by Sidnee Michelle
June 11, 2026
The rent relief marks a significant victory for residents who organized for years around conditions in the buildings.
Thousands of tenants living in more than 5,000 mostly rent-stabilized apartments across New York City will no longer be required to repay years of unpaid rent after the buildings’ new owner agreed to forgive millions of dollars in arrears, Gothamist reports.
Summit Properties, which acquired a 93-building portfolio from the bankrupt Pinnacle Group in March 2026, recently reached an agreement during discussions with the Union of Pinnacle Tenants, an organization representing residents in buildings across four boroughs.
“If residents stay current on their rent, we won’t pursue arrears,” Summit spokesperson Jordan Barowitz told Gothamist. He said the company is still determining how many tenants owe back rent, but estimated the total debt amounts to millions of dollars.
Tenant advocates said many residents fell behind on rent after enduring years of unsafe living conditions, while others struggled to make monthly payments because of financial hardship.
The rent relief marks a significant victory for residents who organized for years around conditions in the buildings.
“It is a big victory,” said Vivian Kuo, a representative with the Union of Pinnacle Tenants who lives in a Summit-owned building in Harlem’s Hamilton Heights neighborhood. “This is real direct monetary redress of people’s issues.”
Kuo said tenants experienced persistent problems, including collapsed ceilings, heat outages, and darkened hallways, after utility service to common areas was interrupted because of unpaid bills.
“Your home should be safe, and there are certain basic standards — heat, hot water, ceilings and walls that don’t have massive holes, doors that lock, a fire escape you can actually escape from,” Kuo said. “These are things that we should have.”
The portfolio became a focal point of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s housing agenda shortly after he took office. City officials sought to intervene in the bankruptcy proceedings, citing nearly $13 million in unpaid taxes and fines owed by Pinnacle to the city.
A federal judge rejected the city’s effort to delay the sale in January, allowing Summit to complete its $451 million purchase in March 2026.
As part of commitments made during the bankruptcy process, Summit CEO Zohar Levy pledged to invest $30 million in building improvements over five years and address thousands of housing code violations. Company officials said approximately 3,500 violations were corrected by June 1.
Barowitz said Summit “fixed hundreds of apartments, cured thousands of violations, and exceeded our commitment.”
Tenant organizer Jesse Ryan said residents expect the company to address thousands of additional violations identified during city inspections this spring.
“They’re not new issues, they’re newly recorded,” Ryan said. “We believe those new numbers aren’t a reflection of new issues, but rather the record-keeping catching up to reflect the picture of how many issues there are in these buildings.”
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