Mayor Mamdani Establishes Office to Combat Property Fraud Amid Rising Deed Theft in NYC
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has initiated a significant effort to tackle property fraud by creating the city's first Office of Deed Theft Prevention. This move is accompanied by a six-month moratorium on tax lien sales, aimed at protecting homeowners, especially in vulnerable communities, from losing generational wealth. The initiative responds to a troubling increase in deed theft complaints, which have tripled from 149 in 2023 to 517 in 2025, disproportionately affecting Black and Brown New Yorkers and those in gentrifying neighborhoods. The new office, led by veteran housing attorney Peter White, will focus on identifying, preventing, and correcting deed fraud, providing centralized resources and enforcement. The city's actions also target predatory tax lien sales and partition sales, which exploit heirs' property disputes to force the sale of inherited homes. 
