Public Advocate Jumaane Williams announced the city’s 10 worst landlords, with Bronx property owner Barry Singer topping the list and several other Bronx landlords rounding it out.
Many New Yorkers face an impossible choice between “something that’s affordable versus something that’s livable,” said Williams. “It should not be this easy for [landlords] to put profit over people.”
The newly-announced worst landlords are:
- Barry Singer
- Alfred Thompson
- Karen Geer
- Melanie Martin, whom Williams said is a shell for Daniel Ohbeshalom, a notorious Manhattan landlord who served time at Rikers Island and faced steep penalties for neglect of his properties
- Claudette Henry
- David Tennenbaum
- Sam Klein
- Robert Kaszovitz
- Yonatan Bahumi
- Joseph Emile
According to the property website Who Owns What, Singer owns 15 buildings, 14 of which are in the Bronx. He controls seven Bronx buildings just named to the public advocate’s watchlist, totaling 199 units and an average of 1,804 open violations with the city Department of Housing and Preservation (HPD).
Among his portfolio, Singer’s rent-stabilized, 47-unit building at 620 East 178th St. topped the worst of the worst. The building has 706 open violations with HPD and, over the past three years, has racked up 74 heat/hot water complaints and 104 pest complaints.
Singer’s six other buildings on the watchlist have numerous HPD violations, ranging from 45 at 2542A White Plains Road to 292 at 265 East 181st Street.
His record of housing neglect appears to date back decades. According to a 2001 report, Singer was sued by three supers who claimed he falsely listed them on official documents as owners of his properties, which faced hundreds of housing violations. The supers also alleged that Singer encouraged them to threaten tenants behind on rent “by any means necessary,” which included crowbars and pit bulls.
Singer was not the only Bronx landlord who landed on the public advocate’s annual list of shame.
David Tennenbaum has seven buildings on the advocate’s watchlist, including 1064 Ward Ave. in Soundview, which has 205 violations with HDP and three with the Department of Buildings.
In addition, six of eight buildings on the watchlist owned by Sam Klein are in the Bronx. Robert Kaszovitz has two Bronx buildings on the list — one of which has 640 HPD violations (2000 Prospect Ave.) — and Yonatan Bahumi has 19 Bronx buildings on the watchlist.
Left in the cold
As dangerously frigid temperatures hit New York City this week, Williams said far too many neglectful landlords, such as those on the list, fail to provide adequate heat, which can lead tenants to use ovens and space heaters for warmth. Such makeshift heating methods can lead to disaster, as in the 2022 Twin Parks fire that killed 17 people.
Overworked heaters may have also played a role in the recent fire at 2910 Wallace Ave. in the Williamsbridge neighborhood, where tenants reportedly lacked heat in the building. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but the building owner, Ved Parkash, topped the city’s worst landlords list in 2015 and had a long history of complaints and violations at his properties.
The list is meant to empower tenants to call 311 and collectively organize in order to shame their landlords, Williams said.
Even finding out simply who owns a building in NYC can be difficult or even impossible because shady landlords often change the name of their LLC in order to evade consequences — but public shaming and media attention is often effective, he said. Tenants need to take it upon themselves to “make it hot for the landlords that have left us out in the cold.”
Williams said although the city has laws in place to deal with bad landlords, the process is often too slow. “Until we make it uncomfortable and less profitable for landlords to do this, they’re going to keep doing this.”
He advised that any tenants experiencing problems in their building should contact both 311 and the public advocate’s office. For more information about this year’s list and how tenants can respond to poor housing conditions, see landlordwatchlist.com.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
