A jailed Manhattan landlord could soon move off Rikers Island and be forced to live in one of his own crumbling apartment buildings.
Lawyers from the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development are asking a judge to either extend the current two-month jail sentence for landlord Daniel Ohebshalom or order a more unique form of house arrest, according to court filings.
Ohebshalom, who was ranked as the city’s worst landlord on the public advocate’s most recent annual watch list, has been in jail since late March, after a judge sentenced him to 60 days at Rikers for blowing off hundreds of court-mandated repairs at a pair of Washington Heights properties with about 40 apartments.
In a motion filed on Friday, HPD attorney Michael Paul Gdanski said Ohebshalom and his associates began making some fixes at the apartments but still hadn’t corrected nearly 400 open violations at 705-709 West 170th St. in Washington Heights.
Gdanski wrote in the filing that the heat and hot water went out in one of the buildings for two days late last month and that Ohebshalom, who lives in California, might skip out on the required work if he’s released.
Ohebshalom’s attorneys declined to comment on the city’s motion or their client’s case.
Gdanski asked Judge Jack Stoller to extend Ohebshalom’s jail sentence or consider “compelling Ohebshalom to reside at a suitable unit” at 705-709 West 170th St. or another one of his buildings for up to four months.
He said Ohebshalom owns at least nine properties in New York City, including some with vacant apartments where he could easily move in after his release from Rikers. The house arrest “would ensure that there is a responsible person with decision-making authority … present at the buildings to direct and arrange for repairs,” Gdanski added.
Stoller is scheduled to decide on the motion next month.
The city’s request echoes the premise of the 1991 film “The Super,” in which a judge sentences a negligent landlord played by Joe Pesci to live in his own building while making needed repairs. Gdanski even referenced the movie in his court filing on Friday, along with another real-life example of defendants sentenced to house arrest for contempt of court.
HPD did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
If the judge grants the department’s motion, Ohebshalom could live next door to tenants who have described rat infestations, collapsed ceilings and leaking walls — all while they paid their rent.
“We were totally neglected and the money was being taken out of our bank accounts automatically for rent,” retired teacher Loyda Irizarry told Gothamist last month. “It’s been hell for the past four years.”
Irizarry said she has lived in a third-floor apartment at 709 West 170th St. for more than two decades. She shared photos depicting walls with missing chunks and a ceiling that collapsed onto a child’s bed.
Ohebshalom turned himself in to the city sheriff to begin his jail term late last month. Another detainee punched Ohebshalom in the face in a holding cell just hours after his arrival, his lawyers wrote in a court filing. He was transported to Bellevue Hospital for treatment for a broken eye socket before returning to Rikers.
Ohebshalom’s lawyers are now urging Stoller to release him from the troubled jail complex and submitted a petition earlier this month claiming conditions there were too hazardous, especially for someone labeled as the “Worst NYC Landlord.”
“It is apparent that Rikers is an unreasonably dangerous setting for [Ohebshalom], where he remains at high risk for additional physical assault, or worse,” they wrote. “Clearly, constitutional rights are being violated.”