Following years of reported “inhumane” conditions, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development have secured the largest civil penalty in city history against the owners of Robert Fulton Terrace and Fordham Towers

In what officials are calling a “watershed moment” for tenant rights, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced on Wednesday that New York City has secured $31 million in penalties against two Bronx mega-landlords.

The judgment, the largest ever obtained by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), is seen as a decisive victory for tenants who have spent years fighting against hazardous living conditions.

The two landlords at the centre of this historic judgment are Karan Singh and Rajmattie Persaud, the owners of the Robert Fulton Terrace and Fordham Towers apartment complexes in the Bronx.

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Long-standing fixtures on the Public Advocate’s “Worst Landlords” list, Singh and Persaud have been accused of extreme negligence, allowing over 1,000 housing code violations to accumulate across their properties while allegedly over-leveraging the buildings for profit.

Their management of the nearly 500 units has been described by city officials as “inhumane,” characterised by years of chronic elevator outages, severe rat infestations, and long periods without heat or hot water.

Following a 2024 lawsuit filed by the Legal Aid Society and the city, the pair has now been hit with a record $31 million penalty and stripped of financial control over the buildings.

‘Suffering met with consequences’

Standing inside the lobby of Robert Fulton Terrace, Mayor Mamdani detailed the “inhumane” conditions that residents of the two complexes, which house over 500 families, have endured.

“For years, these landlords met their tenants’ suffering with silence,” said Mayor Mamdani. “Today, that neglect is finally met with consequences. This $31 million penalty sends a clear message: New Yorkers are not disposable, and housing is a human right,” he added.

Karan Singh and Rajmattie Persaud are on the Public Advocates’ “Worst Landlords” list. They have over a thousand violations for lack of heat, lack of hot water, hazardous mold, lead paint, broken elevators in 17-story buildings, roaches, and mice.

For too long, renters have… pic.twitter.com/dr9cmrSKSV

— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) May 6, 2026STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD

City officials said the victory goes beyond the $31 million penalty.

Following two years of aggressive litigation, the court judgment introduces a new oversight structure aimed at ensuring long-delayed repairs are finally completed. As part of the order, a Chief Restructuring Officer has been appointed to take control of the buildings’ finances, while the city has frozen $900,000 from the landlords’ personal bank accounts to fund urgent repairs immediately.

Officials also confirmed that a new property management firm has already been brought in to tackle the backlog of thousands of housing violations.

The two properties, originally part of the Mitchell-Lama middle-income housing programme, were sold to private speculators in the mid-2000s. Since then, tenants and organisers from “Our Bronx” have documented a steady decline in safety and maintenance.

The
Mamdani administration is now urging Fannie Mae, which has started foreclosure proceedings on the buildings, to work with the city to find a new owner committed to keeping the apartments safe, affordable, and properly maintained over the long term.

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“We are taking control of the situation,” HPD Commissioner Dina Levy added. “No landlord is above the law, and every New Yorker deserves safe, dignified housing.”

First Published:
May 07, 2026, 08:26 IST

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