tenants at an apartment building in East Orange are going public with their complaints of deplorable conditions filing lawsuits today against the property owners and landlord in an attempt to get urgently needed repairs after what they say have been years of mismanagement Ted Goldberg reports this is on February this is two almost six months boom and since then they just came on cleaning Ibrahim Ahmed has a whole lot of problems in his apartment from Holes in one bathroom ceiling to mold on another I have one one bathroom they've never been fixed since I move in and this one is and use it for six months and the other one is with molds I have three bathrooms and Windows Windows is shaking you can lift the windows up it came off the track Ahmed and others at 75 Prospect Street in East Orange or the castle say they've complained about issues small and large for years logging more than 500 complaints as for the hole in the ceiling they told me don't fix him We're Not Gonna fix it they join us out of here that's right many areas are in need of repair due to continued neglect by the owners and managers of the building but rather than make those repairs they would prefer to throw us all out on the street so they can double the apartments and line their own Pockets 22 families who live here are now bringing two lawsuits against their landlords and Fannie Mae one for damages and one to appoint a receiver that would receive rent and make fixes like making sure one of the building's elevators isn't out of order for two months like residents allege as you can see I have mobility issues there were two choices that I could make because I live on the ninth floor I could either go up and down 18 flights of stairs or the other option was to go up four flights of steps and to walk across the roof of the building fall of 2020 my son became a quadriplegic when it was time for him to get released from the hospital he was unable to come home due to all these repairs that need to be done the black mold in the house it wouldn't give us enough circulations a four-year-old's going through the same thing my quadriplegic is going through they can't breathe in my house why do we have to go through this the defendant in this case is one-wall communities a connecticut-based company County property records show the property owner is Prospect Castle LLC which lists its property address as the same as one-wall communities yet one wall communities sent a statement to NJ Spotlight denying that they own or manage this building or any apartment in East Orange filing these lawsuits is only the first step in what may be a long legal battle for the residents here at 75 Prospect we not only look forward to but we need the support of the city of East Orange as well as the current mortgage lender Fannie Mae to get the Justice that's been long overdue for everybody here I stand with the tenants because I do believe that everybody should be living in conditions like I live in right they should be able to come in a home and not have these violations so I agree with them in terms of making sure a receivership in terms of getting a new management here that may help residents say the building doesn't need to be condemned but they want a new landlord to come in and listen to their concerns about the castle and make the repairs they're asking for Indie storage I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news (Music)