Senate Bill S4997

                                BILL NUMBER:S4997

TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to authorizing criminal penalties for the breach of an
owner's duty to refrain from harassment of tenants and requiring the
division of housing and community renewal and the district attorney's
office to collaborate on proceedings involving such violations

PURPOSE:

Authorizes criminal penalties for the breach of an owner's duty to
refrain from harassment of tenants.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 Paragraphs 2 and 6 of subdivision (m) section 272115 of the
administrative code of the city of New York, paragraph 2 as amended
and paragraph 6 as added by local law number 47 of the city of New
York for the year 2014, are amended and a new paragraph 7 is added to
read as follows: (2) If a court of competent jurisdiction finds that
conduct in violation of subdivision d of section 27-2005 of this
chapter has occurred, it may determine that a class c violation
existed at the time that such conduct occurred.  Notwithstanding the
foregoing, such court may also issue an order restraining the owner of
              

the property from violating such subdivision and direct the owner to
ensure that no further violation occurs, in accordance with section
27-2121 of this chapter. Such court shall impose a civil penalty in an
amount not less than one thousand dollars and not more than ten
thousand dollars and may impose a criminal penalty of not less than
one year nor more than four years imprisonment for each dwelling unit
in which a tenant or any person lawfully entitled to occupancy of such
unit has been the subject of such violation, and such other relief as
the court deems appropriate, provided that where a petitioner
establishes that there was a previous finding of a violation of
subdivision d of section 27-2005 of this chapter against such owner
and such finding was made (i) within the preceding five year period
and (ii) on or after the effective date of [the] local law [that added
this clause] number forty-seven of the city of New York for the year
two thousand fourteen, such court shall impose a civil penalty in an
amount not less than two thousand dollars and not more ten thousand
dollars and may impose a criminal penalty of not less than one year
nor more than four years imprisonment. If a court of competent
jurisdiction finds that conduct in violation of subdivision d of
section 27-2005 of this chapter has occurred and the tenant or any
person lawfully entitled to occupancy of the dwelling unit who was the
subject of such violation suffers from a mental illness, as defined in
subdivision twenty of section 1.03 of the mental hygiene law, such
court shall impose a civil penalty of not less than five thousand
dollars and may impose a criminal penalty of not less than one year
nor more than four years imprisonment.  (6) After a court of competent
jurisdiction has issued a finding that conduct in violation of
subdivision d of section 27-2005 of this chapter has occurred, the
department, if it receives notice of such finding, shall post on its
website, no later than ninety days after receiving such notice of such
finding, the following information for each such finding:  (i) the


address of the building containing the dwelling unit that was the
subject of such violation; (ii) the name of the property owner, (iii)
the civil or criminal penalty imposed for such violation, (iv) the
date such penalty was imposed; and (v) whether an order restraining
the owner of such unit from violating subdivision d of section 27-2005
of this chapter was issued. (7) The division of housing and community
renewal and the special prosecutions division, or other appropriate
division, of the district attorney's office having jurisdiction
thereof shall collaborate on all proceedings where a penalty may be
imposed pursuant to paragraph two of this subdivision.

EXISTING LAW:

New

JUSTIFICATION:

Tenant harassment complaints in New York City's Housing Court have
nearly doubled since 2011, officials said. Many landlords and
management companies are suspected of using disruptive and dangerous
renovation and construction projects to force out tenants Once
vacated, an owner can automatically increase rents by 20 percent or
eventually convert rent-regulated buildings into luxury condominiums.

New York Daily News - 2014- Brooklyn landlords illegally harassed,
targeted rent-stabilized tenants. suit Brooklyn tenants say they were
victims of a pattern of harassment, neglect and frivolous housing
lawsuits designed to force them out to make room for new tenants
paying double even several times the rent

2013 - In Brown v. NYCHA, Manhattan Housing Court Justice Phyllis Saxe
ruled that NYCHA was in contempt of court and fined the board $19,205
for repeatedly failing to fix the hot water in a tenant's apartment.

CBS NY - 2012 - New York City Housing - Many have been complaining
about mold in their city apartments for years, but charge the New York
City Housing Authority never really confronts the problem.

We need to make it tougher on landlords who abuse our system. We need
to protect renters from being priced out of neighborhoods they helped
build. We also must strengthen the punishments on landlords who abuse
rent regulated tenants by illegally raising rents or physically and
mentally abusing tenants by adding both financial fines and jail time
to those landlords who are guilty of such crimes.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Legislation

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD

LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

EFFECTIVE DATE:


This act shall take effect immediately