Worst landlord in NYC arrested for second time

NEW YORK (PIX11) – One New York City landlord found himself on the public advocate’s worst list not once, but twice.

Landlord Daniel Ohebshalom is heading to jail for the second time, after repeatedly failing to improve living conditions for his tenants, according to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

Ohebshalom has accumulated almost 3,300 HPD violations among his 15 buildings in Queens and Manhattan, according to the public advocate’s website. One building in Flushing had nearly 500 violations alone.

Housing officials say the violations included hazardous conditions such as peeling lead paint, inadequate electricity, and mold and as well as rodent and roach infestations.

Ohebshalom previously spent 60 days on Rikers Island after being charged with using hazardous living conditions to force out tenants from rent-stabilized apartments, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg. He was also accused of filing false documents with city agencies to conceal the buildings he owned.

“…we are living in like no heat or hot water for almost two weeks in the coldest winters,” said tenant Bianca L. during a rally in August. “One time the boiler was burning in the middle of the night, spewing black fumes everywhere and making the building smell like burnt gasoline.”

Tenants say Ohebshalom has refused to make court ordered repairs to their homes despite his 60-day jail sentence. The public advocate’s list shows that violations against the landlord were up from 2,980 the previous year .

The public advocate’s office advises New York City residents to report bad building conditions to 311, the HPD website, or even the office of the public advocate

Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here .

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