Q&A
Council member inquires about the arrest of landlord Daniel Ohebshalom
1:54:41
·
3 min
Council Member Pierina Ana Sanchez inquires about the recent arrest of landlord Daniel O'Hib Shalom, seeking clarification on the reasons for the arrest and its implications. HPD officials explain that the landlord has a long history of violations and that the arrest was due to failure to comply with court orders to make repairs.
- The arrested landlord had 700 violations across two buildings in Washington Heights
- The arrest was a civil arrest warrant resulting from a long legal struggle
- HPD officials hope this action will serve as a warning to other bad landlords
Pierina Ana Sanchez
1:54:41
I I wanna follow-up on the the arrest that was made this morning So you you highlighted in your testimony and and several times in in your questions.
1:54:50
The arrest of landlord Daniel O'Hib Shalom Yep.
1:54:55
Don't know how to say that.
Adolfo Carrión Jr.
1:54:56
Pardon me?
Pierina Ana Sanchez
1:54:58
For neglecting, I mean, this is this is criminal neglect.
1:55:01
But I wanna understand and I want, you know, for the for the benefit of the public, we wanna understand the mechanism.
1:55:06
This was this in relation to the actual violations of the building, or was it just for contempt of court not not showing up?
Adolfo Carrión Jr.
1:55:14
So he has a a a long history of being a a bad land.
1:55:19
Yeah.
1:55:19
He he has a long history of being a horrible landlord.
1:55:24
The the 2 buildings in Washington Heights together had 700 violations And these are modest sized apartment, you know, typical apartment buildings and typical Washington Heights apartment buildings.
1:55:41
And and he's got a extensive portfolio.
1:55:47
So we we have been going after this guy for some time, and and the deputy commissioner can talk a little bit about the details.
1:55:55
Of how that took place and how we got to this point.
1:55:58
But I will say, this should serve as a warning to bad owners, and it should also serve as a a call to tenants as well.
1:56:10
To to know that, you know, the city is looking out for for you.
1:56:15
The last guy we did this too, we collected 1,000,000 of dollars and put in jail.
1:56:19
Was just at the end of 2022, another bad guy on Hunt's Point Avenue in the Bronx.
1:56:26
We're going to continue very aggressively pursuing these bad landlords.
1:56:30
My hope is that this message really is strong enough so that folks will see that this is This is really a disincentive.
1:56:38
And this is a family that's been doing residential real estate in New York for a long time.
1:56:43
They should be ashamed of themselves.
1:56:45
So deputy commissioner?
AnnMarie Santiago
1:56:47
Thank you, council member.
1:56:49
So this is a civil arrest warrant, and this was, as the commissioner said, a long struggle to get to this point.
1:56:57
We have been involved with our alternative reinforcement program with our anti harassment units.
1:57:03
With our housing litigation division at multiple of his properties.
1:57:08
As you probably know, we did take one property through our 7A program at West 46th Street.
1:57:15
He did get foreclosed on by his bank on certain other buildings, and we hope to see progress now there.
1:57:22
At those buildings, we have active litigation across other buildings in this portfolio.
1:57:28
It is encouraging that although it took some time for the courts to to see where we are, that they took this strong action and they issued this order.
1:57:39
We're very grateful that our team stuck with this building for many years going through the court process and assuring that these tenants are hopefully going to start seeing repairs now that his 60 days is gonna start once he gets arrested did.