Requires an owner of real property to provide notice to tenants of a residential lease as to whether a certificate of occupancy, if such certificate is required by law, is currently valid for the dwelling subject to the lease.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8249
SPONSOR: Harris TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the real property law, in relation to
protecting tenants from illegally converted dwellings
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this bill is to help reduce the incidence of illegal
conversions by requiring landlords to disclose to tenants that a certif-
icate of occupancy is current and valid for the property being rented.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill requires a valid certificate of occupancy to be
disclosed prior to the execution of a rental agreement or lease between
a landlord and a tenant.
Section two of the bill provides the effective date.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
N/A
JUSTIFICATION:
Some tenants may assume that when a landlord is offering a place to
rent, that those housing accommodations are safe and up to code. Howev-
er, that isn't necessarily the case. In fact, some landlords are seeking
additional profits by allowing more tenants into a house or building
than would otherwise be allowed. For example, a landlord may take a
two-family house, which was once only home to two families, and instead
make illegal conversions inside the two-family house such that five or
six families are living there. These illegal conversions present not
only the obvious concerns of the safety of those individuals living
there, but they also cause our neighborhoods and schools to become over-
crowded because our city planners are assuming that a two-family house
only has two families in it, and not five or six. This bill would
protect tenants by requiring landlords to disclose whether a certificate
of occupancy is on file, if the building is required to have one, for
the property being rented and that it is valid. Alternatively, landlords
could provide a copy of the certificate of occupancy to the tenants.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately, and it would apply to all residential leases entered into
on and after such date.
