261 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217

261 Flatbush Avenue is a 4-story, 6-unit residential building constructed in 1931 and currently owned by Mokthar Issa. The property has experienced recurring heating and hot water issues over the past few years, with the most recent complaints recorded in February 2024, January 2024, and multiple instances in late 2022 and early 2022.

These heating system problems have affected both individual apartments and the entire building, prompting emergency responses from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). The building is currently maintaining an active List of Violations with the Department of Buildings related to the failure to file external low-pressure inspections for multiple years (2018-2021), though these violations are categorized as V-DOB, indicating they are not directly related to building safety systems. Recent inspections and violations from 2024 indicate several maintenance issues, including an unresolved problem with the heating system access (locked boiler room door), a broken entrance door locking assembly, and inadequate hot water supply in Apartment 2.

However, on a positive note, the building has maintained a clean record for bedbugs in recent filings (2022-2024), reporting zero infested units, and passed rodent inspections in 2018. The building's 311 service complaint history shows a pattern of heat and water issues, with HPD often verifying problems through tenant reports, though access to units for inspections has sometimes been a barrier to full verification of complaints. An investigation into alleged illegal hotel rooms in 2019 resulted in no violations being found at the time of inspection.