The landlord of a squalid, mouse-and-roach-filled South Bronx apartment building has been ordered to pay a whopping $2.17 million fine and finally make repairs, city officials announced Thursday.
Seth Miller — a mainstay on the New York City public advocate’s “Worst Landlords” list for a decade — must fix all property violations at 919 Prospect Avenue by April 3, or risk even harsher future penalties.
Bronx Supreme Court Justice Marissa Soto socked Miller and his real estate management firm, Aegis Realty, with a $1,000 fine for every unresolved Housing Department violation — from mice and roach infestations to inoperable boilers — in the rent-stabilized building dating back to April 2019.
The ruling, handed down last week, followed an unusually aggressive application of the city’s nuisance abatement law — which was enacted in 1977 as part of an effort to combat the sex trade in Times Square, the mayor’s office said.
The city sued Miller and his company in 2022, during Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, with help from nonprofit group TakeRoot Justice, which helped organize tenants.
Residents described a litany of horrid conditions, including peeling lead-based paint and the building’s deteriorating facade, according to court documents.
Miller’s lawyers did not respond to a request for comment. The most severe property violations must be fixed by March 18, and all remaining ones by April 3, according to the ruling against him.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the ruling at a press conference from the Bronx state courthouse Thursday, and vowed in an X post that his office’s Tenant Protection Unit “will seek further enforcement in court” if Miller fails to comply with the court order.
“Let the scale of this penalty show how seriously we take the threat of building mismanagement that put residents’ and neighbors’ health at risk,” Mamdani said.
“We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to protect tenants across New York.”
The allegedly horrible landlord had been sued repeatedly over the years by tenants, who alleged that he tried to drive them out of the rent-stabilized digs with illegal rent hikes and horrific living conditions.
Other allegedly notorious landlords have been found to be in contempt of court, and even in rare cases jailed, for flouting a judge’s order to fix open housing violations.