Stay away from these NYC landlords—some of whom are in pretty ritzy neighborhoods

By Lucy Cohen Blatter | November 30, 2015 - 2:59PM

Want to know whether your landlord is among the city's worst? The NYC Landlord Watchlist has been recently updated and includes photos of the worst offenders' buildings, a big help if you're in the market for a new apartment and need to know which to avoid.

The Watchlist, compiled by the office of Public Advocate Letitia James’, is a catalog of building owners with the worst violation records with the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Department of Buildings (e.g. lack of heat and hot water, inadequate fire exits, rodents, etc.).

You can search by borough or for buildings near you, or you can type in a search for a particular address. Interestingly, it's not just the city's poorer neighborhoods with delinquent landlords. For instance, the Manhattan building with the most violations (649 for the HPD and 2 for the DOB) is on West 57th Street, a.k.a "Billionaire's Row." (Note: The building, known as The Windermere, is under construction and doesn't actually have any tenants at the moment. The PA's office says it still presents a threat.)

There's also a building on Barrow Street in the prime West Village that has 254 HPD violations. The most recent apartment to rent there was in October. It was a one-bedroom for $3,295.

The worst landlord of all, according to the list? Parkash 2675 LLC, which owns 11 building in the Bronx and has a total of 2,235 violations, nearly 1,000 more than the second worst offender. Renter beware.

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