Senate Bill S8559A

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8559A   Revised 04/10/26

SPONSOR: KAVANAGH
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the penal law, in relation to the aggravated harassment
of a rent regulated tenant

 
PURPOSE:

This bill would strengthen protections for rent regulated tenants by
creating enhanced criminal penalties for landlords who engage in system-
atic harassment across multiple buildings, as well as repeat offenders
who violate existing anti-harassment laws.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends subdivision 2 of Penal Law Section 241.05,
which provides for when an owner is guilty of harassment of a rent regu-
lated tenant in the first degree, to clarify that it is a systematic
ongoing course of conduct when the owner has intent to induce two or
more rent regulated tenants occupying different housing accommodations
              

in one residential building, or two rent regulated tenants occupying
different housing accommodations in two separate residential buildings.

Section 2 of the bill amends Penal Law Article 241 by adding a new
Section 241.07 to create a new Class D felony offense of aggravated
harassment of a rent regulated tenant. An owner is guilty of aggravated
harassment of a rent regulated tenant when:

- Under subdivision 1 of new Section 241.07, the owner, with intent to
induce three or more rent regulated tenants occupying apartments in two
or more residential buildings to vacate their units, engages in a
systematic ongoing course of conduct that impairs habitability; creates
or maintains a condition that endangers the safety or health of one or
more of the tenants; or interferes with or disturbs the comfort, repose,
peace or quiet of one or more of the tenants in their use and occupancy
of their apailatent, including the interruption or discontinuance of
essential services. The course of conduct described here is similar to
the existing provisions of subdivision 2 of Penal Law Section 241.05,
which generally applies to tenants living in the same building.

- Under subdivision 2 of new Section 241.07, the owner has been
convicted of the crime of harassment of a rent regulated tenant in the
first degree as defined in Penal Law Section 241.05 within the past five
years.

Subdivision 2 of new Section 241.07 also states that the good faith
commencement and pursuit of a lawful eviction does not by itself consti-
tute a systemic ongoing course of conduct of tenant harassment.

Section 3 of the bill adds a new subdivision 4 to Section 241.00 of the
Penal Law, the definition section of Article 241 of the Penal Law on the
Harassment of Rent Regulated Tenants, to add a definition for "residen-
tial building" as it applies to determining the Class D felony in the
new Section 241.07.

Section 4 of the bill sets forth the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Rent and tenant protection laws ensure that millions of New Yorkers have
access to stable, affordable apartments. Yet some unscrupulous landlords
harass tenants with the intent to force people out of their homes.
Existing legal recourse includes misdemeanor and felony charges geared
towards protecting tenants and holding offending landlords accountable.

The Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (S2605/A6188, Chapter 573 of 2019)
made the prosecution of the crime of harassment of rent-regulated
tenants easier by eliminating the need for the prosecutor to prove phys-
ical injury to a rent regulated tenant and the landlord's intent to
cause such injury, as well as expanding the felony offense of Harassment
of a Rent Regulated Tenant to include conduct listed in a then newly
created subdivision 2 of Penal Law Section 241.05.

However, current laws do not address the full scope of how certain prop-
erty owners operate to drive out lawful tenants. Harassment of a Rent
Regulated Tenant in the First Degree is a class E felony that addresses
landlords who engage in illegal behavior to get two or more tenants in
the same building to vacate their homes. But when landlords own multiple
buildings and engage in the same conduct with respect to multiple
tenants across various properties, they only face misdemeanor charges or
civil penalties.

Creating a new class D felony, Aggravated Harassment of a Rent Regulated
Tenant, to recognize this type of behavior will not only allow harassed
tenants to get real justice, but will also act as a meaningful deterrent
to landlords who may otherwise have acted in this manner. It will also
create a harsher penalty for landlords who engage in repeated behavior
within individual buildings, by creating an enhanced penalty for indi-
viduals who are convicted of Harassment of a Rent Regulated Tenant in
the First Degree after having previously been convicted for the same
charge.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2025: 58559 (Kavanagh) - Referred to Rules

A9220 (Lasher) - Referred to Codes

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.