THE BRONX, N.Y. (PIX11) -- It wasn't a toy or CGI special effects. It was a real, live, big rat seen in a tenant's cellphone video crawling across the living room of a sixth-floor apartment at 655 Burke Ave. in the Bronx.

And that's just the beginning of a long list of problems, according to the fed-up tenants, who held a news conference Wednesday.

They are pleading for someone to put pressure on the building owner/property manager, identified by them as Michael Kohn, to make things right.

For starters, they want their landlord to fix the lack of consistent heat, hot water, and cooking gas in the privately owned building.

"We have a girl upstairs who is only 6 years old coughing because the apartments are so cold," one tenant remarked.

Longtime tenant April Velez added, "This is the hot plate he gave us to cook with. We've been without gas since June 10."

But tenants, many of whom are seniors and/or disabled, said there is no excuse for being consistently forced to rely on kitchen hot plates, or the stairs, in the six-floor walk-up.

In PIX11 News' text message exchange with Kohn, he insisted the "heat is working," that it was "never a problem," and he ordered PIX11 to stop "reporting fake news."

But records from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) directly contradict Kohn's claims that everything is just fine.

In fact, HPD has more than 300 complaints and violations on file for this one building, just within the last few years alone.

"The bare minimum. Just some heat so that we can cook and some of the repairs can get done," said tenant Hector Bonilla.

New HPD information on background showed a Dec. 2 head inspection did not result in any violations. But tenants said that has nothing to do with cooking gas or consistency in delivery of those services.

New York City Council member Kevin Riley is now aware of the tenants' complaints and said he will try to get the situation straightened out for all parties involved.