A Fordham resident is temporarily displaced from his apartment after a ceiling collapse.
He says his pleas for help to building management and 311 have gone unanswered.
The resident of the apartment, who asked to remain anonymous, says it all started on Monday morning when he noticed water building up in the ceiling above his stairway.
He said he heard the water coming down the walls and asked his neighbors who live on the floor above him if they had any water leaks, but both apartments said no. He said then the water started streaming through the light fixtures and the ceiling.
He says after reporting the leak, his superintendent came to take photos which show the progression of the water accumulating. He says as time continued to pass, it got from bad to worse.
At that point, the tenant says he was ready to clean the leak before the whole ceiling collapsed. He was left with a gaping hole and debris that blocked the stairs down to his bedroom. He says he has called the building manager since the leak began, but says those calls have not been returned.
The tenant says he was told the building manager was on vacation, but when he came back, he still had not returned his calls. He also called the superintendent to ask that the building manager call him back, but still had not received a response.
The tenant also says the contractor he spoke with said repair work could not begin until the area was cleaned. However, the resident says the debris is filled with contaminants of toilet water and he feels he should not be the one to clean it up.
The tenant adds that this is not the first time he has had an issue with leaks. He says there have been at least three prior issues with the same spot in the ceiling. He says repairs have just been band aids over a bleeding wound and a thorough inspection of the plumbing has not been done.
Because of the smell that the leak left, the tenant says he has been staying with family in the meantime, but he hopes this issue will be taken seriously.
News 12 reached out to Dougert Management, which is in charge of the building, but had not heard back as of Sunday night.
The tenant says he has brought up the issue to housing court and has a court date set for May.