This article was originally published in Common Dreams under Creative Commons 3.0 license. Read the original article. Contact: editor@commondreams.org

By Brad Reed

Thousands of tenants in New York City will no longer have to pay back rent after their prior landlord was targeted by democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani earlier this year.

Gothamist reported on Tuesday that Summit Properties, which in March bought 93 properties from bankrupt owner Pinnacle Group, has agreed to forgive tenants’ back rent, which some refused to pay because of what they said were unsafe living conditions in their buildings.

Vivian Kuo, a representative from the Union of Pinnacle Tenants, said the agreement to forgive back rent is “a big victory” for tenants and represents a “real direct monetary redress of people’s issues.”

See also: 'We Are All Thinking of You': New NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Letter to Jailed Activist Umar Khalid Goes Viral

Mamdani took action against Pinnacle in January as one of his first official acts after being sworn in as mayor, noting that the landlord was responsible for “more than 5,000 housing violations and 14,000 complaints.”

In buying the buildings from Pinnacle, Summit agreed to cure half of all reported violations within 60 days and to invest at least $30 million over a five-year period to repair and improve the buildings.

See also: Is NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani the Son of Jeffrey Epstein?

According to Gothamist, Summit had already lined up its purchase of the buildings before Mamdani took office, although the mayor worked with the tenants union to extract commitments from the company to make much-needed fixes.

Jordan Barowitz, a spokesperson for Summit, told Gothamist that the company “fixed hundreds of apartments, cured thousands of violations, and exceeded our commitment.”

Mamdani has regularly put New York City landlords on notice, holding “rental ripoff” hearings where tenants have the opportunity “to tell the city exactly what your landlord’s been getting away with” and help bring about “real policy changes.”

[KS]

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