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The de Blasio administration recently released a draft report that outlined plans to promote fair housing in New York City for the next five years. The impetus for the “Where We Live” report began during the Obama administration when the federal government wanted to strengthen enforcement of the Fair Housing Act. Under the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule (AFFH), the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) moved to require st...
Last April, the New York City Council passed the Climate Mobilization Act, a package of legislation aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from NYC buildings and improving their energy efficiency. The goal of the new law is to reduce overall carbon emissions 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050. There are several compliance deadlines along that timeline, the first being 2024. Between now and then, owners of buildings larger than 25,000 square feet need to begin...
In November 2019, the latest FDNY rules implementing Local Laws 114 and 115 of 2018 went into effect. These particular rules pertain to providing an emergency planning checklist to apartment residents and posting “Close the Door” signs in conspicuous locations. And in recent years, new Fire Department rules changing the content and delivery of the annual residential fire safety guides went into effect.
The following is a list of FDNY-related documents ...
Before you can sue to evict a tenant for not paying the rent, you must send the tenant a legal notice known as a “rent demand.” In it, you ask the tenant to pay the rent owed and give him a chance to pay before starting a nonpayment proceeding. Although this seems simple enough, a surprising number of nonpayment cases get thrown out based on a rent demand that wasn’t properly prepared or delivered. To help you, here are seven Dos & Don’ts to ...
When you get a violation notice from the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), it will specify a deadline for correcting the violation. HPD issues violations to owners of buildings that don’t meet the standards of the city’s Housing Maintenance Code and the New York State Multiple Dwelling Law. Buildings with significant numbers of unresolved violations may be subject to HPD-initiated litigation, eligible for the alternative ...
Seven plaintiffs have joined the Rent Stabilization Association (RSA) and Community Home Improvement Program (CHIP) to sue over new rent regulations they claim are ‟unconstitutional.” The plaintiffs are management companies run by three different landlords and an individual landlord. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, and names the city, the Rent Guidelines Board along with each of its members, and the state Homes and C...
The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA) made significant changes to various statutes governing rent-stabilized housing, including the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, the Rent Stabilization Law of 1969, various provisions of the State Real Property Law, The Real Property Actions and Proceeding Law (RPAPL), and the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR).
Last year, both New York State and New York City enacted several significant measures regarding sexual harassment in the workplace. At the state level, the labor law was amended to require the Department of Labor and Division of Human Rights to collaborate in developing both a model sexual harassment prevention policy and a model sexual harassment prevention training program for use by employers in combatting sexual harassment in the workplace.
On June 14, 2019, the New York State Legislature enacted the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (the Act), which significantly altered existing rent control and rent stabilization laws. The Legislature followed up on June 25, 2019, by enacting a “Clean Up Bill” to clarify some provisions of the Act. Most provisions of the Act became effective i...
Owners sometimes hire tenants to be superintendents. This practice can lead to serious problems unless the owner takes precautions. When a tenant is hired to act as a superintendent, he becomes the owner’s employee. This is not a problem. But suppose the owner later wants to fire the employee. The owner might discover that the employee retains his rights as a tenant. If the tenant is protected by rent laws, the owner won’t be able to evict the tenant. Thus, ...
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