Steve Croman is a notorious residential landlord who focuses on East Village and Lower East Side, pre-War buildings. He is the founder of Croman Real Estate (rebranded as Centennial Properties NY) which owns about 150 buildings. He is also founder of 9300 Realty.

In June 2017, Croman pleaded guilty to three felony charges of grand larceny, tax fraud and a third fraud charge stemming from filing a false instrument. He served eight months at Riker's Island and was fined $5 million.

Separately, Croman was also required to pay $8 million in restitution to rent-stabilized tenants he was accused of harassing and coercing to give up their apartments. It was the largest settlement with an individual landlord in New York history at the time.

Croman has built a reputation as a hard-edged and controversial landlord. The firm made the Village Voice's 10 Worst Landlords list in 1998 for allegedly using lawsuits to pry tenants out of their apartments. In 2014, Then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman initiated an investigation into Croman amidst accusations of tenant harassment. Later that year, politicians took aim at the firm, issuing a statement condemning Croman and 9300 Realty (which oversaw several of the firm's properties on the Lower East Side). Croman also has been accused of poorly done gut renovations and improperly withholding brokerage commissions.

In 2018, while he was still in jail, Croman was hit with a lawsuit alleging that he illegally deregulated apartments in an East Harlem building. In 2019, the lawsuit was granted class-action status, allowing more than 100 current and former tenants to join the suit.