21 Carlton Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205

21 Carlton Avenue is a three-story, three-unit old law tenement building located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, constructed in 1910 and currently owned by Joseph Banda. The property has experienced several significant regulatory issues over the past few years, with the most critical being open Class B violations from August 2023 related to unauthorized occupancy in apartments 2 and 3, following the building's previous period as a vacant property.

The building has also faced ongoing compliance challenges, including three separate Housing Maintenance Code violations between 2022 and 2024 related to annual bedbug reporting requirements, although recent filings indicate no infestations or eradication efforts in the past three years. In 2022, multiple safety and compliance issues were documented, including problems with self-closing doors in apartment 2, unauthorized living space concerns in the cellar, and issues with fire safety materials; these violations have since been marked as closed. The property has a documented history of regulatory scrutiny, with three Department of Buildings complaints from 2018-2022 regarding illegal conversion, failure to maintain, and unauthorized occupancy, though inspectors were unable to gain access for verification in the most recent two complaints.

An active Environmental Control Board violation from July 2022, with an associated penalty of $1,250, alleges illegal occupancy and unauthorized modifications creating a duplex apartment with additional bathroom facilities. The building's bedbug reporting history shows consistent compliance with no reported infestations since at least 2020, with all six annual filings (2019-2024) indicating zero infested or eradicated units. While the property has faced various maintenance and compliance challenges, the owner's recent efforts to address bedbug reporting requirements and maintain treatment-free conditions since 2021 are notable, though the open occupancy violations from 2023 represent the most significant current regulatory concern.