Mayor Mamdani Announces Major Settlement Affecting 750 Tenants Across Three Boroughs

New York City has reached a significant settlement with A&E Real Estate Holdings, securing $2.1 million in restitution and mandating repairs across 14 buildings in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. The agreement, announced Friday by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, affects approximately 750 tenants and addresses more than 4,000 housing code violations.

The settlement represents one of the new administration’s first major enforcement actions against property owners accused of neglecting tenant welfare and violating city housing codes.

“We want to make it clear to everyone in this city that no one is above the law,” Mamdani stated during a news conference in Jackson Heights, Queens. “If you are a landlord violating the law, then this administration will hold you to account.”

According to city officials, A&E Real Estate has accumulated over 140,000 total violations across its properties, including 35,000 violations in the past year alone. The settlement requires the company to correct the outstanding violations, pay substantial financial penalties, and cease what city officials characterized as tenant harassment practices.

Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Dina Levy emphasized that the litigation produced binding injunctions prohibiting further tenant harassment while requiring court-ordered repairs that have long been delayed.

The conditions described by residents paint a troubling picture of life in these buildings. Diana de la Paz, a tenant who spoke at Friday’s news conference, detailed months-long elevator outages that she said effectively imprisoned elderly and disabled residents in their apartments. She also recounted persistent heat failures and pest infestations that compromised living conditions.

Perhaps most sobering was de la Paz’s account of an 84-year-old neighbor who died during a heat wave, a tragedy she linked to the building’s ongoing maintenance failures.

The settlement comes as the Mamdani administration signals a more aggressive posture toward landlords who fail to maintain safe and habitable conditions. When asked how forcefully his administration plans to pursue property owners who violate housing codes, the mayor made clear that enforcement would be a priority.

“City Hall will not sit idly by and accept this illegality, nor will we allow bad actors to continue to harass tenants with impunity,” Mamdani said.

The agreement spans three boroughs and addresses a wide range of violations, from structural issues to basic maintenance failures. Beyond the immediate financial penalties, the settlement includes provisions designed to ensure ongoing compliance and prevent future harassment of tenants.

For the 750 families affected by these conditions, the settlement represents potential relief from years of substandard housing. Whether it marks a turning point in the city’s enforcement of housing codes or simply addresses one particularly egregious case remains to be seen.

What is clear is that the new administration has chosen to make landlord accountability an early priority, sending a message to property owners across the city that housing code violations will face serious consequences.

The full implementation of the settlement will be monitored by city agencies to ensure compliance with all mandated repairs and injunctions.