Provides for enhanced enforcement of the warranty of habitability for housing accommodations

BILL NUMBER:S5474

Title of bill

An act to amend the real property law, in relation to enforcement of the warranty of habitability

Purpose or general idea of bill

The purpose of this bill is to amend the Real Property Law by granting the courts discretion to award punitive damages in cases where the warranty of habitability is breached intentionally or with conscious disregard to severe risks to the life, health, or safety of the tenant.

Summary of specific provisions

This bill is to amend the Real Property Law by granting the courts discretion to award punitive damages in cases where the warranty of habitability is breached intentionally or with conscious. disregard to severe risks to the life, health, or safety of the tenant.

Justification

Although the courts have awarded punitive damages for breach of the warranty of habitability in certain egregious cases, the circumstances in which punitive damages may be granted are defined solely with respect to specific fact patterns addressed in existing decisional law. Without a clear statutory mandate to award punitive damages in egregious cases where the warranty is breached, the courts may be reluctant to extend the application of existing case law, even in cases where doing so may be merited for deterrence purposes.

This bill would remedy that problem by declaring that the policy of the State of New York is to deter intentional violations of the warranty of habitability through awards of punitive damages when necessary. Accordingly, this bill would amend section 235-b of the Real Property Law by adding a new subdivision to the warranty of habitability statute. The new subdivision would grant courts the authority to issue punitive damage awards as a matter of law in cases where the warranty is breached intentionally or with a conscious disregard for the life, health, or safety of the tenant. By officially sanctioning the use of punitive damage awards as for deterrence purposes in egregious cases, this bill enables courts to award such damages with the imprimitur of the legislature rather than on the solely analogical and sometimes speculative basis of existing case law.

In doing so, this bill would both codify and expand the bases for awards of punitive awards under existing decisional law. The cases currently recognize intentional violations of the warranty as a basis for punitive damages (See Minjak Co., v. Randolph, 140 A.D.2d 245; 528 N.Y.S.2d 554, 1st Dept 1988), but there is no clear basis in case law for awarding such damages in cases where conclusive evidence of an intentional breach is lacking, even though the landlord may have consciously disregarded severe risk to the health and safety of the tenants. In those cases, this bill would place such damage awards within the sound discretion of the court and would provide a clear articulation of the legislative purpose for authorizing such awards.

Prior legislative history

A5662 - 2009

Fiscal implications for state and local governments

None.

Effective date

This bill would take effect on the ninetieth day after becoming law.