Kingsbridge residents live under NYC's worst landlord

It’s freezing in here a lot. I had a newborn and was asking [management] to turn on the heat, but nothing. I had to get a space heater.”

Johanna Greenberg, resident of 3021 Heath Ave.

With temperatures plunging into the low teens this winter, Bronxites residing at 3021 Heath Avenue are enduring days without heat, often in mold-infested apartments plagued by leaks.

The 2024 ranking of New York City’s worst landlords is out and property owner Barry Singer has been listed as the top offender. His Kingsbridge building is rife with hazardous conditions and many residents said their cries for help have gone unanswered.

The city’s Public Advocate's office publishes its Top 100 Worst Landlord Watchlist annually. Landlords are ranked based on the number of open and repeated violations as listed with the Housing Preservation and Development (HPD.) This year’s list covers the period between October 2023 and November 2024.

Seven of Singer’s buildings, including 3021 Heath Ave., landed on the list. He racked up an average of 1,804 open violations across 119 units, with more than 270 stemming from the 26-unit property on Heath Avenue alone.

The Press visited the building twice this month. Upon entry, a state of disrepair was immediately visible. Long cracks run through the peeling ceiling, some sloppily patched with plaster and the stench of urine fills the first floor.

Johanna Greenberg’s top-floor apartment, where she lives with her 17-year-old daughter, 14-month-old son and two pit bulls, accounts for 17 violations. 

The one-bedroom dwelling has been riddled with problems since the family moved in from a shelter four years ago. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they were unable to view the apartment before calling it home.

“When it rains, this turns into a big bubble,” Greenberg said, pointing to a large, brown stain on the ceiling. “Every time it rains, it gets a little bit bigger. The roof is leaking and they just don’t care."

Severe water damage was one of Singer’s most frequent offenses, with 19 violations for interior leaks and an additional six for roof leaks. In June 2024, HPD slapped him with a violation requiring roof repair to prevent leaks in multiple fifth-floor apartments, some of which have more than 10 square feet of visible mold on their walls.

“About six months ago, they finally went to the roof,” Greenberg said. “They threw some tar and a tarp on it, but that didn’t help much. It didn’t solve the problem in my apartment.”

The floor tiles in her apartment sport large cracks and chips throughout – as do many common areas in the building. She’s resorted to sticking bits of tape in her home on those to keep them in place.

However, one of her biggest concerns is the lack of heat she and other residents often face, despite frigid temperatures and snowstorms this winter– and she’s not alone.

Between October 2023 and November 2024, Singer’s residents filed more than 120 heat and hot water complaints across his seven buildings on the list, according to the Public Advocate’s office. By comparison, there were 832 heat and water complaints across all buildings owned by the worst landlords in New York City during the same period.

“We’ve been having a lot of heating problems, it was really bad,” a teen living on the fifth floor, who did not want to be identified, said. “I was on vacation, but my brother stayed home. He texted me every day while I was gone, like ‘Day four, no heat.’ There was no hot water either.”

The broken door to access the roof exacerbates the problem. Greenberg’s door often violently shakes from the gusts of wind coming through and she’s even seen snow fly into the hallway.

“It’s freezing in here a lot. I had a newborn and was asking [management] to turn on the heat, but nothing. I had to get a space heater.”

Portable heaters are one of the leading causes of winter house fires. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, they have been linked to an average of 1,600 residential fires a year, resulting in about 80 deaths.

This month, a fatal three-alarm fire in the Tremont section of the Bronx was determined by FDNY to have been caused by a space heater.

Singer also received numerous violations for fire escapes in need of repair and malfunctioning smoke detectors at the Heath Avenue building – all of which have yet to be addressed, according to the HPD online portal.

In January, a four-alarm blaze broke out at Singer’s 3030 Heath Avenue building, although a space heater was not the cause. Despite this, while visiting 3021 Heath Ave., The Press observed the fire safety sign on the first floor, the only one seen in the building, was almost completely ripped off the wall, leaving only the first two lines of the notice visible.

Over the past year, Greenberg has stopped paying her rent and will not resume payments until the issues in her apartment are resolved. One resident who spoke with The Press on condition of anonymity says they are considering taking the same step.

“It’s already a hassle for me to walk up five flights with a stroller and a car seat, and then I come home to this mess,” Greenberg said. “It’s like they don’t care at all.

The Press attempted to contact Barry Singer and 3021 Heath Ave. site manager, Daniel Caller but received no response to emails. Phone numbers provided by residents and the building's superintendent went unanswered, with The Press being hung up on during one attempt. MGSA III LLC, the corporation managing the building, does not have any publicly available contact information.