Relates to willful neglect of real property prevention

Summary of specific provisions

Provides that HPD after three or more good faith complaints by or on behalf of tenants and wherein within 120 days such conditions have not been addressed or remedied by the landlord; and following the consensus of fifty percent or more of the tenants, the city shall compel the landlord or responsible entity to undertake repairs and/or cease in actions that affect the safety and well-being of tenants. Furthermore, the bill provides that if the repairs are not completed or negative actions have not ceased and if elements essential to the safety and well-being of residents have not been replaced, the city shall place a lien on the property equal to the costs of repairs, improvements, replacements and treatment measures and administrative fees required to remedy the property.

The bill further requires that HPD shall assess the costs of repair and actions needed to make property habitable and safe and assign a community based housing corporation to manage the repair process for a fee. Financing of the repairs shall be made possible by a personal income tax revenue bond authorized by the New York state housing finance agency. The responsible landlord shall be responsible reimbursing the city for the costs of repairs, interest, penalties and administrative management fees to the community based housing corporation.

Should repairs require the relocation of tenants, the responsible party will be responsible for finding comparable housing for the tenants in a closely proximate area, at a comparable or lower rate and assume relocation costs and should the rent be higher, the difference between the current rent and the rent at the relocated site.

Finally the bill requires HPD to establish an imminent danger list of properties for which more than five complaints, the nature of which pose a threat to the health and safety of tenants, are filed during the course of a calendar year.

Justification

For a number of years, reports of willful neglect on the part of predatory landlords appeared to be isolated and random against the backdrop of thousands of rent-regulated properties. As the demand for housing and increasing commensurate costs and development profit margins, the trend to willfully debilitate the integrity of rent-regulated properties to the point of condemnation leading to demolition for the purpose of developing high income luxury units.

The desire to live in locations within or in proximity of Manhattan has impacted housing in central/northeastern Brooklyn, from Flatbush to Bushwick; the western Bronx; Upper Manhattan, from East Harlem to Washington Heights; and Lower Manhattan, Chinatown and the Lower East Side{1}.

The acts have included failure to maintain exterior walls, interior walls, and boilers and as of late have escalated to outright acts of demolition in the name of bogus non-sanctioned construction; removing essential services i.e. water, heat, commodes; and threats of imminent eviction without cause.

Mayor DeBlasio has established a ten-year housing $41 billion plan that aspires to the creation or preservation of 200,000 affordable housing units.The actions of this group of landlords threatens to take the plan two steps back for every step forward. Moreover, the displacement of the affected tenants threatens to change the character of the targeted communities with no possibility of reintegrating tenants in need of affordable housing e.g. municipal employees, service industry workers, and health care providers ranging from the working poor to the middle class. Justifiably, residents in these communities are suspicious of any development efforts in their neighborhoods maintaining that development is being done to them without consideration and not with them in consultation. The prevailing opinion is that a wave of secondary displacement pressures, would negatively affect both long-term residents and existing businesses.{2}

{1} Metropolitan Council

{2} Michael McKee, treasure! of Tenants Political Action Committee

Effective date

Immediately