Watch CBS News

Bill De Blasio Releases List Of City's Worst Landlords, Apartment Buildings

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has released his third annual list of slumlords and the worst apartment buildings in the five boroughs.

The list includes 317 landlords covering 358 buildings.

Problems at the buildings range from leaky roofs, to holes in the walls to no heat or water.

1010 WINS' Steve Sandberg reports

Podcast

The building with the most violations is 245 Sullivan Place in Crown Heights where tenants struggle to deal with roaches, rats, crumbling ceilings, mold, exposed wiring, and a lack of heat, hot water and electricity in some of the apartments.

LINK: NYC's Worst Landlords

City records show the building has more than 650 open violations.

The building is owned by 92-year-old James Crossman of Queens.

Tenants said he has made no major repairs in two years.

Crossman, however, is not considered the worst landlord in the city.  That title went to Josh Neustein of 1071 Home Corp.  He owns eight of the buildings on De Blasio's list which have received nearly 1,200 violations.

"Obviously this is a guy who doesn't care about his tenants," de Blasio said.

De Blasio said the list has "helped to successfully pressure landlords to improve the safety and living conditions for thousands of New Yorkers."

Over the last year and a half, landlords at 176 were "shamed into action."

More than 250,000 visitors have used the landlord watch list website since its launch last year.

What do you have to say about your landlord? Sound off below...

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.