Let the annual bad landlord shaming begin.
Public Advocate Letitia James has released this year’s database of New York City’s worst landlords. The list this year calls out nearly 100 property owners and includes about 6,700 buildings.
The greatest concentration of buildings with bad landlords is focused in the Bronx and northern Manhattan. Brooklyn came in second, with most problem buildings located east of Prospect Park in neighborhoods such as Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and East New York.
Mayor Bill de Blasio inaugurated the list four years ago when he held the office of public advocate. The office uses data from the Department and Housing Preservation and Development, as well as complaints from constituents and other sources, to compile the list.
Topping the list this year is Bronx landlord 3525 Decatur Avenue LLC with 3,352 violations in 13 buildings totaling 7,780 units.
At least as far back as 2009, residents at 3525 Decatur have been organizing against the LLC’s head officer Robin Shimoff and her father Jacob Selechnik, as the Norwood News previously reported. Ceilings were crumbling and bed begs had infested the building at the time, according to the local newspaper. The building has been slapped with 22 violations since August 2013.
Landlords engaging in bad behavior are finding it tough to hide these days. One week ago, Mayor de Blasio signed into law a bill that requires the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to make public a list of landlords found in Housing Court to have harassed tenants. — Tom DiChristopher