BILL NUMBER:  S6636

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the real property law, in relation to protecting
tenants from illegally converted dwellings

 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL :

The purpose of this bill is to help reduce the incidence of illegal
conversions by requiring landlords to disclose to tenants that a
certificate of occupancy is current and valid for the property being
rented.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section one of the bill requires a valid certificate of occupancy to
be disclosed prior to the execution of a rental agreement or lease
between a landlord and a tenant.

Section two of the bill provides the effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Some tenants may assume that when a landlord is offering a place to
rent, that those housing accommodations are safe and up to code.
              

However, that isn't necessarily the case. In fact, some landlords are
seeking additional profits by allowing more tenants into a house or
building than would otherwise be allowed. For example, a landlord may
take a two-family house, which was once only home to two families, and
instead make illegal conversions inside the two-family house such that
five or six families are living there. These illegal conversions
present not only the obvious concerns of the safety of those
individuals living there, but they also cause our neighborhoods and
schools to become overcrowded because our city planners are assuming
that a two-family house only has two families in it, and not five or
six. This bill would protect tenants by requiring landlords to
disclose whether a certificate of occupancy is on file, if the
building is required to have one, for the property being rented and
that it is valid. Alternatively, landlords could provide a copy of the
certificate of occupancy to the tenants.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

New bill.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None to the State.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
Immediately upon enactment and would apply to all residential leases
entered into on and after such date.