116 East 39th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11203

This two-family house at 116 East 39th Street in East Flatbush, owned by Yehoshua Blasenstein, has experienced persistent heating and hot water system issues over the past several years, with multiple emergency complaints recorded in 2024-2025. Most recently, from May 2025 alone, there were three separate complaints regarding heat and hot water issues, two of which affected the entire building, and one concerning an individual apartment. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) faced access issues during their inspections of these complaints.

Similar heating and hot water problems occurred in November 2024, May 2024, and previously in November 2019, indicating an ongoing pattern of system failures. In addition to the recurring heating problems, the building experienced multiple maintenance issues in February 2019. These included concerns about interior paint and plaster conditions affecting walls and ceilings, as well as a problematic window frame, and reports of pests indicating unsanitary conditions.

While inspections were requested for these issues, HPD was unable to gain access to conduct their evaluations. Despite these recorded issues, detailed resolution outcomes are not consistently provided in the records, with closure notices typically indicating access challenges rather than definitive repairs or corrections. Since 2019, the most significant and frequent concerns have been focused on the heating and hot water systems, with at least 10 documented complaints regarding these essential services from 2019 through 2025, comprising both individual apartment and building-wide issues.