{"id":108064,"date":"2026-01-22T02:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T02:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/108064\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T02:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T02:34:14","slug":"nyc-public-advocate-releases-2025-worst-landlord-watchlist-citing-nearly-9000-violations-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/108064\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Public Advocate releases 2025 \u2018Worst Landlord Watchlist,\u2019 citing nearly 9,000 violations \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, joined by tenants and housing advocates, unveiled his seventh annual Worst Landlord Watchlist<\/a> on Jan. 21, calling out the city\u2019s most egregiously negligent property owners with the highest number of unresolved housing code violations.<\/p>\n

At a press conference outside 80 Woodruff Ave. in Flatbush \u2014 a building owned by two of the list\u2019s top offenders, Margaret Brunn and Donald Hastings of A&E Real Estate Holdings \u2014 Williams said the pair had accumulated more violations than any landlords in the watchlist\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

A combined 60 properties owned by Brunn and Hastings have nearly 9,000 open violations, including rat and roach infestations, mold, heat and hot-water outages, broken elevators and other safety hazards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first known instance of the top two landlords representing the same entity, and demonstrates both the breadth of the violations at their properties and the means with which corporate entities seek to avoid accountability with different LLCs and head offices in city records,\u201d Williams said, noting that the city last week settled a lawsuit with A&E Real Estate mandating repairs across its portfolio.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tenants and housing advocates join Public Advocate Jumaane Williams at a Flatbush press conference to release the 2025 Worst Landlord Watchlist, which names the city\u2019s most negligent property owners.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"Tenants and housing advocates join Public Advocate Jumaane Williams at a Flatbush press conference to release the 2025 Worst Landlord Watchlist, which names the city\u2019s most negligent property owners.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Violations cited on the list include heat and hot-water outages, rodent infestations and collapsing infrastructure. Williams said the watchlist serves as an organizing tool to inform and empower tenants living in buildings owned by the worst landlords so they can demand long-overdue repairs.<\/p>\n

The 2025 top 10 worst landlords in New York City, ranked by number of open violations, are:\n<\/p>\n

Margaret Brunn, 24 buildings with 4,872 open HPD violations
\nDonald Hastings, 36 buildings with 3,889 open HPD violations
\nBarry Singer, 15 buildings with 2,885 open HPD violations
\nJoseph Cafiero, 19 buildings with 2,871 open HPD violations
\nPeter Fine, 7 buildings with 2,206 open HPD violations
\nRobyn Lucas, 14 buildings with 2,101 open HPD violations
\nYonatan Bahumi, 34 buildings with 1,801 open HPD violations
\nClaudette Henry, 25 buildings with 1,738 open HPD violations
\nJoseph Pistilli, 8 buildings with 1,656 open HPD violations
\nDavid Tennenbaum, 14 buildings with 1,549 open HPD violations<\/p>\n

Williams also criticized the New York City Housing Authority, which he said has \u201cdemonstrated an inability to improve conditions,\u201d citing roughly 612,000 open work orders.<\/p>\n

\u201c[NYCHA] would far surpass anyone on the list, but they\u2019re public,\u201d he said. \u201cIn November of 2025, there were about 612,000 open work orders, near identical number to the previous year. They\u2019re in a category all by themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Council Member Rita Joseph, whose district includes Flatbush, said 80 Woodruff Ave. \u2014 which was not included in the city\u2019s lawsuit against A&E \u2014 had failed its fifth rat inspection since 2018 and currently has 313 open violations, including 73 Class C violations.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust since November, HPD has issued 21 violations here for things like rats, mice, cracked walls and floors, overflowing garbage, leaky radiators, household items and garbage left out in the hallways, fire hazards, roach molds, [and] chipping paint,\u201d Joseph said.<\/p>\n

Throughout the week, volunteers are independently canvassing A&E-owned buildings, speaking with tenants about organizing, seeking repairs and attending upcoming \u201cRental Rip-Off\u201d hearings hosted by the Mamdani administration. Organizers joined Williams for a rally outside 80 Woodruff Ave., and the public advocate \u2014 who began his career as a tenant organizer more than two decades ago \u2014 later joined volunteers to knock on tenants\u2019 doors.<\/p>\n

\"\"The 2025 Worst Landlord Watchlist highlights property owners with the highest number of unresolved housing code violations across New York City.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Sabrina Simons, an organizer with the Flatbush Tenant Coalition, also urged passage of \u201cClean Hands\u201d legislation (S4098\/A216), which would bar landlords from evicting tenants for nonpayment if unresolved building code violations exist, giving tenants leverage to secure repairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cClean Hands gives us a tool to fight back by slowing the eviction machine, restoring housing court to its original purpose, and shifting the power away from the neglection of the landlord, and back to the tenants,\u201d Simons said, noting that tenants most affected by housing neglect are overwhelmingly Black and brown residents who suffer health consequences from lack of heat, mold and pests.<\/p>\n

After the press conference, Williams joined housing justice volunteers launching a weeklong canvassing effort, speaking with A&E tenants about organizing and repair demands and encouraging them to attend upcoming hearings hosted by the mayor.<\/p>\n

\"\"A tenant describes ongoing rat infestations in the basement laundry room during a tour with Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, saying many residents no longer feel comfortable using the space.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Williams also toured the building to view conditions firsthand.<\/p>\n

One resident said many tenants avoid using the basement laundry room because of a rat infestation. Brooklyn Paper observed rat droppings throughout the basement, a broken wall with an exposed pipe and water pooling in front of the washing machines.<\/p>\n

Another tenant, who has lived in the building for 38 years, reported mold, an exposed gas pipe, a refrigerator door that does not close and an ongoing rat infestation. She said she barricades the area where rats enter her apartment with a makeshift barrier. Her granddaughter, who has asthma, can no longer visit because of the conditions. Brooklyn Paper also observed exposed electrical wiring in the bathroom light fixture.<\/p>\n

In another apartment, the ceiling above the shower stall had been covered with plastic after contractors cut a hole to investigate a possible leak affecting a unit below.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"Brooklyn Paper observed rat droppings throughout the basement.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"An exposed pipe in the basement.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Despite the conditions, lawmakers, tenant advocates and residents expressed confidence that Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who revitalized the Mayor\u2019s Office to Protect Tenants on his first day in office, will use the city\u2019s authority to secure relief for renters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to thank the Mamdani administration. It\u2019s night and day, working with an administration that\u2019s more interested in holding bad landlords accountable than just taking their donations,\u201d Williams said, adding that the administration offered to use its platform to publish the list.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have made a concerted effort to work with us to hold these landlords accountable. That hasn\u2019t happened before, and so this is the seventh one. This is the first time that from the jump, they want to see how they can help coordinate, use their resources, and use partner resources to uplift this list and to help tenants get organized,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for A&E Real Estate told Brooklyn Paper the company has invested more than $800 million across its portfolio to improve building conditions, including elevator modernizations at nearly 100 buildings, boiler replacements at more than 150 buildings, full window replacements at more than 100 buildings and more than 70 water and gas riser replacements. The company said it has closed nearly 230,000 work orders and cleared more than 35,000 violations since acquiring its properties.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo label over $800 million in repairs as \u2018neglect\u2019 is misleading and unrealistic, even as we recognize there is much more work to be done. It has been our mission to work with the City to improve every building we manage and address long-standing issues at properties that have been neglected for too long. That will not change,\u201d the spokesperson said, adding that many A&E buildings were already in severe disrepair before the company took ownership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, joined by tenants and housing advocates, unveiled his seventh annual Worst…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[48724,98,48549,16363,48548,9,12,370,56,63,65,64,48725,43275,23193,48726],"class_list":{"0":"post-108064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-ae-real-estate-holdings","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-donald-hastings","11":"tag-landlord","12":"tag-margaret-brunn","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-newsletter","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-nyc-headlines","19":"tag-nyc-news","20":"tag-pubic-advocate-jumaane-williams","21":"tag-tenant","22":"tag-tenant-rights","23":"tag-worst-landlord-watchlist"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}