Nyc: Doc Attorney Is Using Government Resources To Do Background Checks On Roommates And Harass Them With The Info—can We Sue?

New roommate is an attorney with the DOC in NYC. This individual is a nightmare—not paying rent on time; has a dog that is never walked that urinates and leaves feces all over apartment and ruining our belongings. The stench coming from that roommate’s room is unbearable. This causes strife and stress and is a point of contention. During an argument about the gross conditions this roommate announced information about our backgrounds and then said they did background checks on us. I know they used government DOC resources to do these checks. This roommate has also said they surveilled their former roomates without their knowledge inside their apartment and did background checks on them. We will be filing a complaint with the legal arm of the DOC to ask for an investigation into whether this attorney is using DOC resources to do background checks on us or other civIliana. This roommate also showed us a document from the DOC where it states they were already investigating claims of racism, sexism, and inappropriate language and behavior on the job. So, this person is a “problem” person at their workplace already. I am not sure if we need to hire an attorney to insure the DOC investigates these privacy violations by this employee—who is an attorney with the department—because if they have used government resources to do this the DOC could be sued (I think). Our leasing office is aware of this person being a repeated problem roommate and despite knowing that this was a stranger subleasing into our apartment—a stranger with complaints to the leasing office from the former roomates—the Leasing office did not warn us. They will not remove this person because it is a lease in totality, so they said we just have to deal with the filth, the stench, the crazy, the surveillance by this roommate and invasions into our privacy. We feel constant stress and cannot breathe in this squalid “upscale” housing situation, but it is what it is and we are trapped, apparently. The revelation that this DOC attorney is conducting background investigations on us was and is the last and final straw. We now want to pursue any and all recourse under the law. Advice is greatly appreciated. It has been less than three months with this person living here and we can’t have peace in the apartment we have lived in for 5+ years because of their conduct.