BILL NUMBER: S8930A

SPONSOR: CHU
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the New York city civil court act, in relation to hous-
ing courts

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this legislation is to update the New York City court
system

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends the New York City Civil Court Act by adding a new
subdivision (r), by devoting a new subpart of the court where: (1) the
petitioner and respondent(s) are natural persons; (2) the petitioner(s)
or respondent(s) is a natural person shareholder constituting one
hundred percent ownership of a corporation and at least one shareholder
resides on-premises full time of a property with 10 residential units or
fewer.
              

Additionally, this section lays out for every two (2) million residents,
the housing court will consist of one housing part, two trial parts, and
two resolution parts. The Office of Court Administration will implement
these provisions and are required to establish standards and goals
necessary to resolve any complaint within 120 days of the start of such
proceedings.

Section 2 amends section 102-a of the New York City Civil Court Act to
add new subdivision 5, which states housing court judges shall be
appointed pursuant to subdivision (f) of this section.

Section 3 sets the effective date, and states the addition, amendment,
and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary to implement this act
is authorized to be completed on or before the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

As it is well known, New York is currently facing an extreme housing
crisis and New Yorkers continue to struggle with the current state of
housing; this is exacerbated by the long delays in our housing court
system that New York residents face as both tenants and small landlords.
One to three-family homeowners and small landlords that fall into the
NYC Property Tax Class 2, signifying ownership of properties consisting
of ten residential units or fewer, and live on the premises of their
buildings alongside their tenants face a particular struggle in this
scenario.

They have invested, with great risk, their life savings to purchase a
building with fewer units and they do not have the benefit of a large,
diversified portfolio to be able to weather the delays in the housing
court system and await the resolution of cases that involve situations
of rightful eviction.

At the same time, tenants who live in the building with their landlords
can face daily harassment and threats of unstable housing; harassment
that can be active and direct, along with complete negligence that makes
for uninhabitable homes.  Both types of scenarios are untenable situ-
ations for both, or either, parties that cannot endure the delays that
take often over a year to resolve.

This legislation aims to complement current housing court statutes and
provide a clearer path for common sense housing-related adjudication.
Reorganizing the cases that are heard for resolution, by shifting
forward the cases in which both the landlord and tenants are natural
persons who live in these unsustainable situations, will help streamline
and clear out part the logjam that exists and allow for other cases to
then be heard.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None at this time.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect one year after it shall become a law.  Effec-
tive immediately, the addition, amendment, and/or repeal of any rule or
regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective
date is authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective
date.