AN apartment tenant has opened up about his hellish home with a mouse infestation and overflowing garbage just feet from his door and is withholding $2,500 of rent until the issues are resolved

Ricky Richardson, a tenant of Tysen Park Apartments in Staten Island, New York, received an eviction notice in June of this year for owing $5,000 in rent.

The housing complex is owned by Revona Properties, a subsidiary of Cammeby’s International Group.

“You would think that this is about a hundred grand or something,” he told Gothamist. “It’s a small amount.”

After COVID-19 took a toll on Richardson’s health and livelihood, he qualified for a subsidy through a voucher program known as CityFHEPS, to help cover the majority of his rent.

However, he claims the checks to pay his rent were sent to the wrong address, resulting in his eviction.

“I just kept telling them, ‘Listen, you know, it’s not my fault.’ It’s gonna come. I just don’t know when,” Richardson said of his conversations with Revona staff, regarding his rent, as reported by Gothamist.

When he did eventually receive the missing checks, Richardson withheld $2,500 of what he owed due to a mouse infestation and a rancid smell coming from the garbage shoot just feet from his home.

He decided he would only pay once the issues were resolved.

Read Related Also: Target thieves stole my phone and my shopping cart & ‘employees did nothing to help,’ I’m never shopping there again

Another tenant was also hit with an eviction notice for being less than three months behind on rent.

Like Richardson, Jade Rodriguez, 22, had subsidy checks sent to the wrong address, which delayed her paying her rent.

“I’m worried about them making a decision on me leaving when it’s not my fault, and then I have an eviction on my record for however long, when it’s really not me,” she told The Gothamist.

“I pay my portion and I paid on time.”

The housing complex is reportedly responsible for one of the highest eviction rates in the city.

Many of the tenants, including those receiving subsidies, are being asked to leave their homes over a few thousand dollars in payment, Gothamist reported.

Revona Properties reportedly initiated legal action in at least 23 instances for portions of tenants’ rent that were supposed to be covered by a Department of Social Services voucher.

Overall, they have filed 169 eviction cases since January of 2022.