Who's the Worst Landlord in Washington Heights-Inwood? See Who Made the Cut

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS-INWOOD, NY — Public Advocate Letitia James released the annual list of the 100 Worst Landlords in New York City on Thursday, and residents of Washington Heights and Inwood should take notice.

Eighteen landlords, including some of the city's worst offenders, that received the dubious distinction own properties uptown.

The landlords are ranked from worst (No. 1) to least-worst (No. 100), based on the total number of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) violations and Department of Buildings (DOB) violations at each of the properties they own.

"Apartments free of mold, vermin, rodents and harassment aren't luxuries," James said on Twitter. "These are basic rights that no tenant should be denied."

The absolute worst property owner uptown is Efstathios Valiotis, according to the Public Advocate. Valiotis placed No. 3 on the citywide list. Properties owned by Valiotis, including uptown residencies such as 3851 Broadway and 248 Sherman Avenue among others, were slapped with a total of 1141 violations. Of those violations 1077 came from HPD and 64 came from DOB.

One of Valiotis' buildings, 248 Sherman Avenue, currently has a stop work order from the DOB, because renovations were being conducted at the property without notifying tenants.

Valiotis is the principal of a real estate firm called Alma Realty. Valiotis told Patch in a statement that he is No. 3 on the list because HPD violations his buildings were hit with are still in the process of being removed. In the statement Valiotis said that since acquiring his buildings a few years ago he has been working to renovate and repair them.

“I am very disappointed to be included in the Landlord Watchlist. I have remediated the majority of the violations identified at these properties and my effort to rehabilitate these buildings will continue. The reason that records kept by NYC Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) do not reflect current conditions is because the process of administratively removing the violations is ongoing. It is unfortunate that the Public Advocate’s Office doesn't accurately reflect the current condition of these buildings," Valiotis said in a statement.

Here's the full list of the city's worst landlords who operate in Washington Heights and Inwood and the number of HPD and BOD violations:

1. Efstathios Valiotis — 1,077/64
2. Mark Silber — 998/5
3. Felix Gomez — 939/3
4. Larry Hirschfield — 793/5
5. Bruce Haley — 769/14
6. Joel Goldstein — 667/29
7. Richard Nussbaum — 617/10
8. Joseph Cook — 484/1
9. Robert Raphael — 446/30
10. Jason M. Green — 472/3
11. Ron Nahum — 447/11
12. Kobi Zamir — 400/34
13. John K Zi — 399/19
14. Iris Nieves — 406/3
15. Robert Farhadian — 380/8
16. Zahava Kadosh — 382/6
17. Laurence Gluck — 361/14
18. Jean Saint-Cyr — 360/0

Click here to see a map and addresses of all the properties they own.

Picture: 3851 Broadway via Google Maps