Senate Bill S7113

2017-2018 Legislative Session

Relates to removing liability for sidewalk maintenance for cooperative apartment buildings, condominium buildings, nonprofit organizations and houses of worship

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Cities Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Date of Action	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 03, 2018	referred to cities

2017-S7113 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Cities
Law Section:: New York City Administrative Code
Laws Affected:: Amd §7-210, NYC Ad Cd

2017-S7113 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to removing liability for sidewalk maintenance for cooperative apartment buildings, condominium buildings, nonprofit organizations and houses of worship.

2017-S7113 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S7113

SPONSOR: AVELLA
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the administrative code of the city of
New York, in relation to removing liability for sidewalk maintenance for
cooperative apartment buildings, condominium buildings, nonprofit organ-
izations and houses of worship

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this bill is to remove liability for injuries stemming
from the failure to maintain sidewalks for cooperative apartment build-
ings, condominium buildings, nonprofit organizations, and houses of
worship.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of this bill amends subdivisions (b) and (c) of § 7-210 of the
administrative code of the city of New York by adding cooperative or
condominium apartment buildings, non-profits, and houses of worship to
the list of properties which are not liable for injuries caused by the

failure to maintain a sidewalk in a reasonably safe condition.

Section 2 of this bill states that this act shall take effect immediate-
ly after it shall have become a law.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Injuries related to the poor maintenance of sidewalks in the city of New
York are a common occurrence. Currently, in most cases, the property
owner adjacent to the sidewalks where the injuries occur are liable.

When the city of New York originally adopted § 7-210 of the administra-
tive code, which outlines these provisions, it exempted the owners of
one-, two-, and three-family residential homes from these requirements.
The rationale for this exemption rested upon the logic that it was inap-
propriate to expose small-property owners in residence, who have limited
resources, to this category of liability.

It is similarly inappropriate to expose cooperative and condominium
apartment buildings, non-profits, and houses of worship to such liabil-
ity. Each of these categories of property owner have limited resources,
and it is improper to burden them with the costs associated with poten-
tial sidewalk injuries, such as insurance and legal action.

Exempting these property owners from liability for injuries stemming
from the failure to maintain a sidewalk will relieve them of another
potential expense of owning property in the city of New York, and
encourage other organizations in these categories to purchase property
in the City.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately after it shall have become a law

2017-S7113 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7113
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 3, 2018
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  AVELLA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Cities
 
 AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the  city  of  New  York,  in
   relation  to  removing  liability for sidewalk maintenance for cooper-
   ative apartment buildings, condominium buildings, nonprofit  organiza-
   tions and houses of worship
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivisions b and c of section 7-210 of the administrative
 code of the city of New York, as added by local law  number  49  of  the
 city of New York for the year 2003, are amended to read as follows:
   b. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the owner of real prop-
 erty  abutting  any  sidewalk, including, but not limited to, the inter-
 section quadrant for corner property, shall be liable for any injury  to
 property  or personal injury, including death, proximately caused by the
 failure of such owner to maintain such sidewalk  in  a  reasonably  safe
 condition. Failure to maintain such sidewalk in a reasonably safe condi-
 tion  shall  include,  but  not  be limited to, the negligent failure to
 install, construct, reconstruct, repave,  repair  or  replace  defective
 sidewalk  flags  and  the negligent failure to remove snow, ice, dirt or
 other material from the sidewalk. This subdivision shall  not  apply  to
 one-,  two-  or  three-family  residential  real property that is (i) in
 whole or in part, owner occupied, and (ii) used exclusively for residen-
 tial purposes.   THIS SUBDIVISION SHALL  NOT  APPLY  TO  COOPERATIVE  OR
 CONDOMINIUM APARTMENT BUILDINGS NOR SHALL THIS SUBDIVISION APPLY TO REAL
 PROPERTY  THAT  IS  USED AS A HOUSE OF WORSHIP, OR REAL PROPERTY THAT IS
 OWNED BY A NONPROFIT, OR REAL PROPERTY USED  EXCLUSIVELY  FOR  NONPROFIT
 PURPOSES.  FOR  PURPOSES  OF  THIS  SECTION, THE TERM "HOUSE OF WORSHIP"
 SHALL HAVE THE SAME MEANING AS DEFINED IN SECTION 19-162.1 OF THIS CODE.
   c. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the city shall  not  be
 liable  for  any injury to property or personal injury, including death,
 proximately caused by the failure  to  maintain  sidewalks  (other  than
 sidewalks  abutting one-, two- or three-family residential real property

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD13589-01-7

 S. 7113                             2
 
 that is (i) in whole or in part, owner occupied, and  (ii)  used  exclu-
 sively  for  residential  purposes; OR SIDEWALKS ABUTTING COOPERATIVE OR
 CONDOMINIUM APARTMENT BUILDINGS; OR  SIDEWALKS  ABUTTING  REAL  PROPERTY
 THAT  IS USED AS A HOUSE OF WORSHIP, OR REAL PROPERTY THAT IS OWNED BY A
 NONPROFIT, OR REAL PROPERTY USED EXCLUSIVELY FOR NONPROFIT PURPOSES)  in
 a reasonably safe condition.  This subdivision shall not be construed to
 apply  to  the  liability  of  the  city as a property owner pursuant to
 subdivision b of this section.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

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Senate Bill S7113

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Cities Committee

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2017-S7113 (ACTIVE) - Details

2017-S7113 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2017-S7113 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2017-S7113 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

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Sponsored By

Tony Avella

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Cities Committee

Actions

2017-S7113 (ACTIVE) - Details

2017-S7113 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2017-S7113 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2017-S7113 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments