New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams on Wednesday released his annual Worst Landlord Watchlist, spotlighting the worst individual landlords in the city as determined by widespread and repeated violations in their buildings.
This year, the number one worst landlord amassed the most violations in history, but the number two landlord has also surpassed any previous owner in the top spot – and both landlords are associated with the same company, A&E Real Estate Holdings, Williams said.
Together, Margaret Brunn and Donald H. Hastings, account for 60 buildings and an average of nearly 9,000 open violations during the list’s assessment period, according to Williams.
"This list is most powerful when used for organizing, and I’m hitting the streets with hundreds of tenants to give New Yorkers the tools they need to take action," Williams said in a statement. "With an administration committed to housing justice, tenant support, and using all of the tools available to deliver, I’m invigorated by the change we can create."
The city on Jan. 16 announced a $2.1 million settlement involving A&E Real Estate properties with associated principals Douglas Eisenberg and Margaret Brunn, and registered managing agent Brian Garland, to address tenant harassment and hazardous conditions across 14 buildings in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. In addition to the civil penalties, the settlement requires A&E to correct more than 4,000 building condition violations across these buildings and imposes injunctions prohibiting tenant harassment moving forward.
Throughout this week, volunteers are canvassing buildings owned by A&E, speaking with tenants to help them organize, seek repairs, and urge them to attend the upcoming Rental Rip-Off hearings. Organizers started the effort at 80 Woodruff Ave., a building owned by A&E, in Flatbush on Wednesday.
Williams also said the New York City Housing Authority has demonstrated an inability to improve conditions. In November of 2025, there were about 612,000 open work orders, a near-identical number to the previous year. Perpetual mismanagement of NYCHA has made the city itself the worst overall landlord for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, he said.
This is the seventh Worst Landlord Watchlist from Williams, who is pursuing legislative solutions to the issues presented by the list, including the ‘Worst Landlord Law,’ which passed in 2023. A second bill, which is yet to pass, would require Housing and Preservation Development to more quickly respond to and perform inspections of hazardous violations.
The increase in scrutiny that accompanies the list has helped bring about consequences for the worst actors, he said. The 2022 and 2023 Worst Landlord, Daniel Ohebshalom, has since been incarcerated twice related to his failure to make repairs.
View the full list here.
