New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the 2023 ‘Worst Landlord Watchlist’ today, an annual list which spotlights and shames the most egregiously negligent property owners in the city. The worst landlords are determined by the number of widespread, persistent, dangerous housing violations in their buildings.
Violations, as compiled and categorized by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, can include issues such as heat and hot water outages, rodent infestation issues, and deteriorating infrastructure. The impact of unchecked safety and code violations was made clear earlier this week, as a portion of a Bronx residential building collapsed.
The 2023 worst landlord in the city retains the title from 2022. Johnathan Santana, the designated head officer for Daniel Ohebshalom amassed the most open violations in the list’s history last year with 2980, and this year surpassed that record with a staggering 3293 open violations across 306 units in buildings on the list. Daniel Ohebshalom is an infamous owner with neglected, dilapidated buildings across the city. Since Santana topped last year’s list, Ohebshalom has faced increased legal scrutiny, and has settled three separate lawsuits with the city in recent months, totaling $4.2 million dollars, over failures to rectify dangerous conditions at a range of buildings.
"Johnathan Santana and Daniel Ohebshalom may be shameless in their negligence and predatory practices, as is clear in their record violations, but it’s clear that spotlighting and shaming them and other worst landlords in the city can have meaningful impact,”said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams in releasing the list. “Through tenant organizing, legal battles, and legislative initiatives, we can hold bad actors to account and deliver relief for New Yorkers facing unlivable conditions and declining unaffordable rents. We need to ensure other landlords on the list that accountability and change go beyond the top spot to landlords throughout the list and the city."
While Johnathan Santana and Daniel Ohebshalom had the most violations by a wide margin, over a dozen landlords with properties throughout the city averaged over 1000 open violations in their buildings on the list. The top five worst individual landlords of 2023 are:
- Johnathan Santana and Daniel Ohebshalom, with an average of 3293 HPD open violations
- David Tennenbaum, with an average of 2416 HPD open violations
- Larry Hirchfield, with an average of 1394 HPD open violations
- Sima Abdavies, with an average of 1372 HPD open violations
- Alfred Thompson, with an average of 1341 HPD open violations
HPD lists Yonah Roth as the head officer for 1915 Billingsley Terrace, the Bronx building which partially collapsed on Monday. Records show Roth's portfolio is affiliated with Jacob Zanger, who ranks #50 on this year's list.
View the full list of the 100 Worst Landlords, as well as the worst buildings in each borough, here.
To unveil the list, the Public Advocate rallied with tenants today outside of 410 W. 46th Street in Manhattan, a building that for years was in Johnathan Santana’s name and portfolio under Daniel Ohebshalom. Tenants there have been engaged in a years-long court battle to remedy unsafe conditions in the building, and just weeks ago, successfully saw their property placed under the control of an outside administrator through the 7A program. Administrators are appointed by the Court to operate privately owned buildings that have conditions that are dangerous to the tenants' life, health and safety. The rehabilitation program is designed for extreme circumstances, and allows for vital repairs to be made.
Budget Cuts Make Buildings Dangerous
This year’s list comes amid ongoing, deep, damaging budget cuts to city agencies which threaten the vital services that the HPD provides. Enforcement against the worst landlords in the city is only possible with adequate funding and resources directed toward those efforts. Prior cuts through the administration’s PEGSs (Programs to Eliminate the Gap) have already impacted HPD’s budget, and new cuts announced by the administration will only further weaken the city’s ability to hold bad landlords accountable.
In May, the administration reported a vacancy rate of 15% at HPD, with 115 inspector positions unfilled. In September, the Mayor's Management Report indicated that response times to "non-emergency" violations had slowed due to these vacancies. Progress such as the recent victories against Daniel Ohebshalom will become much more difficult, with tenants left to suffer the consequences of cuts.
“I’m glad that the city has been able to bring some consequences for landlord negligence in the last year. Delivering greater accountability for tenants will require the resources to conduct inspections and to enforce against the worst landlords in our city,” added the Public Advocate. “Widespread budget cuts to city services and agencies like HPD are dangerous and will weaken our ability to make buildings safe and make landlords pay.”
Chronic underfunding is a key feature of the ongoing worst overall landlord citywide, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). This year, as tenants in some developments have begun to vote on new ways to address the ongoing shameful conditions at these city-run buildings. NYCHA has 596,000 open work orders as of October 2023, and recent estimates suggest that nearly $80 billion dollars will be needed to address current conditions. While funding shortfalls are largely state and federal responsibility, the perpetual mismanagement of NYCHA makes the city itself the worst overall landlord for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.
Legislating the Worst Landlords
This is the fifth Worst Landlord Watchlist from Public Advocate Williams, who is pursuing legislative solutions to the issues present by the list. This year, the city Council passed his Worst Landlord Law, which will help prevent fraudulent repairs by repeatedly negligent or dishonest landlords, and increase penalties for failure to correct hazardous violations. A second bill, which is yet to pass, would require HPD to more quickly respond to and perform inspections of hazardous violations. Successful implementation of these laws will require full funding of the agency in order to employ more inspectors and hold landlords to account.
At the launch, the Public Advocate 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 November 2022 to October 2023. More on the methodology is available here.
View the full Worst Landlord Watchlist, and check to see if your address is owned by a 2023 worst landlord, by visiting LandlordWatchlist.com.
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