New bill would hold Brooklyn landlords accountable of unacceptable living conditions
New efforts to hold landlords accountable include forcing landlords take property management training courses.
More Stories
State Assembly Member Stefani Zinerman brought attention Tuesday to landlords not doing their part to the maintain living conditions in Brooklyn apartments.
The public official held a news conference in front of a Willoughby Street building run by ELH Mgmt.
The building owner ranked as the third-worst landlord in New York City and the worst in all of Brooklyn, according to the public advocate's 2023 landlord list.
According to residents, many of the same landlords appear on the list every year and issues still don't get fixed. Zinerman announced that she's introducing new legislation to help hold landlords more accountable, including forcing landlords who don't fix complaints to pay for and take property management training courses.
If issues with tenants continue following the new efforts, Zinerman says the buildings could then go into receivership. So instead of the rent going to the landlords, it would go straight to the Office of Housing Preservation and Development, which would use the money to fix the problems themselves.
"The legislation is not going to work for everybody, but I think if we're working together as we do in this community, we're going to make sure that we push these folks back or we're going to have some new buildings to own and rent," Zinerman says.
Kelly Magee, spokesperson for the ELH Mgmt., released a statement saying:
Given 609 and 611 Willoughby's status as affordable housing, they are subject to greater government and regulatory oversight than the vast majority of buildings in New York City. We communicate regularly with HPD about the status of our portfolio and work diligently to clear open violations at our properties, many of which were inherited from prior ownership. The buildings in question are a part of a distressed portfolio that ELH took over during COVID and we are working closely with the appropriate agencies to get outstanding violations certified and removed. We urge residents to contact us directly with any concerns."
