Public Advocate Bill de Blasio unveiled on Monday the NYC’s Worst Landlords Watch List, a new website that exposes the property owners behind the city’s most dangerous and rundown buildings.
"We are going to say it's not acceptable for landlords in this city to continue to treat their tenants unfairly and have them live in unhealthy conditions," said de Blasio, standing outside 197 Madison St., in Chinatown, a building on the list.
The online registry lists landlords who have violated at least two significant housing codes in the five boroughs based on constituent complaints to de Blasio’s office and files of the Department of Housing and Preservation & Development. Some typical violations include lack of heat or hot water, lead paint, toxic mold, broken pipes, and damage to the walls, ceilings, or floors.
Up to now, 164 buildings owned by 155 unique landlords have made it to the list, affecting about 4,500 tenants.
The worst offender on the list is Allen Fein, whose building at 1553 Bryant Ave., in the Bronx has led to 1,049 unresolved violations with the HPD.
“There are a lot of landlords who think they can get away with it, but they can’t,” said de Blasio. “If they are hurting their tenants, the whole world will see it. We will post their cases onto our website until they are all solved.
Poon’s building was without electricity for four or five years until it was made available three months ago.
“Before I got electricity, I just lit candles and used the burner to cook,” said Poon in Chinese. “The stoves don’t work here and the landlord never fixed it.”
Poon said that the landlord turns off the hot water and heat during the winter, when those are used and needed the most.
“He turned the hot water and heat off every weekend, because the HPD agents don’t come on the weekends to check the building,” said Poon. “So in the winter, it gets really cold and I usually just go back to Hong Kong for the coldest months.
Back in the 1990s when a fire flamed through the building, the tenants had to fix up and repaint the building using their own money. Since Poon moved in, the only thing the landlord fixed were the floors, “because I think he got some government subsidy for doing that,” said Poon.
Poon claims he used to pay $800 per month for the unit until the landlord refused to give him a new lease after his old one expired.
It appears that Poon does not pay his rent and, despite the conditions, has no immediate desire to move out.
The online registry, which is updated every two weeks, can be accessed at advocate.nyc.gov/landlord-watchlist.
