362 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11238

The 4-story, 4-unit building at 362 Lafayette Avenue in Clinton Hill, owned by Bernard McClain, has experienced several significant maintenance and safety issues in recent years. Most notably, there have been multiple concerns related to rodent activity, with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene documenting violations in March 2025 and follow-up inspections in April 2025 showing continued rat activity.

The building has a history of fire escape safety concerns, with multiple complaints in 2024 that the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) could not inspect due to lack of access. Between February and April 2024, several housing maintenance code complaints were filed regarding various issues, including electrical wiring, door problems, and interior wall conditions, though many of these inspections resulted in no violations being found. The building has also faced multiple Department of Buildings (DOB) complaints regarding unauthorized work, including gas line installations in 2024 and plumbing modifications in 2022, along with associated Environmental Control Board violations and fines.

During 2024, several maintenance code violations were issued for the public hall areas, including defective fire retardant materials on the 3rd and 4th story west walls, though these were subsequently certified as corrected in May 2024. The property has maintained an active record of addressing pest control issues, with no documented bedbug infestations in the past four years, though rodent inspections have shown varying results between 2015 and 2025, with the most recent inspections in 2025 indicating rat activity. While some improvements have been documented, including the resolution of certain maintenance code violations, the building continues to have open violations related to window guards and interior maintenance issues as of the latest available data.