What's happening
This bill requires property owners or lessors to inspect vacated properties for abandoned animals and imposes penalties for noncompliance.
Why it matters
Ensures timely animal welfare checks. By requiring property owners or lessors to inspect vacated properties within three days, the bill aims to prevent animals from being left behind and suffering from neglect or abandonment during property transitions such as evictions, foreclosures, or abandonment.
Clarifies legal responsibility and liability. The bill explicitly states that property owners or their designees who discover abandoned animals are not legally considered the animals' owners or custodians, protecting them from unintended legal obligations while still compelling action.
Introduces enforceable penalties. Noncompliance with the inspection and reporting requirements carries escalating civil penalties ($500 for a first offense, $1,000 for repeat offenses), creating a financial incentive for property owners to adhere to the law.
Directs funds to animal welfare. Penalties collected are allocated to the state’s animal population control fund, potentially increasing resources for spay/neuter programs and other animal welfare initiatives, amplifying the law’s positive impact on animal protection.
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Who cares
Property owners, lessors and their designees
They would have to inspect covered vacated properties within three days and immediately report apparently abandoned animals, with civil penalties of up to $500 for a first violation and $1,000 for each subsequent violation.
Dog control officers
They could receive required notifications to arrange prompt retrieval of abandoned animals or necessary care at the property until retrieval.
Police and societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals
They could receive abandonment reports, while their existing authority to enforce animal abandonment and cruelty laws would remain unrestricted.
Animal population control fund administrators
The fund would receive civil penalties collected for failures to comply with the inspection and notification requirements.
Headline styles
Check Vacant Homes for Pets
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to domestic animal welfare
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Check Vacant Homes for Pets
In Assembly Committee · Agriculture · Sponsor Donna Lupardo
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
7119
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 8, 2020
Introduced by Sen. MARTINEZ -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Domestic Animal Welfare
AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to requiring property owners and lessors of certain properties that have been vacated to inspect such property for abandoned animals
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 373 of the agriculture and markets law is amended by adding a new subdivision 2-a to read as follows:
2-a. a. Notwithstanding sections thirteen hundred seven and nineteen hundred seventy-one of the real property actions and proceedings law or any other provision of law to the contrary, the property owner or lessor of property that has been vacated as a result of an eviction, property foreclosure, forfeiture or default on a mortgage, trust deed or land sales contract, or abandonment, or such property owner or lessor's designee, shall, within three days of such vacancy, inspect the property for the presence of abandoned animals. If the property owner, lessor, or designee encounters an animal which appears to be abandoned on such property, such owner, lessor, or designee shall immediately notify the dog control officer, the police, or agent or officer of a duly incorporated society for the prevention of cruelty to animals about such encounter, for the purpose of promptly retrieving or providing necessary care for such animal at the property until the animal can be retrieved. The property owner, lessor, or designee who encounters an abandoned animal pursuant to this paragraph shall not be deemed the owner, possessor or person having charge or custody of the animal.
b. A property owner or lessor, or such property owner or lessor's designee, who fails to comply with the requirements of paragraph a of this subdivision shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than five hundred dollars for a first offense and not more than one thousand dollars for a second offense and each subsequent offense thereafter. Funds collected pursuant to this subdivision shall be deposited into the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14262-01-9
S. 7119 2
animal population control fund established pursuant to section ninetyseven-xx of the state finance law.
c. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or restrict in any way agents or officers of societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals or the police from enforcing provisions of this article or any other law relating to abandonment of animals or the inhumane treatment of or cruelty to animals.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to requir- ing property owners and lessors of certain properties that have been vacated to inspect such property for abandoned animals
Purpose or general idea of bill
The purpose of this legislation is to require landlords to inspect vacated properties within three days to ensure no animals were left abandoned.
Summary of provisions
Section 1: Section 373 of the Agriculture and Markets Law is amended by a new subdivision 2-a. Section 2: Effective Date.
Justification
Often times when people are forced from their homes it is due to finan- cial reasons or a change in lifestyle or re-location. These types of reasons for vacating a home can occasionally lead individuals to make hasty and desperate decisions for their pets. These types of decisions can also have profound and sometime lethal consequences for their aban- doned pets.
This legislation would require owners of real property to inspect vacated properties within three days to check to see that no animals were left abandoned in the home. The bill would require the landowner to notify animal control, police or SPCA in order for the animal to be removed or cared for until such time as it can be removed. The legis- lation also clarifies that the landlord is not deemed the owner of such animal and failure to check for abandon pets will result in a fine to be paid into the animal population control fund. Massachusetts passed a similar law in 2018.
Prior legislative history
This is new legislation.
Fiscal implications for state and local governments
This legislation will have no local fiscal implications; any fines collected will be deposited into the State's Animal population control fund.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.