Zohran Mamdani repeatedly vowed to fight against New York’s “worst landlords” during his election campaign. Now he’s living up to that promise by coming for them where it hurts: their bank balances.
Mamdani has unveiled his plan to nail slippery landlords to the wall, and yesterday specifically called out Karan Singh and Rajmattie Persaud, who between them have “over a thousand violations for lack of heat, lack of hot water, hazardous mold, lead paint, broken elevators in 17-story buildings, roaches, and mice.”
Whether you live in New York City or not, you should know that getting a landlord to carry out repairs can be like pulling teeth. You can send letter after letter detailing dangerous living conditions, send photographs, even report them to the authorities, and very little will happen. All too often, renters need to get lawyers involved simply to ensure a safe standard of living.
Well, that’s changing under Mamdani – and landlords across the nation should pay attention:
Karan Singh and Rajmattie Persaud are on the Public Advocates’ “Worst Landlords” list. They have over a thousand violations for lack of heat, lack of hot water, hazardous mold, lead paint, broken elevators in 17-story buildings, roaches, and mice.
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) May 6, 2026
For too long, renters have… pic.twitter.com/dr9cmrSKSV
“For too long, renters have cycled through bad owners and foreclosures. Not anymore. A Chief Restructuring Officer has been appointed to ensure the repairs to Singh and Persaud’s buildings are made. We restrained funds from the owners’ bank accounts, which will be used by the Chief Restructuring Officer to make repairs.”
“Time’s up for bad landlords”
Mamdani’s mention of “restrained funds” means he’s going to freeze or hold money in those landlords’ bank accounts so they can’t spend, transfer, or withdraw it. Some might say that the mayor’s office has no right to access private bank accounts and control money that’s not theirs.
I don’t see an issue. Fix the buildings you rent out or else.
— Gay Donald (@GayDonald11) May 7, 2026
But, frankly, whatever quibbles that may cause are easily overridden by getting kids out of dangerously moldy and vermin-infested apartments and bringing them fully up to code.
As these landlords miserably watch their bank balances shrink as their money is spent by Mamdani to fix their properties, they might consider that they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble if they’d just made the repairs themselves in the first place.
Besides, I suspect that Mamdani actually taking direct action against the worst landlords in New York City isn’t going to cost him any votes. Practically every New Yorker will have a nightmare landlord story, so we’ll be enjoying this delicious schadenfreude along with everyone else!
