Canarsie’s OceanRock condo owners say their homes are leaking like a sieve — and they think the builder is to blame.
Resident Mark Stephensen claims his four-year-old home on Rockaway Parkway between Shore Parkway and Seaview Avenue is a watery mess, and that the builder, GLC Group LLC, is refusing to make repairs it is contractually obligated to take care of.
“Right now they do not return our phone calls or emails … they’ve cut off all communication,” said Stephensen.
The roof is literally peeling away from the cinder block walls, allowing water to seep in, Stephensen said. At the same time, the windows leak and the basement family rooms often flood, leaving mold behind.
“We asked a roofer to come and take a look and he told us that by the Spring we should consider redoing all the roofs,” said Stephensen. “If these buildings were 15 years old or older, I’d be fine with having to make repairs like this. It’s completely surprising and shocking that we would have to do this.”
According to Stephensen the builder is responsible for roofing repairs for another two years, and without them, he and his fellow homeowners have been forced to become amateur handymen.
“We have to tape plastic shopping bags between the roof and the wall to keep the water from coming in when it rains,” said Bobby Chin, who has to put a bucket down at the corner of his bedroom every time it rains to catch water leaking from the ceiling. “I never thought I would have so many headaches about buying a new place. I thought it would be like buying a new car, but all these problems keep creeping up.”
Stephensen and several other condo owners brought their plight to a recent United Canarsie South Civic Association meeting and warn residents about the New Jersey based GLC Group LLC — which is currently selling units at the Glenwood Square condo project at the corner of Glenwood Road and E. 86th Street.
Yet since all of the OceanRock condos have already been sold, there is very little the city could do for them, explained Councilman Lew Fidler (D-Canarsie) who attended the meeting.
“I wish we could sic a city agency on this, but you would be the only ones getting the violations because you own your condo,” Fidler said. “Unfortunately it’s buyer beware in real estate.”
Stephensen said he and his neighbors are thinking about taking legal action against the developer, who is also building and marketing condos on N. Fourth Street in Greenpoint, Bay Parkway in Bensonhurst and Washington Avenue in Fort Greene.
A spokesman at GLC Group LLC said the company was looking into the OceanRock complaints, but would not comment further.
