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.
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.