Mayor Mamdani Announces Historic $2.1M Court Judgement Against Bronx Landlord

First-of-its-Kind Judgment Requires Maximum Civil Penalty and Repairs within One Month at 919 Prospect Avenue

NEW YORK – Today, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and New York City Corporation Counsel Steve Banks announced a first-of-its-kind ruling in a case that the City brought against the owners of 919 Prospect Avenue in the South Bronx. The ruling, the first to impose the maximum penalties available under New York City’s Nuisance Abatement Law, will require the landlord to address the most severe of the building’s noncompliant conditions within two weeks, all noncompliant conditions within one month, and pay $1,000 for each day that a public nuisance has persisted — including a full retroactive penalty of $2,174,000.

919 Prospect Avenue is an occupied, rent-stabilized building owned by Seth Miller, who has consistently been placed on the Public Advocate’s “Worst Landlords Watchlist,” and the associated building is currently part of Housing Preservation and Development's (HPD) Alternative Enforcement Program. At 919 Prospect Avenue, there are violations for a deteriorated facade, unsafe electrical equipment, obstructed fire escapes, an unsafe elevator, inoperable boiler, a partial vacate order, peeling lead-based paint, lack of self-closing doors, mice and roach infestations, and the failure to erect a necessary sidewalk shed.

After the City sought an injunction, a New York State Supreme Court Judge issued a Decision and Order granting the City’s motion to order the correction of code violations and abatement of all public nuisances at the premises, and the imposition of Nuisance Abatement Law penalties in the amount of $1,000 per day for each day the building had an open violation that rendered it a public nuisance – including full retroactive penalty of $2,174,000. The City’s motion was supported by building tenants represented by TakeRoot Justice who joined the City’s case. This judgment resulted from the city’s ramped-up, comprehensive enforcement against building owners who put tenants at risk, led by the Law Department in close cooperation with the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants and numerous city agencies.

Bronx Supreme Court Rotunda

851 Grand Concourse

Bronx

March 12, 2026