How reviled NYC landlord Steve Croman forces tenants out of
rent-stabilized apartments
Curbed New York
By: Ameena Walker
13 October 2016
Residents of 301 East 108th Street have reported harassment from Croman. PropertyShark
A lengthy new report from Bloomberg details how notorious Manhattan
landlord Steve Croman allegedly used shady and illegal tactics to
deregulate 390 rent-stabilized apartments within his 140 New York City
buildings over the past five years.
three-pronged strategy
Croman, who is currently facing 20 felony charges, employed various
strategies to force rent-stabilized tenants from the buildings he
acquired. According to the report, his "three-pronged strategy"
included hiring an ex-cop to intimidate tenants, allowing the buildings
to fall into unlivable and even illegal conditions, and filing
erroneous lawsuits against tenants to not only drain them of cash, but
to also break their spirits in hopes that they would move out.
"He would remove the washing machines. He tried to close the front
door, make everybody go through the basement. He got rid of the super,
then had a part-time super who did nothing," one tenant told Bloomberg.
Even the pricier apartments in Croman's portfolio were deeply flawed. A
renovated apartment that was formerly a rent-stabilized building had a
faulty dryer and broken dishwasher from the time its two tenants moved
in.
Croman is facing 25 years in prison if convicted of the accused crimes.
The full report offers plenty of more cringeworthy details about one of
NYC’s worst landlords and his alleged horrors.
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