559 West 188th Street, Manhattan, NY 10040

The 32-unit, 5-story residential building at 559 West 188th Street in Washington Heights, owned by Nathaniel Rahav and constructed in 1920, has experienced persistent heating system issues throughout 2025. Between February and April 2025, there were multiple complaints (at least nine documented instances) regarding the lack of heat and hot water throughout the entire building.

While some complaints were duplicates of others, there were at least three occasions (March 13, 2025; March 21, 2025; and an April 2025 complaint) where HPD was able to conduct inspections, with one instance confirming that heat and hot water had been restored during the inspection. The building has also had two significant boiler-related incidents: an August 2023 ECB violation citing multiple boiler room deficiencies including a non-self-closing door and corroded flue pipe, and a May 2019 complaint regarding electrical wiring. The property has shown compliance in various inspections, passing rodent inspections consistently from 2019 through 2025 except for a single instance of "Rat Activity" noted in January 2019.

Recent inspections in late 2024 revealed several violations in Apartment 41, including issues with pests (mice and roaches), and problems with smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, though most of these violations were marked as "Closed" after remediation. The building has maintained a consistent record of submitting Bedbug Reports between 2020 and 2024, with all reports showing zero infested units. While there have been various code violations noted between 2023 and 2024, most have been resolved, with the exception of some ongoing issues with the self-closing doors and fire safety equipment.