Mamdani's 'day 1' promise: to confiscate privately owned buildings if owners don't pay big fines, make assessed repairs

Socialist NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has said that if landlords do not pay fines or make repairs to their housing units, his plan is to confiscate their property, taking over the building. He made the comments in a resurfaced campaign video, and said he would make the changes on "day 1."

In a campaign video that was released in February earlier this year during the mayoral primary, Mamdani stated, "I'm announcing a plan to overhaul the mayor's office to protect tenants, bringing code enforcement under one roof and making sure that agencies are working together to hold bad landlords accountable. Starting on day one, we will expand the city's special enforcement programs, doubling fines for hazardous violations and tripling them for conditions that are immediately dangerous.

"And when a really bad landlord like this guy refuses to fix it, the city is going to step in, make the repairs, and send them the bill. If that doesn't work, the city is taking over the building. We're putting the worst landlords out of business," Mamdani added.

Mamdani's campaign platform on the issues stated, "We’ll prioritize the preservation of distressed rental housing by publicly stewarding buildings in disrepair. Working with tenants on a case-by-case basis, we will determine the best management solution of the buildings while retaining public ownership of the land."

The policy point in the platform of "publicly stewarding buildings in disrepair" paired with his call to end the private ownership of buildings when landlords do not keep up with housing code violations, likely means that Mamdani will attempt to abolish the property rights of many landlords of the Big Apple when he becomes mayor.