Prohibits landlords from refusing to deal with certain people solely because those people were involved in prior summary proceedings

BILL NUMBER:S1800

Title of bill

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to a tenant blacklist

Purpose or general idea of bill

To prohibit tenant blacklisting - the practice by which landlords deny housing to potential tenants because the tenant has been involved in landlord-tenant litigation.

Summary of specific provisions

Section 2-a(a-1) amends § 296 of the Executive Law to prohibit discrimination in public housing against potential tenants who have been, or are currently, involved in a landlord-tenant action or summary proceeding, except where tenant has not complied with a court order.

Section 3-b amends § 296 of the Executive Law to include landlord-tenant actions on the list of prohibited discriminatory behavior.

Section 5-a(1-a) amends § 296 of the Executive Law to prohibit discrimination against potential tenants who have been, or are currently, involved in a landlord-tenant action or summary proceeding, except where tenant has not complied with a court order.

Justification

When tenants are involved in any landlord-tenant action, whether to assert their own legal rights or for other reasons, they thereafter find themselves on a blacklist that keeps them from being able to secure future housing.

The Metropolitan Council on Housing reports that the New York City Housing Court hears 365,000 cases ever year. Because screening bureaus report cases up to seven years old, tenant blacklisting affects almost two million New Yorkers.

Tenant blacklisting becomes an increasingly critical issue when there is a housing crisis. In New York City, a housing crisis occurs when the vacancy rate for available housing units drops below 5%; the vacancy rate in New York was 3.4% in 2008. In a crisis, affordable housing becomes scarce and blacklisted tenants find it increasingly difficult to secure such housing. Because of the combined effects of tenant blacklisting and the housing crisis, tenants are often afraid to assert legitimate legal claims for fear of being blacklisted by the screening bureaus.

Tenant blacklisting occurs when a tenant screening bureau, including the widely-used First Advantage Safe Rent ("FASR"), purchases electronic data about landlord-tenant actions from the New York State Office of Court Administration's ("OCA"). The bureaus then compile the information into a list that they provide to landlords conducting investigations about potential tenants. This practice is currently legal because court records are considered public information. Any tenant who has been involved in a landlord-tenant action can be named on the screening bureau's list, regardless of who initiated the

action, the cause of the action, and the outcome. The bureaus issue thousands of reports on potential tenants every day. These lists become blacklists for those seeking housing in New York State.

This legislation would address tenant blacklisting by classifying it as illegal discriminatory behavior. Tenant screening bureaus will be prohibited from using Court records to form a tenant blacklist. Tenants would no longer fear that asserting their legal right to due process Would land them on a blacklist.

Prior legislative history

2010: A.4134 Referred to Housing 2009: A.4134 Referred to Housing

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.