NYC PUBLIC ADVOCATE UNVEILS WORST LANDLORD WATCHLIST WITH MOST VIOLATIONS IN ITS HISTORY

 

2022 List Shows Housing Conditions Worsening as Rents Skyrocket Citywide

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams unveiled the 2022 Worst Landlord Watchlist today, naming the 100 most egregiously negligent landlords in the city as determined by conditions at their buildings. This year’s list found that housing violations at the worst owner’s properties are at the highest levels in the history of the list, with conditions continuing to deteriorate even as the median rent in the city has massively increased in recent years. Across the 2022 list, there were a staggering 69,018 violations, nearly a 30% increase from the previous year. At the same time, New York City has risen to become the most expensive city in the world.

The number one worst landlord for 2022 is Johnathan Santana, who averaged 2,980 open violations across 15 buildings on the watchlist – the most violations of any landlord in the history of the list, and more than double the average number from last year’s worst offender. The list was unveiled this morning outside two of Santana’s Washington Heights properties averaging over 300 violations each, where tenants spoke about heat and hot water outages, rodent infestation issues, and collapsing infrastructure. Without a superintendent to maintain the property, tenants are forced to pay for and perform repairs. 

Johnathan Santana is also listed as the primary officer for watchlist buildings in neighborhoods throughout Manhattan as well as Queens. While Santana is designated as primary officer for all of these buildings, they are registered under a number of different LLCs, a common tactic for owners to attempt to evade accountability.

“Across the city, housing costs are up and housing quality is down. Rents are becoming unaffordable and conditions are becoming unlivable,” said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams in releasing the list. “The only explanation for this is that landlords are putting profits over people, and prioritizing circumventing or repealing housing laws rather than following them. To combat both the specific conditions that threaten the well-being of tenants in these buildings and the overall trends that deepen this citywide crisis, we need to meet this crisis with strong regulations and real consequences. That means the city needs to dismiss disingenuous arguments from bad actors, and invest more resources for enforcement, not cut what we have.”

This year, rents have skyrocketed citywide, with median Manhattan rent topping $5000 and median rent across the five boroughs increasing by 20% for one bedroom units in the last three years and 30% since 2021, according to a recent study. The same study found a 27% increase for two bedroom apartments since 2019 and nearly a 36% increase since last year. Even among rent-regulated units, the Rent Guidelines Board approved its largest increase in nearly a decade.

At the same time as rents were rising, so were the average number of housing violations recorded with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). As noted above, there was nearly a 30% rise in the total number of average violations on the list this year. Among the Top 10, that increase was 44%. And the worst landlord on this year’s list, Jonathan Santana, had 106% move average violations on average than the 2021 Worst Landlord. 

The increase in violations was not only among private landlords. Yet again, the New York City Housing Authority has demonstrated an inability to improve conditions, or even keep pace with the deterioration of complexes. This year, there are 673,990 open work orders, an increase of 73,510 over last year’s number. In a year which saw an arsenic poisoning scare and the CEO of the Authority step down, the city itself remains the overall worst landlord in our city.

“It’s no surprise that NYCHA, the city itself, continues to be the worst landlord in New York – and that conditions have actually worsened,” said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams about the Authority. “As my office showed in our report earlier this year, the city has failed its obligation to provide safe, quality housing. It’s true that NYCHA needs more funding from the state and federal government, but it’s also true that its management failures this year and for many years before have led to a bankruptcy of tenant trust. Taking ownership of NYCHA’s past and present failures, rather than passing the buck, is essential to improving its future and the dangerous conditions for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers paying to live there. Across all levels of government, we need real, urgent reforms to keep people in their homes, and keep those homes safe.”

The top five worst individual landlords in New York City for 2022 are:

•   Johnathan Santana, with an average of 2980 HPD open violations
•   Brian Ritter, with an average of 1816 HPD open violations
•   David Tennenbaum, with an average of 1647 HPD open violations
•   Sima Abdavies, with an average of 1444 HPD open violations
•   Jacob Bistricer, with an average of 1404 HPD open violations

While many landlords attempt to circumvent tenant protections and artificially inflate vacancy rates in an effort to further increase their profits, buildings are falling into greater disrepair.

The Public Advocate is pursuing legislative solutions to the issues present by the list. This week, the City Council heard the first of two bills in the Worst Landlord Accountability Act, Intro 583, legislation that would require a certification of correction list at HPD, and prohibit any listed landlord from certifying correction of violations in multiple dwellings without an inspection. This would prevent landlords already identified as bad actors from falsely claiming repairs have been made – the bill also increases penalties for failure to correctly certify. Tomorrow at the City Council Stated meeting, the Public Advocate will reintroduce the second bill in the package, which would require the city's department of Housing Preservation and Development to more quickly respond to and perform inspections of hazardous violations.

At the launch, the Public Advocate also directed New Yorkers to LandlordWatchlist.com, as well his office’s Text Line, 833-933-1692, to learn about whether their landlords are featured on the list, how to report violations, and access resources for tenants to organize and seek relief.

Private landlords on the Worst Landlord Watchlist are ranked objectively according to data obtained by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). Landlords are ranked based on the average number of housing code violations open per month on their buildings on the watchlist, using data from December 2021 to November 2022. More on the methodology is available here.

View the full Worst Landlord Watchlist, and check to see if your address is owned by a 2022 worst landlord, by visiting LandlordWatchlist.com.