69 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217

The four-story, five-unit tenement building at 69 Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene, owned by David Cohen, has experienced several significant maintenance and safety issues over the past few years. Most notably, there has been a recurring pattern of food establishment complaints regarding rodents, insects, and garbage between 2023 and 2025, with the most recent complaint filed in May 2025. The building has also faced multiple rodent-related inspections, showing intermittent challenges with rat activity, though it passed its most recent inspection in February 2024.

The property has a concerning history of safety violations, particularly affecting apartment 3F in August 2023, including defective smoke detectors, an illegal fire escape door lock, missing or defective self-closing doors, and hot water exceeding the maximum allowable temperature of 130 degrees. A heating/hot water issue was reported and resolved in November 2023, and there is an open violation from May 2024 regarding a security shoe on the fire escape ladder. Between 2021 and 2022, the building was involved in multiple investigations regarding illegal uses and modifications, including unauthorized occupancy as a day spa with massage rooms and work done without proper permits.

The building's management has shown some responsiveness to maintenance issues, as evidenced by the resolution of various violations and the submission of bedbug reports indicating no infestations. Recent inspections have generally passed, though there was one instance of rat activity noted in mid-2023. The property has maintained compliance with bedbug reporting requirements from 2019 through 2024, showing no recorded infestations during this period.