JAMAICA ESTATES, NY — April 28, 2026 — A dramatic Brooklyn arrest and a surge in property fraud complaints have pushed deed theft into the spotlight — prompting New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to announce a new office dedicated to protecting homeowners from losing their properties to fraud.
The move comes days after the arrest of City Councilmember Chi Ossé, who was detained while attempting to stop an eviction at a Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone. Councilman Ossé said the resident may be the victim of deed theft but that further information about the case is needed. Nonetheless, this case is now at the center of a high-profile dispute over ownership of the home.
Legal experts say the incident underscores a fast-growing and underreported crisis.
“Deed theft is no longer a niche issue — it’s a systemic threat to homeownership in New York City,” said Guardianship and Elder Law attorney Tanya Hobson-Williams of Hobson-Williams, P.C. “Rising property values are fueling increasingly sophisticated scams, and longtime homeowners — especially in Black and Latino communities — are being targeted.”
Legal Gaps Remain Despite New Law
New York criminalized deed theft in 2024 under the Home Equity Theft Prevention Act, elevating certain offenses to a Class E felony or a Class A misdemeanor. But Hobson-Williams warns the law falls short — particularly in cases involving family members, seniors and people with dementia.
In one of several deed theft cases, Hobson-Williams Law Firm recently secured a victory for a senior with dementia who had her property sold using a defective Power of Attorney. Kings County Court Justice Joy Campanelli issued an order returning the property back to the senior with dementia finding that the alleged purchaser was not a bona fide purchaser for value for that senior’s property located at 1128 Jefferson Street, Brooklyn, New York.
“The law doesn’t fully address fraud within families, which is more common than people think,” she said. “We’re seeing cases where trusted relatives exploit legal loopholes to transfer ownership.”
A Growing Crisis Backed by Data
- Nearly 3,500 deed theft complaints were filed statewide between 2014 and 2023
- An additional 517 complaints were reported in 2025 alone, with concentrations in Brooklyn and Queens
- Nationally, 63% of REALTORS® report deed theft activity in their markets — rising to 92% in the Northeast
- 12% of cases involve owner-occupied homes
“These numbers should concern every homeowner,” Hobson-Williams said. “People are losing homes they’ve owned for generations.”
Call for Broader Action
While praising the mayor’s new initiative, Hobson-Williams says more aggressive action is needed at the state level as well as educating people on potential deed theft and what it looks like and what can be done.
“The new office is an important step, but it’s not enough,” she said. “Without stronger enforcement, education and expanded legal protections, vulnerable homeowners will continue to fall through the cracks.”
As the Ossé case continues to unfold, housing advocates and legal experts say it may become a turning point in how New York confronts deed theft — and whether policymakers act quickly enough to contain it.
