NYC's Worst Landlords Watchlist About the Watchlist NYC Public Advocate.htm

ABOUT THE WATCHLIST
FAQs FOR TENANTS
RESOURCES FOR LANDLORDS

** PLEASE NOTE: YOU ARE VISITING AN ARCHIVED WEBPAGE.**

This webpage is an archived image of the Office of the Public Advocate's website as of December 31, 2013. These materials are made available as historical archival information only. The Office of the Public Advocate cautions that the information has not been reviewed subsequently for current accuracy and completeness, nor has the information been updated. The information contained on this page may have been superseded by subsequent events and the passage of time.

New York City has more apartments and tenants than any other American city. More than 2.14 million New Yorkers rent and over 64% of all apartments citywide are rentals. Unfortunately, New York City is also home to thousands of broken down buildings where tenants live in deplorable and unsafe conditions.  Complaints of asthma-inducing mold, peeling lead paint, and broken plumbing come in to 311 by the thousands every month. For five years in a row, housing and landlord complaints have been the number one reason New Yorkers call 311.
In August 2010, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio launched NYC’s Worst Landlords Watchlist to mount public pressure on landlords who let violations pile up year after year without consequence. Since it was launched in August 2010, the site has become one of the City's most used commonly used resources, helping tenants better organize to secure building repairs and enabling prospective renters to view a building's violation history of before signing a lease.  The lastest rendition of the site, NYC’s Worst Landlords Watchlist 3.0, includes more than 5,000 buildings.
Rankings and eligibility for NYC’s Worst Landlords Watchlist is based on housing violation data from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development  (HPD).  There are more than 150,000 buildings registered with HPD. From this total universe, over 5,400 qualified for the Watchlist -- representing 3.6% of the total private housing stock.

Eligibility

All buildings registered with HPD are analyzed to determine if they are elible for NYC's Worst Landlord Watchlist.  The Public Advocate's office looks at the number of open violations that were issued after January 1, 2007.  For a landlord to be listed on the Watchlist, they must own a building with fewer than 35 units with an average of at least three open, serious violations (B and C violations) per unit . Larger buildings must have an average of at least two open, serious violations (B and C violations) per unit.  Buildings with one or two total units are not included in NYC's Worst Landlord Watchlist.  Vacant buildings with no current tenants have also been excluded.
Housing code violations are classified by HPD into the following categories:

Class A: Non-hazardous violations, such as minor leaks or lack of signs designating floor numbers. An owner has 90 days to correct an A violation and two weeks to certify repair to remove the violation.

Class B: Hazardous violations, such as requiring public doors to be self-closing, adequate lighting in public areas, lack of posted Certificate of Occupancy, or removal of vermin. An owner has 30 days to correct a B violation and two weeks to certify the correction to remove the violation.

Class C: Immediately hazardous violations, such as inadequate fire exits, rodents, lead-based paint, lack of heat, hot water, electricity, or gas. An owner has 24 hours to correct a C violation and five days to certify the correction to remove the violation. If the owner fails to comply with emergency C violations such as lack of heat or hot water, HPD initiates corrective action through its Emergency Repair Program.

Class I: Violations for which there is an order from a judge to correct a violation. This category also applies if the building is in the Alternative Enforcement Program or an order to vacate exists.

Buildings in Rehabilitation 

Properties that are certified as "buildings in rehabilitation" are exempted from inclusion on NYC's Worst Landlords Watchlist. The Public Advocate's office, in partnership with the City, has developed criteria, below, for buildings that have violations that would otherwise qualify them for Watchlist but are in the process of rehabilitation by responsible owners. In order to be exempt from inclusion on the Worst Landlords Watchlist, a property must either (1) be assigned to a court-appointed 7A Administrator or (2) meet all of the following criteria: (a) Owner purchased building within the past 18 months; (b) The building and/or owner has been noted publicly as working with City or State Agencies on rehabilitation; and (c) The City or State has verified that the building and/or owner have partnered with City or State Agencies on the rehabilitation of the premises.

Updating Property Information

Landlord information contained on NYC's Worst Landlords Watchlist is based on data contained in HPD Property Registration Forms. For more information about HPD’s Property Registration Unit including details on how to update your property’s registration, call (212) 863-7000 or click here. In cases where a property’s HPD Registration appears out-of-date, the Office of the Public Advocate may also consult the New York City Department of Finance’s Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS). In cases where ACRIS indicates a change in ownership that is more up-to-date than the property’s HPD registration, data from ACRIS is used in place of data from HPD Property Registration Forms.  To contact the Public Advocate's office, you can call 212-669-7250 or send an email to GetHelp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov.  

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