Five city inspectors discovered 77 housing-code violations related to leaky ceilings, blocked gutters, and broken windows at a 40-unit apartment complex this week after conducting a mass inspection attended by Connecticut Tenants Union (CTTU) organizers.
The Livable City Initiative (LCI) team spent two hours on Tuesday afternoon looking through apartments at 1275 Quinnipiac Ave. and 530 Eastern St.
“It looks good when you first move in. They’re great at cosmetic surgery,” said Steven NeSmith, a tenant of three years.
Most of the violations can be remedied within 30 days, but the more urgent problems must be addressed by the landlord, Hammock Home Management, within 24 hours. The code violations with shorter deadlines include missing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors throughout the complex and leaking plumbing fixtures in the basement.
LCI Executive Director Liam Brennan said the compliance clock would begin as soon as the city agency sends order letters to Hammock. He confirmed on Thursday that the landlord has already fixed issues with the common area’s smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
Brennan also said that LCI inspected a total of 11 apartments at the 40-unit complex on Tuesday; of the 77 violations found, roughly 49 were “in-unit,” 24 were “basement/mechanical,” two were in common areas, and two were exterior.
Hammock Home Management is managed by Yohay Levram, a former Ocean Management employee. Levram is the manager of the holding company Kings NH LLC, which legally owns the 1275 Quinnipiac-530 Eastern complex. Before Hammock took control of the LLC in September 2024, the holding company was managed by Ocean Management’s Shmuel Aizenberg.
“Any allegations in regard to negligence or failure to provide adequate services to our tenants are entirely pretextual, and the said inspection is just another attempt in creating, yet again unsuccessfully, a public spectacle,” Levram wrote to the Independent.
When LCI approved the property’s residential business license in August 2025, all common areas and units were approved as compliant with the city’s code, he said. The property also has a full-time superintendent on site.
He called the inspection itself an “attempt at public spectacle.” LCI typically visits properties where landlords have received complaints or failed to make repairs. However, he said, “[T]here are no work orders currently open in our system.”
On Tuesday, LCI inspector Kaiya Campbell said multiple tenants pointed her to “minor repairs that have been neglected” by their landlord. After notifying management about the issues, tenants told Campbell that their landlord would either not make repairs or perform “shoddy work.”
Over the last few weeks, the Q Ave Tenants Union has been organizing rallies to demand that Hammock cancel rent increases, address maintenance concerns, and resolve pest infestations across the complex. On Tuesday, members of the Connecticut Tenants Union, including Vice President Luke Melonakos, either stood outside or walked through the complex as LCI conducted its investigation.
CTTU’s press release about Tuesday’s inspections states that the Q Ave Tenants Union represents 75 percent of residents.
“The union is committed to holding Levram accountable for the years of neglect they have endured under his ownership, which has been exacerbated by his latest attempt to intimidate tenants into accepting unjustified rent increases,” the press release reads. “They remain united in their demand for a fair collective bargaining process.”
When the LCI inspectors walked through NeSmith’s one-bedroom apartment, they found a crack along the bathroom ceiling. NeSmith said it appeared a few months after he moved into the building.
He told LCI that he fixes most of his apartment’s maintenance issues, including a leak in his kitchen sink. Because of his unit’s lack of insulation, he leaves the heat on “constantly.”
NeSmith plans to move into a new apartment at the end of his lease because, he said, Hammock is looking to increase his rent from $1,300 to $1,450 per month. He and his small terrier are still searching for a new home in New Haven.
The apartment is “not what I thought it would be,” NeSmith told the Independent.
When LCI walked through the Eastern Street building’s basement, inspectors found exposed live wires, empty gas containers, and rusted boiler pieces. The more urgent issues related to the basement’s leaky water heater. LCI inspector Rosaly Rosario said the heater’s discharge pipes were too close to the floor — a problem, she explained, because they release very hot water.
Outside, another inspector, Javier Ortiz, pointed the Independent to the excess flowers and leaves on the Quinnipiac building’s roof. Blocking the gutters could cause flooding that weakens the building’s foundation over time, he said.
In the unit of Hope Vaughn, the vice president of the Q Ave Tenants Union and a member of the city’s Fair Rent Commission, Rosario performed a full investigation of her two-bedroom apartment. Vaughn moved into the unit in 2022 with her daughter after their prior home was condemned by LCI.
“People will see how nice I fixed it up and think there’s no problem,” she said. “But that’s my cosmetics.”
She showed Rosario a leak in her bathroom sink and black, mold-like substances near her bathtub. Rosario scribbled each issue into her notepad. She advised Vaughn to open the window when she showers to help ventilate the room.
Vaughn also told Rosario that she is dealing with a severe pest infestation. “When I wake up in the middle of the night, [the roaches and mice] scatter.”
Like her fellow tenant NeSmith, Vaughn said Hammock has called about hiking her rent. It would be “ideal” to move, she said, but until she does, she plans to continue pushing the landlord into making repairs for her and her neighbors.
Vaughn told the Independent that Levram has said their apartments are “perfect.” With a dry chuckle, she added, “Come see perfect.”