cases. A stop work order related to building permits was fully rescinded in February 2020, and two excavation work permits were issued in late 2020 and late 2021. While the building has maintained compliance with rodent inspections in recent years, the persistent bedbug report violations and multiple unaddressed inspection failures suggest ongoing management challenges.