New York State Assembly

 
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A06188 Summary:

A06188 Actions:

A06188 Committee Votes:

Committee:CODES   Chair:Lentol      
DATE:03/05/2019AYE/NAY:16/6  Action: Favorable         
Lentol
Aye
Ra
Nay
Schimminger
Aye
Giglio
Nay
Pretlow
Aye
Montesano
Nay
Cook
Aye
Morinello
Nay
Cymbrowitz
Aye
Palumbo
Nay
O'Donnell
Aye
Garbarino
Nay
Lavine
Aye
Perry
Aye
Zebrowski
Aye
Abinanti
Aye
Weprin
Aye
Mosley
Aye
Hevesi
Aye
Fahy
Aye
Seawright
Aye
Rosenthal
Aye

A06188 Floor Votes:

A06188 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
 submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)



 
BILL NUMBER: A6188
 
SPONSOR: Lentol

 
TITLE OF BILL:
 
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to harassment of a rent regu-
lated 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 2019."

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 F felony
offense to include the commission by an owner of the newly created class
A misdemeanor offense of I 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 in 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, DCJS 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.
 
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
 
None
 
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
The Act takes effect 180 days after it shall have become a law.