Residents of the East Hampton Village manufactured home community on Oakview Highway gathered at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Tuesday night for a workshop facilitated by Organización Latino Americana of Eastern Long Island on how to fill out tenant complaint forms that will help them use their collective voice to hold the park’s management company R.H.P. to greater accountability.
OLA has been working with residents of the community since last summer after they became fed up with the frequent and extensive power outages that have been ongoing for several years.
“This complaint form will be the closest way and the strongest way, if we do it together, for R.H.P. to do the thing it’s supposed to do . . . to make sure it’s healthier, safer, that you’re able to be in a place that has good roads, regular electric, heat, septic, water,” Minerva Perez, OLA’s executive director, said.
“We’re not providing legal advice tonight,” said Courtney Spellman, an attorney with Legal Services of Long Island, “but we’re giving you information so that you can proceed and consider what you’re going to do with your complaint going forward.”
Ms. Perez and Ms. Spellman led the workshop along with Erika Padilla, one of OLA’s legal advocates, and Jesus Padilla, a paralegal with Legal Services of Long Island.
They walked the residents through a complaint form from the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal.
While Ms. Perez read a summarization of the tenants’ rights, and Mr. Padilla translated from English, some of the rights resonated with the residents who attended, particularly “the right to have essential services furnished at all times, including water, electricity, and heat” and “the right to reasonable notice of any planned disruption of services.”
Many residents spoke about their experiences with the extensive power losses, as well as the last-minute notice they would receive. Many lost household appliances like refrigerators, washers, and dryers to the outages and surges. According to Ms. Spellman, “reasonable notice” in the eyes of the court is generally considered to be at least “24 to 48 hours,” and any violation of any of these rights can be included in the form.
The complaints will be submitted in bulk by both email and regular mail. Additionally, copies will be sent to the New York State Attorney General’s office.
“I think it’s important to know,” Ms. Spellman added, “in my experience when tenants have filed complaints that if there is a mistake on there or not enough information, it doesn’t kill the complaint; they will contact you.”
OLA is aiming to collect the complaint forms in two weeks. Residents interested in filling one out should contact OLA.
Additionally, the workshop leaders wanted people to know that according to state law, all tenants have “the right to be from retaliation if you make a complaint or join a tenant association.”
