Stop Apartment Warehousing

Section 1. Legislative findings and intent. The legislature finds and declares that each person in the state shall have a right to be housed and that such right to housing is a basic human right.

The legislature further finds and declares that the practice of "warehousing", that is of intentionally withholding housing accommodations from the housing market, including the withholding of apartments for purposes of future co-operative apartment conversion, has contributed significantly to the shortage of housing in this state, especially in the city of New York.

The legislature further finds and declares that the practice of warehousing has violated the right to housing of many of the citizens and residents of this state.

It is thus the intent of the legislature to eliminate the practice of warehousing by providing strong penalties to deter such practice.

§ 2. Section 26-412 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new subdivision g to read as follows:

g. It shall be unlawful to harass a tenant to obtain vacancy of such tenant's housing accommodation or to have intentionally withheld a housing accommodation from the market, including withholding such accommodation for the purpose of future co-operative apartment conversion. For the purposes of this subdivision, harassment consists of engaging in a course of conduct or repeatedly committing acts which alarm or seriously

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD03223-01-5

annoy a tenant or other person residing in the tenant's housing accommodation and which serve no legitimate purpose.

§ 3. Paragraph 2 of subdivision c of section 26-516 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by section 23 of part A of chapter 20 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:

(2) to have harassed a tenant to obtain vacancy of [his or her] such tenant's housing accommodation or to have intentionally withheld a housing accommodation from the market, including withholding such accommodation for the purpose of future co-operative apartment conversion, the commissioner may impose by administrative order after hearing, a civil penalty for any such violation. Such penalty shall be at a minimum in the amount of two thousand but not to exceed three thousand dollars for the first such offense, and at minimum in the amount of ten thousand but not to exceed eleven thousand dollars for each subsequent offense or for a violation consisting of conduct directed at the tenants of more than one housing accommodation.

§ 4. Clause (ii) of paragraph 3 of subdivision a of section 12 of section 4 of chapter 576 of the laws of 1974, constituting the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, as amended by section 27 of part A of chapter 20 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:

(ii) to have harassed a tenant to obtain vacancy of [his] such tenant's housing accommodation or to have intentionally withheld a housing accommodation from the market, including withholding such accommodation for the purpose of future co-operative apartment conversion, the commissioner may impose by administrative order after hearing, a civil penalty for any such violation. Such penalty shall be at minimum in the amount of two thousand but not to exceed three thousand dollars for the first such offense, and at minimum in the amount of ten thousand but not to exceed eleven thousand dollars for each subsequent offense or for a violation consisting of conduct directed at the tenants of more than one housing accommodation.

§ 5. This act shall take effect immediately provided that the amendment to section 26-412 of the city rent and rehabilitation law made by section two of this act shall remain in full force and effect only so long as the public emergency requiring the regulation and control of residential rents and evictions continues, as provided in subdivision 3 of section 1 of the local emergency housing rent control act; and provided further that the amendment to section 26-516 of the rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine made by section three of this act shall expire on the same date as such law expires.