De Blasio Hopes New Slumlord Watchlist Shames Landlords

Yesterday, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio launched a new online slumlord watchlist, in an attempt to hold landlords accountable in a way they never have been before. "When you or I get a parking ticket, we have to pay. When a landlord gets a violation for a health and safety problem, they ignore it in many cases and then they ignore it and then they ignore it again," he told the Daily News.

Helena Wong, who works with tenants as director of CAAV Organizing Asian Communities, agrees about a lack of consequences: "They use loopholes to delay the process. They say, 'Okay, I'll fix it, I'll fix it,' and they even sign an agreement saying they'll fix it, but that doesn't mean it will get fixed." While continuing to fight for more fines for scalawag landlords, De Blasio hopes the new list shames some landlords into fixing their places, and that Mayor Bloomberg will sign a City Council-approved bill requiring every building to register all owners with a 25% stake, using a real address, not a post office box.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Ben Yakas in News on August 31, 2010 3:07 PM

Comments [rss]

wow 14th street

The Village Voice newspaper has been listing the 20

worst NYC LL's for decades now.

LL's are shameless but this will make the tenants

feel better i.e. to ventilate their agony.

The D.O.B. cant find my lousy LL's in Korea they have

a sham importing company here that collects rent for them

in NU Joisey I guess we need to do better here with

licenses ,a great idea.

exnyer

Look around the projects lately? NYC is the biggest slumlord.

John L

True indeed.

heycarrieann

They're slumlords, they alreay have no shame. Licensing them or posting a list isn't going to change the fact that they are scummy bastards. Managing companies are the evil spawn of landlords, and they can ignore you just as easily as the landlords themselves.

fuboy

Bill, if you and I ignore a parking ticket, the car gets towed. How about putting something like that in place and not a website that no one will visit?

Actually, I like the idea of the city treating a building like a car. If a building has too many violations, seize the property. Until violations are cleared and the property is up to code, the landlord cannot collect rent. If the landlord walks away or doesn't want to put the money in, the state can sell the property. The new landlord will have to correct the violations, but has a certain time in which to do it.

Bill, get to work on this, I think it's a better idea than your wall-of-shame website.

John L

Or just give the landlord a set amount of days and if they don't make the repairs then the city sends in its own people and gives the landlord the bill and if he doesn't pay within a set period of time the declare the property abandoned and give the tenants the chance to buy it first before putting it up for auction.

This silly website will solve nothing.

lornagrl

I believe that all landlords need to be LICENSED. In order to get a license they would need to pass a test to prove that they know fire safety laws, NYC housing laws etc.. (so many landlords are ignorant about these laws).

If a landlord has x number of violations, there license should be REVOKED.

Landlords without a license would then have to have a management company manage their property.

You need a license to sell a hotdog in this city. Why isn't it the same for landlords?