Mamdani pledges ‘aggressive’ crackdown on bad landlords, says NYC will work to ‘transfer ownership’ to tenants

Seize the means of accommodation!

Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani put bad landlords on notice Tuesday, pledging to help “transfer ownership” of chronically neglected buildings to tenants as part of his sprawling, new housing plan.

“When necessary we will take aggressive legal action to remove negligent owners and property managers,” he said to cheers as he unveiled his administration “Block by Block” plan in Gowanus.

“And for buildings that have suffered chronic neglect, we will work to transfer ownership to responsible stewards – stewards that include community land trusts, nonprofits or even the tenants themselves.”

The 111-page housing plan – which overall calls to build 200,000 new affordable homes, and preserve or stabilize another 200,000 over the next 10 years – would dramatically boost the power of New York City renters.

Indeed, the proposal’s first major section outlines plans for “empowering tenants,” including ramping up code enforcement against deadbeat landlords and fostering the growth of tenants unions that’d snitch on negligent owners.

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The section also calls to launch “Our Home,” a program to help convert rental buildings into resident-controlled affordable cooperatives.

The co-op program is expected to support 300 new affordable units during the next two fiscal years, according to the plan.

The pro-tenant policies raised alarms among many real estate leaders and pols, who warned that they’d actually undercut Mamdani’s affordable housing goals.

“This is a one-sided, pro-tenant plan that does absolutely nothing for thousands of distressed small rent-stabilized property owners, who next month will be saddled with a Mamdani-engineered rent freeze from the Rent Guidelines Board,” said Ann Korchak, board president of Small Property Owners of New York.

“The code enforcement section, in particular, is all politics and no real substance. Small owners are often victimized by tenant-caused violations and denial of access to apartments. This latest Mamdani housing scheme will deepen the distress of rent-stabilized properties, the backbone of affordable housing.”

Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) argued Mamdani was putting his leftist ideology over results.

“Homeownership over perpetual rentorship should always be the goal, but this sounds like we’re about to see some kind of city-funded class warfare initiative get underway,” she said.

“Using city-funding to train housing activists on how to take over their buildings seems like a grave misuse of taxpayer dollars, and is yet another example of the mayor inserting his far left ideology into the city budget.”

The overall housing plan was developed by officials in Mamdani’s City Hall, including his tenant advocate Cea Weaver, sources said.

Weaver, who previously called to abolish private property, was “integral” to the plan, insiders said.

The “Fix the City” code enforcement initiative calls to target the city’s worst landlords, “who speculate on buildings, persistently disregard repairs, and refuse to improve or change their business practices.”

The effort will start this year with probes into at least 10 housing portfolios with the largest concentration of “egregious violations,” according to the plan.

The city will use an existing program – called 7A – to start legal action that could remove negligent owners and managers from day-to-day management, the plan states.

Mamdani said that under the initiative, the ownership of buildings in chronic neglect could be transferred to “responsible stewards.”

Those would include “community land trusts, nonprofits or even the tenants themselves,” he said.