Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Friday established the Office of Deed Theft Prevention and named a longtime homeowner assistance lawyer as its director.
Peter White, an attorney who has worked on deed theft litigation, foreclosures, bankruptcy and landlord-tenant disputes, will helm the new office. He most recently worked as a supervising attorney at Access Justice Brooklyn, a nonprofit that provides pro bono legal services to low-income residents.
“The establishment of this office and the work going forward is an act of empathy for people,” White said. “I see it as a direct correlation and an extension of the work that I’ve previously done. I’m excited to get this going.”
Deed theft — often made through forged documents, short sales and foreclosure rescue scams — can strip families of generational wealth, ripping away what can be their most valuable asset.
“The theft of a home is the theft of a family’s future,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Deed theft preys on the New Yorkers who can least afford it. Today, we are bringing the full force of city government to bear to stop it – to protect homeowners, defend generational wealth and make clear that this city will not tolerate the exploitation of our communities.”
The Wednesday arrest of Councilmember Chi Ossé (D-Brooklyn), as he attempted to prevent the eviction of a grandmother from a Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone, thrust deed theft in New York City into the national spotlight.
The Brooklyn resident, Carmella Charrington, as well local activists who have rallied to her cause, has said that her eviction is the result of deed theft. Public records point to a more complicated story, one involving an older relative in a conservatorship in Georgia and competing claims about the sale of the home.
The state Attorney General’s office said it had determined the situation was not deed theft, but rather a property dispute.
Either way, Ossé said he expected the new Office of Deed Theft Prevention to be able to provide clarity, even in murky cases like Charrington’s.
“Having a dedicated office that is creating awareness and educating people will help them figure out if they’re dealing with deed theft or not, or point them in the right direction to seek help even if they’re not dealing with deed theft,” Ossé told THE CITY.
Ossé’s district, which includes Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights, is one of several historically Black areas around the city with rising property values where deed theft and other predatory real estate speculation run rampant.
“It’s patently unfair,” White said of the economic and racial targeting that can drive families of color out of the city. “I want to help stop it.”
White said his office will be a place people can turn to even if they aren’t sure what’s going on with their property so that he can do a “deep dive on their individual case” to ascertain what’s happening — and then take action from there.
The Office of Deed Theft Prevention will be housed within the Department of Finance, working closely with other agencies like the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and the Commission on Human Rights.
The office will advance a three-pronged strategy for addressing deed theft: catching it early, educating homeowners about the risks and getting people’s homes back, according to White.
It’s uncertain whether or not the office will actually be able to enforce current laws, White said, but it will coordinate with the Attorney General’s office and district attorneys to get them to take on cases. He will also attempt to bring in pro bono attorneys to help homeowners.
As a candidate, Mamdani promised to create an Office of Deed Theft Prevention to “protect homeowners from scam artists” and fund it to the tune of $10 million.
The mayor’s preliminary budget allocates $500,000 to the office in the current fiscal year and $1 million for the years after.
It is unclear how many dedicated staff the office will have other than White. Mamdani’s executive order creating the office also names a position for a deed theft prevention advocate.
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