NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is hailing a $2.1 million settlement with one of New York City’s biggest landlords as a turning point for tenants who say they have endured years of dangerous neglect. The deal, which targets A&E Real Estate and associated owners across 14 buildings, arrives after residents described broken elevators, chronic leaks and harassment that turned their homes into what they call a “nightmare” rather than a refuge.
The agreement forces the landlord to pay restitution, clear thousands of violations and accept new legal limits on how it treats renters, even as Mamdani’s critics frame the mayor’s celebration as ideological grandstanding. At stake is not only whether this $2.1 million package delivers real relief, but whether it signals a broader shift in how New York City confronts chronic housing abuse.
The $2.1M deal Mamdani is selling as a turning point
At the center of the announcement is a simple headline number: Mamdani says the settlement requires A&E to pay “$2.1 million in restitution,” a figure his team has repeated as $2.1 m, $2.1 M and $2.1 Million in official materials to underscore its scale. City officials describe A&E as One of New’s largest landlords, and say the money is meant to compensate tenants who lived through hazardous conditions while thousands of code violations piled up. In a public appearance, Mamdani framed the payout as a concrete answer to years of complaints that the city lets powerful property owners off the hook.
According to the mayor’s office, the agreement is about more than a check. A detailed Transcript from the Mayor Mamdani Administration Announces Historic $2.1 Million Settlement event explains that the deal will require A&E to correct building violations, submit to monitoring and abide by injunctions that bar tenant harassment. Mamdani has argued that the combination of $2.1 million in restitution and binding court orders is designed to change behavior, not just generate headlines, and his allies have echoed that message as they tout the package as a model for future enforcement.
Inside the ‘nightmare’ conditions tenants say they endured
For the renters who pushed for action, the dollar amount only makes sense when set against the daily realities they describe. One NYC tenant told reporters that a broken elevator left residents “trapped,” a story that surfaced as NYC officials detailed the settlement, and others have spoken of mold, leaks and vermin that went unaddressed for months. Mamdani has cited more than 4,000 violations across these 14 buildings, a tally that matches reporting that the landlord agreed to pay a $2.1 million settlement to resolve more than 4,000 code violations and allegations of harassment…