Owners of a score of homes built by the organization South Bronx Churches allege that the group is keeping a tight rein on control of the properties, and trying to make the owners continue employing a maintenance and management company they do not want.

At a meeting last week, over 20 of the Nehemiah condominium owners angrily aired their complaints about South Bronx Churches and ETC Management, which is supposed to be responsible for the maintenance of their properties.

In addition, some of the owners complain that there are construction defects which are becoming more and more evident.

The owners say they are dissatisfied with the work done by ETC Management. They point out that the company has not painted their homes, that it responds only reluctantly to their calls, and that it even stopped collecting garbage from some of the buildings this summer.

Meanwhile, the maintenance fees have been increased from $51 a month to $150.

But they point out that when they took steps to try to get rid of ETC Management, they ran into many obstacles.

Betty Ortiz, one of the owners, said the feeling among many of the owners is: “I’m ready to give up, sell my home, and move (out of frustration).”

The situation has required the intervention of the New York State Attorney General’s office, which has served as a mediator in this matter.

Oliver A. Rosengart of the Attorney General’s office said that he intervened to make ETC Management understand the owners’ rights to dismiss the firm.

“This administrator thought he was in charge, that he was the boss. I had to tell him, ‘You’re the agent, not the boss,’” said Rosengart.

The condominium owners have the right to elect a board of directors that will choose a maintenance company, and be responsible for the other details of communal life.

But in the case of the Nehemiah condominiums, the owners indicate that the directors were named to the board by South Bronx Churches, rather than elected by the owners.

When a group of the owners — 24 of the 288 in the condo complex — decided to elect their own board of directors, the existing board (which, according to those interviewed, is illegitimate) refused to recognize the election.

Rosengart said that in this case too he had to intervene and that, though he did not understand the reason for the opposition, he counseled the 24 owners to hold a new election. This new election was in fact accepted, said Rosengart, though with obvious reluctance.

South Bronx Churches did not respond to inquiries, nor did the attorney Donald Novitt, who represents the board of directors recognized by Churches.

On behalf of ETC Management, a representative declared to the Daily News this week that the construction of the houses had been done in a “terrible” manner, and that now his company is being asked to correct these construction flaws.

Rosengart of the Attorney General’s office states that he does not believe the South Bronx Churches are trying to hang onto control of the properties.

According to Rosengart, the problem has now been resolved, except for the details of the restitution of the initial payment made by the 24 owners.

That group of owners, however, to judge by the meeting last week, considers the matter far from over.

They point out that the South Bronx Churches are now offering a grant of $200,000 to repair the structural problems in the buildings, on the condition that the owners continue to retain the services of ETC Management.

“I do believe that they (South Bronx Churches) should help us out, since this is all because of the construction they themselves administered from the beginning,” said Sandra Batista, one of the leaders of the protesting owners’ group.

“Sure we need this help, but we don’t want it with these strings attached.”