By Michele Evans / NYweeklyRecord.com / Date: 7/25/2026
Category: Housing / Tenant Rights / Consumer Protection / Government Accountability
NEW YORK CITY, NY – New York Attorney General Letitia James says a property manager responsible for more than 3,000 apartments illegally locked lawful occupants out of their homes, leaving some without shelter while they fought to get back inside.
James announced an agreement on July 24 with Spigro Management LLC and its lead property manager, Saul Friedman. Spigro manages more than 40 buildings across New York City, including many cooperative and condominium properties with rent-stabilized tenants who remained after conversion.
The Attorney General’s Office said its investigation confirmed at least four unlawful lockouts in Brooklyn and the Bronx between 2020 and 2025. The agreement resolves the state’s allegations, but Spigro and Friedman did not admit wrongdoing.
Michael Brown’s case puts a human face on what an illegal lockout can do. Brown had lived with his adoptive mother for more than 20 years. After she died in December 2024, he said the lock was changed while he stepped outside to take out the trash.
His identification, coat and other belongings remained inside. Brown was homeless for nine months as he fought to return to the apartment, according to the Attorney General’s Office. A September 2025 settlement allowed him to move back in.
The other cases show that the alleged practice was not limited to one building or one set of circumstances. Two Bronx occupants were locked out after the primary tenant died, investigators said. In another case, a building porter was locked out of the apartment where he lived while recovering from surgery.
New York law does not allow a landlord or manager to remove someone simply by changing the locks. A person who has lawfully occupied a home for at least 30 days generally cannot be evicted without a court order carried out through the legal process, including a city marshal.
Under the agreement, Spigro and Friedman must pay $23,500 in penalties. Each of the four affected occupants will receive between $1,000 and $1,200. The company must also adopt an internal lockout policy and keep records showing why locks were changed and what legal authority supported each change.
The Attorney General’s Office will monitor compliance for three years. That oversight matters because the larger problem reaches far beyond these four cases. City Council data cited by Gothamist recorded more than 1,800 illegal lockouts from August 2024 through August 2025.
The settlement delivers restitution and new controls, but it also raises a basic accountability question: how many New Yorkers lose access to their homes before regulators learn what happened? For tenants living on the edge, one changed lock can mean lost medicine, missing documents, exposure to the weather and months of instability.
Sources
Gothamist: NYC property manager agrees to pay after AG says it illegally locked tenants out
BK Reader: Brooklyn management company to pay for illegal evictions
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