After more than a year of lobbying by tenants and tenant advocates, Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed an anti-landlord harassment bill into law on March 13.
The bill, called Intro 627-A, was proposed by New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in her 2007 State of the City address, passed City Council on Feb. 28. The signing of the bill is a huge victory for tenants who have been affected by a citywide trend of landlords pushing out affordable-housing renters in favor of higher-paying tourists and short-term tenants.
“We’ve all heard the horror stories—hot water that is suddenly ice cold, routine repairs that are never scheduled,” Quinn said in 2007 of landlords who attempt to force tenants out by creating untenable living conditions. “Tenants can’t leave because they’ve got nowhere to go. If they have the resources, they can take a landlord to court for each and every individual violation, but they are helpless against a pattern of harassment—until now.”
Intro 627-A, known as the Tenant Protection Act, will allow tenants to take landlords to New York City Housing Court if they feel they have been harassed. Previously, tenants could only take landlords to Housing Court if they could demonstrate that the landlord had neglected essential services or failed to maintain the physical condition of housing units.
The bill defines harassment as “any act or omission, such as repeated interruption or withholding of services, by a landlord that causes or is intended to force a legal tenant to vacate an apartment.” Under the new legislation, landlords can be fined up to $5,000 for each unit in which a tenant was harassed.
At the signing ceremony at City Hall on March 13, Bloomberg congratulated Quinn and other City Council members for their work in support of the bill.
“While we believe that the vast majority of landlords throughout the city are responsible and do not engage in tenant harassment, we cannot turn our backs on the bad actors who participate in such behavior,” Bloomberg said at the ceremony.
Bloomberg maintained his stated commitment to renters, who make up about two-thirds of city residents.
“As our city continues to grow, preserving housing—and especially affordable housing—will remain a priority of my administration,” Bloomberg said at the ceremony. He added that the new law “takes us a step in the right direction by ensuring that tenants in such housing—and in all housing throughout the city—are protected.”
The Rent Stabilization Association—the largest trade association of property owners and agents in New York City, responsible for approximately one million units of housing—staunchly opposed the bill. RSA representatives said in a press release that “numerous criminal and civil laws banning harassment already exist, and that frivolous claims of harassment will be brought to Housing Court to delay non-payment and holdover proceedings.” The group also raised concerns that the bill would adversely impact the Housing Court by flooding it with trivial claims, and questioned the legality of including harassment within the Housing Maintenance Code.
Bloomberg tried to assuage the RSA’s concerns, saying Intro 627-A “takes into account owners’ rights as well, enabling them to prove that acts were not intended to cause an occupant to vacate and that the owner has acted in good faith.”
The RSA recommended that landlords concerned about frivolous claims consult their attorneys about ways to protect themselves from unfair lawsuits, such as keeping written documentation of all communications with tenants, photos of the premises, and copies of bills for maintenance and repair work.
lydia.wileden@columbiaspectator.com