The Flag Check Names NYC's Worst Landlords by Borough
NEW YORK — April 20, 2026 —New York City has 70,000 residential buildings. Most tenants have no idea who actually owns them, how many violations they've accumulated, or whether their landlord has been doing this to other people for years.
Today, The Flag Check publishes its first annual ranking of the worst landlords in each of New York City's five boroughs — ordered by total HPD violations filed in 2025, sourced entirely from the city's own Housing Preservation and Development records.
The full rankings are live at theflagcheck.com/rankings.
The #1 worst landlord in each borough
- Manhattan: Donald Hastings — 565 HPD violations across 6 buildings
- Brooklyn: Michael Niamonitakis — 349 HPD violations across 14 buildings
- Queens: Margaret Brunn — 498 HPD violations across 9 buildings
- Bronx: Sarah Murdoch — 722 HPD violations across 10 buildings
- Staten Island: Scott Langan — 81 HPD violations across 3 buildings
Each landlord's full profile — buildings managed, violation history, complaint records, and tenant-filed reports — is available on their dedicated page. The methodology behind the rankings, including data sources, date ranges, and ranking criteria, is published in full on the site.
Why we built this
The Flag Check was built after our founder moved into a West Village apartment and discovered conditions that didn't match what was advertised — no heat, mold, months of ignored maintenance requests. The building is managed by Centennial Properties, owned by Steven Croman, who has been documented as one of New York City's most problematic landlords for decades.
Looking into the history wasn't hard. The record was there. It was just scattered across systems that required knowing where to look, what to search, and how to read what came back.
No tenant should have to do that work alone. That's why The Flag Check exists.
Beyond what the city tracks
HPD captures a lot. It doesn't capture everything.
It doesn't track the landlord who advertised a renovated kitchen that doesn't exist. It doesn't track the security deposit that was kept without cause, or the three months of ignored emails before a tenant gave up and moved out.
The Flag Check does. Tenants can file complaints for issues outside the HPD system — anonymously, in under 30 seconds. Every complaint becomes a permanent public record. The landlord is notified. Their response, or their silence, is recorded and visible to anyone who searches that building.
The more tenants file, the more pressure landlords have to respond. That accountability is the point.
How to use the rankings
Search your building at theflagcheck.com to see its full violation and complaint history. If your landlord appears on a borough ranking, you'll see the badge on their profile page — and a link to every building they manage.
If you have a complaint to file, it takes 30 seconds and is 100% anonymous.
The rankings will be updated periodically. This is the 2025 snapshot.
Rankings are based on HPD violation records for calendar year 2025. Full methodology available at theflagcheck.com/rankings.