256 South 4th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211

The 33-unit, 6-story tenement building at 256 South 4th Street in Williamsburg, built in 1915 and owned by Martin Morales, has experienced recurring issues with heat and hot water service over the past several years. Most recently, in February 2025, there was a building-wide heat and hot water outage, marking the seventh such incident since 2018, with multiple complaints received in early 2024 alone.

The building has also faced several safety and maintenance challenges, including concerns about carbon monoxide and smoke detectors in Apartment 7 (May 2024), various hallway and entrance door issues (June 2024), and the presence of debris in fireproof passageways (May 2024). Noteworthy violations were recorded in 2023-2024 regarding failure to file required external low pressure inspections (2023) and to display energy efficiency scores (2021). Recent inspections in 2024 uncovered several building code violations, including problems with emergency locks, self-closing doors, and security features at the 1st-story vestibule.

However, the building has maintained a clean record with regards to bedbugs, showing no infestations reported in the past five years through 2024, and passed its December 2018 rodent inspection with no violations. While there have been multiple 311 service requests from tenants, many have been duplicates of existing complaints or occurred when inspectors were unable to gain access for verification. The building's ongoing issues with heat and hot water service, along with various safety and maintenance violations, represent the most significant challenges to resident comfort and safety, though many recent violations have been closed following corrective actions.