New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams recently revealed his “Worst Landlord Watchlist” for 2023.
Now in its fifth year, the annual list from the public advocate shines a spotlight on NYC property owners that have a history of severe and persistent housing violations under their belts.
The report of shame identifies the worst offending landlords based on the amount of critical issues occurring at their respective properties, which includes heat and hot water outages, rodent infestation problems, and deteriorating infrastructure, among other violations raised by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).
Topping this year’s list for the second year in a row was Johnathan Santana, the head officer for Daniel Ohebshalom — a property owner who is renowned for being neglectful, Public Advocate Williams says.
According to the report, Santana accumulated a record 3293 open violations across 306 units in 2023, surpassing last year's total of 2980 infractions.
Since the release of last year’s list, Williams says that Ohebshalom has faced “increased legal scrutiny,” including three lawsuits to fix dangerous conditions at a number of his 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 [a] meaningful impact,” said Williams.
Other notable property owners that joined Santana and Ohebshalom among the five worst landlords named on the list included David Tennenbaum (2416 HPD violations), Larry Hirchfield (1394 violations), Sima Abdavies (1372 violations), and Alfred Thompson (1341 violations).
The NYC borough that had the most buildings featured on the landlord watchlist was by far Brooklyn, with 308 properties in total. Trailing behind Brooklyn were the Bronx (261 buildings), Manhattan (135), and Queens (30).
In addition to his yearly report, Public Advocate Williams has also championed numerous bills to address issues found on his list, including his Worst Landlord Law that was passed by New York City Council this year.
The newly-passed legislation aims to prevent fraudulent repairs by repeatedly negligent or dishonest landlords, as well as increase penalties for failure to correct hazardous violations
“I’m glad that the city has been able to bring some consequences for landlord negligence in the last year,” said Williams. “Delivering greater accountability for tenants will require the resources to conduct inspections and to enforce against the worst landlords in our city.”
To view the public advocate’s list in full, visit LandlordWatchlist.com.
