1711 Himrod Street,

Queens, NY 11385

Beautiful building with leaking roof and awful management and landlord.

Beware this building and any property managed or owned by the company R.A. Cohen!! We had a leak in the roof for almost a year. The stairwell lights were always out making it dangerous to climb at night. Our front door was broken. Every single time, the office at R.A. Cohen would say they’re coming to fix it, they’re coming to fix it, and never did. We had to file multiple 311 reports. Only then did they respond and they were aggressive and rude. Still took them forever. Eventually the building caught fire in one of the first floor apartments and they blamed the tenants in that apartment, but we all suspected there was bad wiring in the building and that R.A. Cohen was also trying to harass and push out the tenants in that apartment because they had been there for decades (super nice family). After the fire, they said they would send a clean up service since our whole apartment was smoked out and covered in soot. They never did. At the end of our lease they said they’d be raising our rent and we moved out as soon as possible. R.A. Cohen is the worst of the worst—run away!

A short walk to the Dekalb subway stop. The Super was responsive and helpful.

My partner and I were the first ones to live in apt 3R after it was remodeled. It looked decent on the outside (fresh paint, new appliances, etc) but, there were definitely underlying problems. We had an improperly wired thermostat, so when the heat first came on, it was stuck on 90F...It was fixed, but it took a week. Similarly, the gas oven hose wasn’t secured properly, so there was a gas leak. A month or so later, the gas stove spontaneously sparked one night while we were sitting on our couch. We went over to inspect it, and 2 of the 4 burners no longer worked. It was a brand new oven. The super sent a maintenance person over to check it out the next day. But, he said it couldn’t be fixed, so they ended up sending us a new one. Then, in May, the first floor apartment caught fire. Luckily, no one was injured. But that entire apartment was gutted. The fire department smashed windows in our & neighboring apartments for ventilation. They remained boarded up through the remainder of our lease (July). There was smoke damage throughout the building. They said the cause of the fire was an unattended space heater, but I feel that entire building has faulty wiring. Also, the tenants in the first floor apartment had lived there for 20+ years, and had subsidized rent. We think the management company was trying to push them out. We weren’t planning on staying/ renewing the lease after all of this, and especially not after we received the renewal and read that they were raising the rent. Clearly, for R.A. Cohen & Associates, profit and cost-cutting take precedence over the lives of tenants.

I have no advice for R.A Cohen Associates. Instead, I hope someone finds this helpful when considering this building. I’d advise against renting an apartment here or any other building they own.