BY BEN BRACHFELD
The city has reached a settlement
over repeat building
code and tenant harassment violations
with a Brooklyn-based
landlord who has topped the
Public Advocate’s Worst Landlord
list two years in a row.
Jason Korn, who owns a
slew of properties in Brooklyn
and Manhattan incorporated
under LLCs, has reached an
agreement with the city’s Department
of Housing Preservation
and Development
(HPD) to pony up $235,000 in
civil penalties for hundreds
of violations at six buildings,
four in Brooklyn and two in
Manhattan, and agreed to correct
all active housing code violations
within 90 days and to
come into compliance with the
city’s tenant harassment law.
“Landlords have a responsibility
to provide safe housing
for their tenants and when
they fail to meet that responsibility,
COURIER L 16 IFE, DECEMBER 3-9, 2021
there needs to be consequences,”
said HPD Commissioner
Louise Carroll.
The six buildings in question
are home to 388 households,
according to HPD. Of the
four in Brooklyn, two of them
are in Midwood (1921 Ave. I
and 1439 Ocean Ave.) while the
other two are in Flatbush (578
E. 17th St. and 250 E. 29th St.).
The buildings involved in the
settlement also include two in
Inwood, Manhattan.
Korn has exhibited gross
negligence in managing his
properties, HPD found. Investigators
documented hundreds
of violations in 35 inspections
at the buildings in question,
fi nding rampant rodent and
insect infestation, mold, lead
paint violations, and leaks,
among other things. On numerous
occasions, Korn also
submitted paperwork falsely
certifying that outstanding violations
had been corrected.
Tenants rally against their landlord — one of the city’s ‘worst.’ Photo by Ben Verde
The department says it will
continue monitoring Korn’s
buildings to ensure he complies
with the terms of the settlement,
and says it will take
him to court if he fails to do so.
Korn has a whopping ten
buildings, with 459 total units,
listed on Public Advocate Jumaane
Williams’ 2020 worst
landlord list, where he holds
the distinct dishonor of being
the number 1 worst individual
landlord in the entire city.
Throughout 2020, Korn maintained
a jaw-dropping average
of 1,822 open housing code violations
at any one time.
Conditions in Korn’s properties
are so heinous that tenants
are risking eviction to
organize against his neglect,
including at buildings that
aren’t part of the settlement.
Tenants at 1616 President St.
in Crown Heights went on a
rent strike last year in protest
of widespread horrifi c
conditions, Curbed reported.
Korn reportedly responded by
threatening to evict them.
At nearby 776 Crown St.,
tenants are calling for top-tobottom
repairs. One tenant
told Brooklyn Paper in May
that the mold was so bad in
her apartment that her daughter
had developed asthma. An
inspector sent by the landlord
contended the apartment was
mold-free, but when she called
311 to bring in her own inspector,
she was advised that the
situation was so bad that her
best option was to relocate.
Reached for comment,
Korn’s attorney John Bianco
said that the landlord was already
engaged in remediation
work when HPD reached
out with the settlement offer,
which would allow him
to minimize legal fees and remove
violations from his record.
Bianco said that the settlement
reached is in the best
interest of all parties.
City reaches
settlement with
‘worst landlord’
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