Brooklyn’s Worst Buildings and Landlords in 2017

Today, Public Advocate Letitia James released the annual list of 100 Worst Landlords in NYC, including the 10 worst buildings in Brooklyn.

“No New Yorker should be subjected to live in a hazardous home, yet bad landlords in our city are forcing too many tenants to live in dangerous and indecent conditions,” said James. “The Worst Landlords Watchlist is a powerful tool to put these unscrupulous landlords on notice and gives tenants the tools to hold them accountable.”

Often, poor upkeep of apartments and dangerous living conditions are tools used by predatory landlords to drive out their tenants—especially those with low incomes—which allows the renters to drive up the rental costs of the units.

The list is meant to keep landlords accountable to their tenants and is determined by a variety of criteria, but ultimately comes down to open Housing Preservation and Development violations in the units owned by the landlord. Data was collected from October 2016 to October 2017.

The criteria for the list were a landlord must own a building with a certain number of open violations per unit: in buildings with fewer than 35 units, an average of three or more open, serious violations per unit; in buildings with 35-plus units, an average of two or more open, serious violations per unit.

The master list of worst landlords featured a number of Brooklyn-based offenders in the Top 10: 4 men who own 40 buildings, with more than 2500 violations between them. You can see a list below, with a number next to each landlord’s name—their ranking in the 100 worst from NYC.

Since last year, there has been movement on the list. Six of the ten worst no longer appear on the list, while others have moved lower based on improvements made to their buildings.

The list was started in 2010 by Bill de Blasio, when he was public advocate, and is “an information-sharing tool intended to allow residents, advocates, public officials, and other concerned individuals to identify which buildings and property owners are in constant violation of the law and hold those landlords accountable.”

Do you have a problem with upkeep in your building or tenant harassment? Reach out to let us know here at Bklyner!