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A07992 Summary:

BILL NOA07992A
 
SAME ASSAME AS S06473-A
 
SPONSORLentol
 
COSPNSRCymbrowitz, Sepulveda, Seawright
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Add 241.02, amd 241.05 & 241.00, Pen L
 
Relates to harassment of a rent regulated tenant; establishes the crimes of harassment of a rent regulated tenant in the first and second degree.
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A07992 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A7992A
 
SPONSOR: Lentol
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the penal law, in relation to harass- ment of a rent regulated tenant   PURPOSE: The purpose of this bill is to better protect tenants from the egregious misconduct of unscrupulous landlords by broadening the definition of the class E felony offense of Harassment of a Rent Regulated Tenant and by establishing a related class A misdemeanor offense in Article 241 of the Penal Law.   SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: Section 1 establishes the title of the Act as the "Tenant Protection Act of 2018." Section 2 of the bill amends Penal Law Article 241 to create the new class A misdemeanor offense of Harassment of a Rent Regulated Tenant in the Second Degree (PL section 241.02). This new crime is committed when an owner, with the intent to induce a rent regulated tenant to vacate their housing accommodation, intentionally engages in a course of conduct that (a) impairs the habitability of a housing accommodation; (b) creates or maintains a condition which endangers the safety or health of the tenant; or (c) is reasonably likely to, and does in fact, interfere with or disturb the comfort, repose, peace or quiet of such tenant in their use and occupancy of such housing accommodation. This new PL section includes a provision stating that "the good faith commencement and pursuit of a lawful eviction action" by an owner against a rent regulated tenant shall not, by itself, constitute a "course of conduct" in violation of subdivision three of that section. Section 3 of the bill renames the existing class E felony offense of Harassment of. a Rent Regulated Tenant as Harassment of a Rent Regulated Tenant in the First Degree. Section 3 also expands the definition of the existing class E felony offense to include conduct by an owner who, with the intent to induce two or more rent regulated tenants occupying different housing accommo- dations to vacate their units, intentionally engages in a "systematic ongoing course of conduct" that: (a) impairs the habitability of such housing accommodations; (b) creates or maintains a condition which endangers the safety or health of one or more of the rent regulated tenants: or (c) is reasonably likely to, and does in fact, interfere with or disturb the comfort, repose, peace or quiet of one or more of such tenants in their use and occupancy of such housing accommodations. This expanded definition includes a provision stating that "the good faith commencement and pursuit of a lawful eviction action" by an owner against a rent ,regulated tenant shall not, by itself, constitute a "systematic ongoing course of conduct" in violation Of paragraph (c) of subdivision two of that section. Section 3 further expands the definition of the existing class E felony offense to include the commission by an owner of the newly created class A misdemeanor offense of Harassment of a Rent Regulated Tenant in the Second Degree after having been convicted within the past five years of that offense or Harassment of a Rent Regulated Tenant in the First. Degree. Section 4 amends the definition of "rent regulated tenant" in Penal Law section 241.00 to also include "any lawful successor to the tenancy." Section 5 establishes the effective' date of the Act as 180 days after it shall have become a law.   JUSTIFICATION: Affordable housing is an increasingly scarce resource ix} many parts of New York. Resulting market forces tend to reward unscrupulous landlords who go to extraordinary lengths to force tenants to vacate their rent regulated homes. Unfortunately, the existing Penal Law statute intended to protect tenants from these unconscionable acts has been wholly inef- fective. Under the existing Harassment of a Rent Regulated Tenant statute, a prosecutor must not only prove that the offending landlord intended to cause the tenant to vacate their home, he or she also must prove that the tenant sustained physical injury due to the landlord's actions and that the landlord actually intended to cause (or acted with criminal recklessness in causing) such injury. In so doing, the existing statute fixes an inexplicably high bar that, in the nearly two decades since the law was enacted, has never been met. In fact, DOS records show that not a single landlord has ever been convicted of that crime. By creating a new misdemeanor tenant harassment offense and expanding the existing felony definition to eliminate the need to prove physical injury to a rent regulated tenant and a landlord's specific intent to cause it, this bill will go a long way toward providing real protections for tenants who, until now, have been the innocent victims both of their own landlords and of an ineffective Penal Law statute.   PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New bill.   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.   EFFECTIVE DATE: The Act takes effect 180 days after it shall have become a law.
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A07992 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                         7992--A
                                                                Cal. No. 570
 
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                      May 25, 2017
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M. of A. LENTOL, CYMBROWITZ, SEPULVEDA -- (at request of
          the Department of Law) -- read once and referred to the  Committee  on
          Codes  --  ordered  to a third reading, amended and ordered reprinted,
          retaining its place on the order of third reading

        AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to harassment of a rent regu-
          lated tenant
 
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section  1.  This  act  shall be known and may be cited as the "tenant
     2  protection act of 2018".
     3    § 2. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 241.02  to  read
     4  as follows:
     5  § 241.02 Harassment of a rent regulated tenant in the second degree.
     6    An  owner  is  guilty  of harassment of a rent regulated tenant in the
     7  second degree when, with intent to induce a  rent  regulated  tenant  to
     8  vacate  a  housing  accommodation, such owner intentionally engages in a
     9  course of conduct that:
    10    1. impairs the habitability of a housing accommodation; or
    11    2. creates or maintains a condition  which  endangers  the  safety  or
    12  health of the dwelling's tenant; or
    13    3.  is reasonably likely to interfere with or disturb, and does inter-
    14  fere with or disturb, the comfort, repose, peace or quiet of  such  rent
    15  regulated  tenant in his or her use and occupancy of such housing accom-
    16  modation including, but not limited to, the interruption  or  discontin-
    17  uance  of essential services. The good faith commencement and pursuit of
    18  a lawful eviction action by an owner against a rent regulated tenant  in
    19  a  court  of  competent  jurisdiction shall not, by itself, constitute a
    20  "course of conduct" in violation of this subdivision.
    21    Harassment of a rent regulated tenant in the second degree is a  class
    22  A misdemeanor.
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11494-06-8

        A. 7992--A                          2
 
     1    §  3.  Section 241.05 of the penal law, as added by chapter 116 of the
     2  laws of 1997, is amended to read as follows:
     3  § 241.05 Harassment of a rent regulated tenant in the first degree.
     4    An  owner  is  guilty  of harassment of a rent regulated tenant in the
     5  first degree when [with]:
     6    1. With intent to [cause] induce a rent regulated tenant to  vacate  a
     7  housing accommodation, such owner:
     8    [1.]  (a)  With intent to cause physical injury to such tenant, causes
     9  such injury to such tenant or to a third person; or
    10    [2.] (b) Recklessly causes physical injury to  such  tenant  or  to  a
    11  third person[.]; or
    12    2.  With intent to induce two or more rent regulated tenants occupying
    13  different housing accommodations to vacate such housing  accommodations,
    14  such  owner  intentionally  engages  in  a  systematic ongoing course of
    15  conduct that:
    16    (a) impairs the habitability of such housing accommodations; or
    17    (b) creates or maintains a condition which  endangers  the  safety  or
    18  health of one or more of the dwellings' rent regulated tenants; or
    19    (c) is reasonably likely to interfere with or disturb, and does inter-
    20  fere with or disturb, the comfort, repose, peace or quiet of one or more
    21  of  such rent regulated tenants in their use and occupancy of such hous-
    22  ing accommodations including, but not limited to,  the  interruption  or
    23  discontinuance of essential services; or
    24    3.  Such  owner  commits  the  crime of harassment of a rent regulated
    25  tenant in the second degree as defined in section 241.02 of this article
    26  and has previously been convicted within the  preceding  five  years  of
    27  such  crime or the crime of harassment of a rent regulated tenant in the
    28  first degree.
    29    The good faith commencement and pursuit of a lawful eviction action by
    30  an owner against a rent regulated tenant in a court of competent  juris-
    31  diction shall not, by itself, constitute a "systematic ongoing course of
    32  conduct"  in  violation  of  paragraph  (c)  of  subdivision two of this
    33  section.
    34    Harassment of a rent regulated tenant in the first degree is a class E
    35  felony.
    36    § 4. Subdivision 1 of section 241.00 of the penal  law,  as  added  by
    37  chapter 116 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read as follows:
    38    1.  "Rent  regulated  tenant"  shall mean a person occupying a housing
    39  accommodation or any lawful successor to the tenancy which is subject to
    40  the regulations and control of residential rents and evictions  pursuant
    41  to  the  emergency housing rent control law, the local emergency housing
    42  rent control act, the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seven-
    43  ty-four, the New York city rent and rehabilitation law or the  New  York
    44  city  rent  stabilization  law  of nineteen hundred sixty-nine, and such
    45  person is either a party to a lease or rental agreement for such housing
    46  accommodation, a statutory tenant or a person who lawfully occupies such
    47  housing accommodation with such party to a lease or rental agreement  or
    48  with  such  statutory tenant.  The definition of "rent regulated tenant"
    49  as used in this subdivision shall be applicable only to  the  provisions
    50  of  this  article  and shall not be applicable to any other provision of
    51  law.
    52    § 5. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    53  it shall have become a law; provided, however, that  the  amendments  to
    54  article  241  of  the  penal law made by sections two, three and four of
    55  this act shall not affect the repeal of such article and shall be deemed
    56  repealed therewith.
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