NYC’s worst landlord of 2023 beat own record for open housing violations, public advocate says

NEW YORK — A notorious “slumlord” outdid himself this year by beating his own record for most open housing violations, earning him the top spot on the city’s Worst Landlord Watchlist for 2023.

Daniel Ohebshalom — also known as Daniel Shalom — had a “staggering” 3,293 open violations this year across over 300 apartments in 15 buildings he owns, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said Wednesday.

The “designated head officer” of Ohebshalom’s properties, Johnathan Santana, is the one technically named on the list. But Williams singled out out Ohebshalom by name. That broke the record of of 2,980 open violations Ohebshalom set in 2022, when he was also named the city’s worst landlord, Williams said.

Williams called Santana and Ohebshalom “shameless in their negligence and predatory practices, as is clear in their record violations,” and “one of the most infamously negligent owners in the city.”

Williams’ list of the worst 100 landlords is based on “widespread, persistent, dangerous housing violations” recorded by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). Such violations can range from heat outages to rodent infestation and other problems especially common in older buildings.

“Through tenant organizing, legal battles, and legislative initiatives, we can hold bad actors to account and deliver relief for New Yorkers facing unlivable conditions and declining unaffordable rents,” Williams said.

The city Department of Housing Preservation and Development is “aggressively” litigating against Ohebshalom and his company, Keystone Management, in multiple boroughs, an agency spokesperson said.

Earlier this year, the city won over $4 million from a trio of lawsuits against Ohebshalom and the company, the department says.

Williams released his worst landlord list outside 410 W. 46th St. in Manhattan, a Hell’s Kitchen apartment building that is one of the properties in the Ohebshalom-Santana portfolio. Ohebshalom’s properties include apartment buildings in Queens and Manhattan, records show.

The Hell’s Kitchen building became the subject of a Housing Preservation and Development lawsuit after multiple apartments were illegally converted into short-term rentals in 2019. Conditions deteriorated, and residents complained of living with wall cracks, unsafe wiring, harassment and constant break-ins.

The building was recently put under the control of a court-appointed outside administrator charged with rehabbing the property under HPD’s 7A program, which is designed for particularly dangerous circumstances.

John Reeds, a former actor who has lived at 410 W. 46th St. for over 30 years, described the past three years of trying to get an administrator to take over from Ohebshalom as “total hell.”

“The destruction of these properties by slumlords not only harms the tenants who reside here, but it also harms our neighborhood, it harms New York City and it removes pieces of our history,” he said.

“The one thing that I know from the bottom of my heart is that there is an absolute epidemic happening in this city: it is an epidemic of predatory landlords,” Reeds said. “And these landlords are motivated by one thing and one thing alone, and that is greed.”

Residents of Ohebshalom’s other properties have described terrible conditions including loss of hot water, broken front doors, constant intruders and even mushrooms caused by leaking.

Neither Ohebshalom nor Santana could immediately be reached for comment. Inquiries to Ohebshalom’s attorney were not returned.

Rounding out the top five worst offenders on Williams’ 2023 worst landlord list are David Tennenbaum, who has buildings in the Bronx and Brooklyn; Larry Hirchfield, who has buildings in Brooklyn and Manhattan; Sima Abdavies, a landlord in the Bronx; and Alfred Thompson, who owns properties in Brooklyn and the Bronx.

Williams said the worst overall landlord was the city-run New York City Housing Authority. As of October, NYCHA buildings had nearly 600,000 open work orders for repairs.

The list’s release came two days after the collapse Monday of the corner of a seven-story apartment building in Morris Heights in the Bronx. No one was seriously injured, but more than 100 people have been displaced as a result.

The Billingsley Terrace property had over 100 open housing violations, something Williams said “should spur us to action against negligent landlords and negligent owners who don’t respond to violations.”

Records show the Bronx building is owned by Yonah Roth of 1915 Realty LLC, which shares a Brooklyn address with Jacob Zanger, who is ranked 50th on Williams’ worst landlords list.

According to the Public Advocate’s office, Jacob Zanger shares a business address and building portfolio with “Jay Zanger,” who was number 81 on 2022’s list. Jay Zanger is also listed as an owner of the Billingsley Terrace property in filings with the city’s Department of Buildings. Neither Roth nor Zanger could immediately be reached for comment.

Williams said “damaging” budget cuts to city agencies threaten vital services like those from HPD and make it harder to hold landlords accountable.

“Inspecting and enforcing against the worst landlords in the city is only possible with adequate funding and resources directed toward those efforts,” he said. “Tenants will be left to suffer the consequences of these cuts.”

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