Landlord of NYC building where 3 died in blaze had racked up nearly 1,000 violations

The landlord of an Inwood apartment building where three people died in a raging fire is responsible for several other apartment buildings in the city that have racked up nearly 1,000 fire and safety violations — infractions the city believes are part of a campaign to chase out rent-stabilized tenants, the Daily News has learned.

Jack Bick, who heads JanJan Realty, was already on the Public Advocate’s list of the city’s 100 worst landlords of 2025 before a fire tore through one of his buildings, 207 Dyckman St., early Monday morning, killing a renowned fashion editor, her mother, and another tenant. Four members of another resident’s family — including three children, the youngest just five — are fighting for their lives in the hospital, officials said.

That six-story building has had 117 open violations, which include defective self-closing doors on the fourth and sixth floors and nonfunctioning smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, city records show.

But five more buildings where Bick is listed in city building records as an owner or principal officer — including a six-floor, 23-apartment building next door to the fatal blaze — have another 934 open violations, many of which could lead to fire hazards, according to lawsuits filed by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development last month against Bick and other associates.

Bick, HPD’s lawyers argue, is “neglecting those unsafe conditions as part of an intentional and aggressive campaign to harass and displace rent stabilized tenants.”

“The agency will use every tool in its toolbox to ensure tenants are safe and landlords meet their obligations,” HPD spokeswoman Natasha Kersey said about the lawsuits. “The Mayor has been clear that enforcing housing quality is a top priority for this administration, and we will continue to take action against unsafe conditions and bad landlords whenever and wherever they exist.”

HPD filed the lawsuits to “improve living conditions for the tenants,” city officials said.

The claims against JanJan and Bick include unresolved civil penalties and orders to correct as well as “tenant harassment,” city officials said.

An attorney for Bick did not respond to messages seeking comment for this story. Calls to Bick and his company were not returned.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said Bick “earned his place on our Worst Landlord Watchlist through widespread and repeated violations in his portfolio.”

“Violations like a failure to maintain self-closing doors are immediately hazardous, and in this tragic instance, may have led to more destruction and death,” he said in a statement last week.

The cause of Monday’s fire was still under investigation, but the FDNY has blamed the spread of the fatal blaze on several doors being left open as panicked tenants escaped.

FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito told reporters Thursday that the flames spread into eight apartments in the building “because the door was open or had been left open.” FDNY officials wouldn’t say if those doors were self-closing, only that the blaze remained under investigation.

Those killed in Monday’s blaze included 48-year-old Yolaine Diaz, a former editor for People en Español, and her 73-year-old mother Ana Mirtha Lantigua. As they escaped the burning building, the two collapsed on the smoke-filled stairwell. Diaz’s father, who darted out onto the fire escape, survived and was seen by neighbors outside the building desperately searching for his wife and daughter, heartbroken neighbors recalled.

The other victim who died was a man who lived on the fourth floor, neighbors said.

Medics treated 14 people. Five were hospitalized with critical injuries, including tenant Alexis Rodriguez’s wife, 9-year-old son, and two daughters, ages 18 and 5. All four were intubated in the hospital, Rodriguez said. By Thursday, his wife and son were taken off ventilators and were able to breathe on their own.

“That alone feels like a miracle,” Rodriguez wrote on a GoFundMe post seeking donations for hospital expenses. “Alexa and little Alison are still going through a very difficult battle and need all the prayers possible.”

Rodriguez took a break from his ongoing hospital vigil to return home Thursday, only to find nothing but devastation.

“I stepped back into our apartment for the first time since the fire,” he wrote. “Seeing everything destroyed was one of the hardest moments of my life.”

“So many memories, belongings, and pieces of our lives were lost in just minutes,” he said.

Bick ranks no. 80 on Williams’ watchlist — a ranking that’s based mathematically on the number of open violations from Nov. 2024 and to Oct. 2025.

“Landlords are obligated to keep their tenants safe at a bare minimum, and the worst landlords repeatedly fail to meet that standard. A community is mourning, and we can’t wait for the next tragedy to demand accountability and preventative action,” Williams said.

At neighboring 209 Dyckman St., where the city’s lawyers documented collapsing ceilings, blocked paths that cause fire hazards, pest infestations, and missing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors — several residents told the Daily News they’ve lodged their complaints via email, but the response has been glacial at best.

“The mouses come from the ceiling and the pipe, the alarm is no good. When fire is coming the alarm wasn’t working,” said Mayra Espeila, who’s lived in the building for 32 years. “They never take care of anything.”

Another resident, Liz Canals, said she had to call 311 to get a replacement refrigerator after her landlord ignored her emails.

“They had gas line open, behind the stove and there was big rats coming into the building,” she said. “We were without gas for like 4 to 6 months. That happened last year.”

The building where the fire took place, 207 Dyckman St., was placed into the HPD’s Alternative Enforcement Program in January, just months before the fatal blaze. The program targets buildings with multiple housing maintenance code violations that need continued city monitoring. Once the building is in the program, city inspectors continually keep a eye on the property. Landlords are required to fix all heat and hot water violations, as well as 80% of the hazardous violations before daily fees start piling up.

During a recent HPD inspection, the city had cleared 85 of the violations filed against the building’s landlord, declaring the violations verified and resolved. But at the same time, as monitoring continued, new violations were issued against JanJan for not clearing the prior conditions, HPD officials said.

In Queens the HPD took Bick and his associates to court for their buildings at 10-36 Bay 30 St., 10-08 Bay 30 St., 10-01 Hartman Lane and 29-03 Bessemund Ave.

All four buildings, which altogether hold 75 apartments, have hazardous violations for not having self-closing doors and missing smoke detectors, court documents claim. Each building also has hazardous mold, rampant water leaks, roaches, mice, and broken paint and plaster in apartment ceilings and walls.

The Hartman Lane address has the most open code violations with 243. Besides the fire hazards, mold, roaches and mice, inspectors noted the landlord’s failure to provide adequate heat to his tenants, and a failure to enroll in HPD’s Heat Sensor Program, internet capable temperature reporting devices that would let HPD know if tenants are getting the appropriate amount of heat.

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