Mayor Mamdani, HPD Announce Largest-Ever Penalty Against Negligent Bronx Landlords

Court judgements include $31 million in penalties, appointment of Chief Restructuring Officer to ensure repairs are made   

Today, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Dina Levy announced the City has secured a record $31 million in penalties against the owners of Robert Fulton Terrace and Fordham Towers in the Bronx – the largest penalty ever obtained by HPD.

The City also secured the appointment of an independent Chief Restructuring Officer as part of the court judgements, froze over $900,000 from the owners’ bank accounts, and negotiated to release those funds to the Chief Restructuring Officer to make sure critical repairs are completed for residents across nearly 500 apartments.

The Mamdani administration is also calling on the Federal National Mortgage Association, Fannie Mae, which has initiated foreclosure proceedings on the buildings, to work with HPD and tenants to identify a preservation buyer who will serve as a responsible, long-term steward of these homes. Originally built as stable, middle-income housing, the buildings have fallen into neglect.

“For years, tenants at Robert Fulton Terrace and Fordham Towers have been forced to live with vermin infestations, chronic elevator outages and a lack of heat and hot water – while their landlords met their suffering with silence. Today, that neglect is finally met with consequences,” said Mayor Mamdani. “This administration secured the largest penalty in HPD’s history because no landlord is above the law. But penalties alone are not enough. We are taking control of the situation to make sure repairs are made and conditions are permanently improved. Every New Yorker deserve safe, dignified housing.”

“Every tenant in New York City has the right to a safe and well-maintained home — but for the residents of Robert Fulton Terrace and Fordham Towers, that right has been out of reach for too long. Our administration will use every tool at our disposal to deliver repairs and better management for the tenants of these buildings,” said Leila Bozorg, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning. “I’m inspired by the organized tenants and grateful to the teams at HPD, the Legal Aid Society and Our Bronx for fighting for accountability and improvements.”

“In the Mamdani administration, the Mayor of New York City is on tenants’ side. This judgement is not just a step forward for the tenants of these buildings — it is a sign of a new era of leadership, where the City works hand-in-hand with organized tenants to deliver a fairer city for all New Yorkers,” said Cea Weaver, Director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants.

“Today marks the beginning of a new chapter in a long and difficult history for these buildings and these tenants,” said Dina Levy, HPD Commissioner. “This is a story I know well: I organized tenants here back in 2009, when they were first coming out of Mitchell-Lama. Since then, tenants have been subject to decades of mistreatment, but that comes to an end today: Thanks to aggressive litigation by HPD’s Anti-Harassment Unit, we now have a record $31m judgement against the owners. That gives us leverage in bankruptcy proceedings, which we’ll use to deliver better outcomes for residents.”

Tenants in these buildings have reported years of neglect, including persistent elevator outages, lack of heat and hot water, vermin infestation, and hundreds of unresolved violations. The owners, Karan Singh and Rajmattie Persaud, have been included on the Public Advocate’s Worst Landlords List.

The litigation, first filed in 2024, was brought by the Anti-Harassment Unit within HPD’s Housing Litigation Division.