New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a historic decision on Wednesday, imposing a record $31 million penalty on the owners of two troubled Bronx apartment complexes. The announcement was made alongside Deputy Mayor Leila Bozorg and Department of Housing and Preservation Commissioner Dina Levy. The penalty targets Karan Singh and Rajmattie Persaud, owners of Robert Fulton Terrace and Fordham Towers, where tenants have endured unsafe conditions for years, including broken elevators, vermin infestations, and chronic heat and hot water outages.
Record Penalty and Oversight
The $31 million payment is the largest ever obtained by the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). At Robert Fulton Terrace alone, tenants have filed over 2,300 housing complaints in the past two years, resulting in more than 1,000 violations. Fordham Towers has logged nearly 1,800 complaints and over 500 violations in the same period. A Chief Restructuring Officer has been appointed to oversee long-delayed repairs, and funds from the owners' bank accounts have been restrained for this purpose.
Mayor's Statement and Legal Action
Mayor Mamdani stated on X that Singh and Persaud were on the Public Advocate's "Worst Landlord" list, citing over a thousand violations for lack of heat, hot water, hazardous mold, lead paint, broken elevators in 17-story buildings, roaches, and mice. He emphasized that renters would no longer cycle through bad owners and foreclosures. The penalty follows a 2024 lawsuit filed by the Legal Aid Society and the city, which stripped the owners of financial control over the buildings.
While Mamdani's initiative has been appreciated by residents, given his campaign on affordable housing, it has also drawn criticism online. Some users questioned why the mayor targeted landlords of Indian origin, pointing out that other landlords on the "Worst Landlord" list appear to be Jewish or White. One user wrote, "Can you explain why you picked two Hindus of Indian origin to publicly flog and financially penalise?" Another added, "The Mayor claims he is not anti-Hindu and I have defended him against that attack but it is getting difficult to do so."
