Rat urine and feces scattered across an infant’s crib. Plumes of black mold blooming over bathroom ceilings. Cockroaches crawling up the drains.

These are just a few of the hundreds of complaints contained in a half-dozen lawsuits filed against La Mesa Verde apartments in Jackson Heights. A group of 75 tenants are collectively suing the landlord, A&E Real Estate, to try to force repairs.

“They don't care what we're living through. They don't care what we're experiencing. They just want to charge us rent,” said Diana Gaviria Muñoz, who’s lived at Mesa Verde since 2021.

Muñoz said the mold and rat urine in her apartment is making her two young children sick. She said she’s moved them into her in-laws' basement while her husband stays and fights for repairs. “This isn’t right,” she said in

See Full Page