40 Somers Street, Brooklyn, NY 11233

The three-story, three-unit Old Law Tenement building at 40 Somers Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, owned by Robert Shepherd and dating back to 1899, has experienced several notable events over recent years, particularly regarding compliance with housing maintenance codes. Most significantly, between 2021 and 2023, the building received three consecutive Class A violations for failing to submit the annual bedbug report as required by HPD rules, though the most recent report filed in April 2024 for the period November 2022 to October 2023 indicated no infested units, no eradicated units, and no re-infested units.

There are two open Class B violations from April 2018 that remain unresolved: one pertaining to self-closing doors in the entrance located at Apartment 1 on the first story, and another concerning the means of egress from the yard to the street which relates to fire safety requirements. The building has undergone regular rodent inspections between 2017 and 2018, with all three inspections during this period (conducted in December 2018, February 2018, and February 2017) passing successfully.

The property has shown improvement in bedbug reporting compliance in recent years, having successfully filed the required reports in 2021 and 2024, though the pattern of violations in previous years suggested inconsistent adherence to this requirement. While the building has multiple open violations of concern, particularly regarding egress and door safety, the recent rodent inspections and bedbug reporting compliance suggest some areas of improved maintenance and monitoring.