NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� On a recent weeknight, three tenants of an aging Bronx building were trading apartment horror stories inside a packed ballroom lined with city bureaucrats.
The occasion was the third in a series of 鈥渞ental rip-off hearings,鈥� a new forum launched by for disgruntled renters to air their complaints directly to housing officials 鈥� and in some cases, the mayor himself.
As she waited in line, Gulhayo Yuldosheva said she worried that noxious mold in her apartment had worsened her child鈥檚 asthma. Nearby, her downstairs neighbor, Marina Quiroz, was showing a video of rats scurrying through her kitchen to a representative of the city鈥檚 tenant protection office.
Ann Maitin, a longtime resident of the same building, had just met with the mayor.
鈥淗e let me go over my three minutes,鈥� she said, holding up a spiral notebook鈥檚 worth of grievances.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist swept into office on a promise of , framed the event as a struggle session for renters, assuring the standing room only crowd that their stories would guide the city’s efforts 鈥渢o actually hold landlords accountable when they don鈥檛 follow the law.”
To the residents of 705 Gerard Avenue, this raised a practical problem: No one seemed to know who actually owned their building.
鈥淚t feels like such a basic question,鈥� said Maitin, a retired Verizon technician who recently organized the building鈥檚 tenant association. 鈥淵ou鈥檇 think we鈥檇 have the right to that information.鈥�
Their situation is hardly unique. As corporate owners and investor groups have in New York City, they are increasingly shielding their identities behind limited liability companies, or LLCs.
The practice, which has also been , is legal. But experts warn it could complicate Mamdani鈥檚 promised crackdown, making it harder for the city and tenants to track the chronically negligent owners whose buildings the mayor has vowed to target and even seize.
鈥淭here are these big slumlords that everyone knows are doing predatory investment, but pinning them down is going to be difficult, for the LLC reason,鈥� said Oksana Mironova, a housing policy analyst at the Community Service Society. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a problem for the administration, and it鈥檚 even worse for tenants.鈥�
鈥楾hey treat us the same as the rats鈥�
For Yuldosheva and her neighbors, finding their landlord is one of many problems afflicting their six-story building near Yankee Stadium.
Heat and hot water outages are regular enough that some tenants keep a thermometer on their fridge and the city鈥檚 complaint hotline on speed dial. Common areas are often filthy, and increasingly populated by drug users. Getting help with an urgent maintenance issue 鈥渇eels like waiting for Christmas in July,鈥� said Maitin.
During a monthslong elevator outage, a tenant who uses a wheelchair, Tommy Rodriguez, said he was forced to 鈥渟lide down the steps, like a kid.鈥� Calls to the building management about a repair timeline went unanswered, he said.
Growing up in the building in the 1980s, Rodriguez recalled the previous landlord as a friendly and responsive neighborhood presence.
鈥淭his felt like a home before,鈥� Rodriguez said. 鈥淣ow they treat us the same as the rats.鈥�
A large rodent had recently chewed a hole through his couch cushion. He handled the extermination himself, with a two-by-four.
A distressing breakthrough
Recently, tenants received a clue about their landlord, following the partial collapse of another Bronx building. The man as the owner of that building, David Kleiner, shared a Brooklyn office with their building manager, Binyomin Herzl.
A handful of tenants visited each of the building鈥檚 72 units, logging an array of decrepit conditions and unusual alterations.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want to become the next news story,鈥� said Yuldosheva, pointing to a crack in the wall of a bedroom shared by her three children 鈥� a result, she feared, of the subway that rumbles just below her windows.
Lawsuits show that Herzl has been ordered to pay more than $100,000 for violations across at least six Bronx buildings, several of which were found by a judge to pose an imminent hazard.
Reached by phone, Herzl said he didn’t own any of those properties, but simply acted as a middleman between tenants and the true owners, whom he declined to list. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no one landlord,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a group of investors.鈥�
Kleiner, who was previously featured on the city鈥檚 鈥渨orst landlord鈥� list, confirmed his partial ownership of 705 Gerard in a brief phone call, but declined further comment.
Herzl, meanwhile, attributed the tenants鈥� complaints to 鈥渘ormal wear and tear鈥� of a nearly century old building. He said Mamdani should focus on improving the city鈥檚 public housing, rather than going after private landlords.
鈥淥ur buildings look like five star hotels against his,鈥� he added.
From fines to seizures
When landlords refuse to address a serious violation, like heat or hot water outages, the city can step in and order repairs, then bill the owner directly.
In the last three years, inspectors have ordered emergency repairs at 38 buildings that list either Herzl or Kleiner as an owner, according to records provided by the city鈥檚 housing department. The men have been billed $446,521 for those repairs.
Mamdani has proposed using such fines as a vehicle to bring distressed rental properties under city stewardship, by aggressively pursuing liens on delinquent landlords and buying up their portfolios through foreclosure auctions.
Just as the city can shut down unsanitary restaurants, Mamdani has said, landlords that 鈥渞epeatedly put New Yorkers at risk will not be allowed to operate in New York City 鈥� with no exceptions.”
In reality, the process is resource-intensive and . It is made more complex by the nest of LLCs often used by landlords to obfuscate the full scope of their portfolios, according to Cea Weaver, director of the Mayor鈥檚 Office to Protect Tenants.
鈥淚t鈥檇 be great to have a better sense of who owns the buildings that we are regulating and overseeing,鈥� she said.
State legislation that would have made it easier to identify LLC owners was recently vetoed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul amid pressure from landlords.
New Yorkers vs. Bad Landlords
Kenny Burgos, the CEO of the New York Apartment Association, a landlord lobbying group, said Mamdani鈥檚 tenant proposals 鈥� including for regulated tenants 鈥� would force landlords to cut back on maintenance and services.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 going to take away from the elevator budget, the boiler budget, the heating budget,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a question of math: These buildings are crumbling because of policy, not because of bad landlords.鈥�
He characterized the rental rip-off hearings as 鈥渟how trials鈥� that took a 鈥渢ribal approach鈥� to the city鈥檚 affordable housing crisis.
Despite the combative branding 鈥� 鈥淣ew Yorkers vs. Bad Landlords,鈥� blares 鈥� the Bronx event mostly resembled a standard constituent service night: City officials fielded questions about local laws, helped residents with paperwork and connected them to service providers.
Maitin left feeling 鈥済lad to be heard by someone who can actually do something about the problem,鈥� but felt it was too early to tell 鈥渋f it鈥檚 all talk.”
The next morning, she was surprised to find the building鈥檚 superintendent applying a fresh coat of paint to a staircase. Outside, workers were removing scaffolding that had been in front of the building for years.
鈥淚 think they caught wind of the rental rip-off,鈥� Maitin said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e scared.鈥�
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