Two landlords are making history on New York City’s annual Worst Landlords Watchlist, with the most open housing violations ever recorded by the Public Advocate’s office.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said the top two landlords on the list are both with the same management company, A&E Real Estate, which owns 60 buildings across the five boroughs.
That includes 80 Woodruff Avenue in Brooklyn’s Prospect Lefferts Gardens, where tenants say their building has long been plagued by unsafe conditions. Some described what they called years of neglect, ranging from mold and broken lighting to rodent infestations.
“Rats, roaches, mice. Those are the usual main three that are down here,” said one tenant, Zamani, referring to the building’s laundry room. She declined to give her last name. “It’s just a lot of non-communication with any of the tenants, and just, neglect.”
Merlyn Williams, who pays $1,400 a month for her unit in the building, said mold is a constant issue.
“I wipe and I wipe and I wipe and wipe, but that doesn’t solve the problem because it’s there,” Williams said.
According to Williams, A&E Real Estate has accumulated nearly 9,000 open housing violations across its buildings — the highest in the city’s history.
“They always find a reason why they can’t take care of their buildings and why they have tenants living in conditions they shouldn’t be living in,” Public Advocate Williams said.
The Public Advocate visited the Brooklyn building himself, knocking on doors and handing out information about how tenants can report violations and request repairs through city agencies like the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and the Department of Buildings.
Two years ago, the landlord topping the city’s worst list was issued an arrest warrant and jailed twice after repeatedly failing to make repairs at his buildings in Washington Heights.
In response to the latest list, a spokesperson for A&E Real Estate issued a statemen that said: “Since acquisition, we have invested over $800 million across our portfolio to improve the quality of our housing, meaning that every single one of our buildings is in better shape today than it was when we assumed management.”
The spokesperson added, “To label over $800 million in repairs as ‘neglect’ is misleading and unrealistic, even as we recognize there is much more work to be done.”
Still, tenants say improvements can’t come soon enough.
“Changes must come,” Williams said.
The Public Advocate has introduced a measure that would require HPD to conduct inspections and make repairs more quickly. That proposal is still pending.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC New York. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC New York journalist edited the article for publication.