Add Art 7-D §§288 - 290, Mult Dwell L; amd §§472 & 473, Priv Hous Fin L
Establishes a program to address the legalization of specified basements and cellars and the conversion of other specified basements and cellars in a city with a population of one million or more.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9802--B
IN ASSEMBLY
April 18, 2022
___________
Introduced by M. of A. EPSTEIN, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, GLICK, MAMDANI, NIOU,
GOTTFRIED, GALLAGHER, QUART, REYES, JACKSON, CARROLL, BICHOTTE HERME-
LYN, AUBRY, BENEDETTO, FERNANDEZ, TAPIA, MITAYNES, SIMON, ANDERSON,
CRUZ, GIBBS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Local
Governments -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted
as amended and recommitted to said committee -- again reported from
said committee with amendments, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the multiple dwelling law and the private housing
finance law, in relation to establishing a program to address the
legalization of specified basements and cellars and the conversion of
other specified basements and cellars in a city with a population of
one million or more
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The multiple dwelling law is amended by adding a new arti-
2 cle 7-D to read as follows:
3 ARTICLE 7-D
4 LEGALIZATION AND CONVERSION OF BASEMENTS AND CELLARS
5 Section 288. Definitions.
6 289. Basement and cellar local laws and regulations.
7 290. Tenant protections in inhabited basements or cellars.
8 § 288. Definitions. As used in this article, unless the context or
9 subject matter requires otherwise, the following terms shall have the
10 following meanings:
11 1. The term "inhabited basement or cellar" means a basement or cellar
12 unlawfully occupied as a residence by one or more tenants on or prior to
13 the effective date of this article;
14 2. The term "rented" means leased, let, or hired out, with or without
15 a written agreement; and
16 3. The term "tenant" means an individual to whom an inhabited basement
17 or cellar is rented.
18 § 289. Basement and cellar local laws and regulations. 1. Notwith-
19 standing any other provision of state or local law to the contrary, in a
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14945-04-2
A. 9802--B 2
1 city with a population of one million or more, the local legislative
2 body may, by local law, establish a program to address, as appropriate,
3 and provided that safety is protected, (a) the legalization of specified
4 inhabited basements and cellars in existence prior to the effective date
5 of this article through conversion to legal dwelling units, or (b) the
6 conversion of other specified basements and cellars in existence prior
7 to the effective date of this article to legal dwelling units. The local
8 law authorized by this section, and any rules or regulations promulgated
9 thereunder, shall not be subject to environmental review.
10 2. The program established by such local law may provide to an owner
11 who converts an inhabited basement or cellar in accordance with a local
12 law authorized by this article or who otherwise abates the illegal occu-
13 pancy of a basement or cellar amnesty from prosecution, as applicable,
14 for violations of this chapter or other state law or local law, rules,
15 and the zoning resolution of such city, and resolution of any outstand-
16 ing judgments issued in connection with any violation of such laws,
17 rules or zoning resolution issued before the effective date of this
18 article.
19 3. Such local law may provide that any provision of this chapter or
20 any other state law or local law, rule or regulation, shall not be
21 applicable, as necessary, to provide for the alterations necessary for
22 the conversion of a specified inhabited basement or cellar or other
23 specified basement or cellar into a lawful dwelling unit. Any amendment
24 of the zoning resolution necessary to enact such program shall be
25 subject to a public hearing at the planning commission of such locality,
26 and approval by such commission and the legislative body of such local
27 government, but shall not require environmental review or any additional
28 land use review.
29 § 290. Tenant protections in inhabited basements or cellars. 1. The
30 program authorized by this article shall require an application to make
31 alterations to legalize an inhabited basement or cellar be accompanied
32 by a certification indicating whether such unit was rented to a tenant
33 on the effective date of this article, notwithstanding whether the occu-
34 pancy of such unit was authorized by law. A city may not use such
35 certification as the basis for an enforcement action for illegal occu-
36 pancy of such unit, provided that nothing contained in this article
37 shall be construed to limit such city from issuing a vacate order for
38 hazardous conditions, when appropriate.
39 2. The local law authorized by this article shall provide that a
40 tenant in occupancy at the time of the effective date of this article,
41 who is evicted or otherwise removed from such unit as a result of an
42 alteration necessary to bring an inhabited basement or cellar into
43 compliance with the standards established by the local law authorized by
44 this article, shall have a right of first refusal to return to such unit
45 as a tenant upon its first lawful occupancy as a legal dwelling unit,
46 notwithstanding whether the occupancy at the time of the effective date
47 of this article was authorized by law. Such local law shall specify how
48 to determine priority when multiple tenants may claim such right.
49 3. A tenant unlawfully denied a right of first refusal to return to a
50 legal dwelling unit, as provided pursuant to the local law authorized by
51 this article, shall have a cause of action in any court of competent
52 jurisdiction for compensatory damages or declaratory and injunctive
53 relief as the court deems necessary in the interests of justice,
54 provided that such compensatory relief shall not exceed the annual
55 rental charges for such legal dwelling unit.
A. 9802--B 3
1 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 472 of the private housing finance law,
2 as amended by chapter 479 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general, special or local
5 law, a municipality, acting through an agency, is authorized: (a) to
6 make, or contract to make, loans to low and moderate income owner-occu-
7 pants of one to four unit existing private or multiple dwellings within
8 its territorial limits, subject to the limitation of subdivisions two
9 through seven of this section, in such amounts as shall be required for
10 the rehabilitation of such dwellings, provided, however, that such loans
11 shall not exceed sixty thousand dollars per dwelling unit, except that
12 the limitation on the maximum amount of a loan, as described in this
13 paragraph, shall not apply to any such loan for, in whole or in part,
14 rehabilitation of a specified inhabited basement or cellar or other
15 specified basement or cellar for which such owner has sought a permit
16 pursuant to the local law authorized pursuant to section two hundred
17 eighty-nine of the multiple dwelling law. Such loans may also include
18 the refinancing of the outstanding indebtedness of such dwellings, and
19 the municipality may make temporary loans or advances to such owner-oc-
20 cupants in anticipation of permanent loans for such purposes; and
21 (b) to make or contract to make grants to any owner described in para-
22 graph (a) of this subdivision, on the same terms as permitted under such
23 paragraph for a loan.
24 § 3. Section 472 of the private housing finance law is amended by
25 adding a new subdivision 1-a to read as follows:
26 1-a. As used in this article, the term "loan" shall include any grant
27 made by a municipality pursuant to this article, provided, however, that
28 provisions of this article concerning the repayment or forgiveness of,
29 or security for, a loan shall not apply to any grant made pursuant to
30 this article.
31 § 4. Subdivision 2 of section 473 of the private housing finance law,
32 as added by chapter 786 of the laws of 1987, is amended to read as
33 follows:
34 2. A municipality shall neither make nor participate in a loan to an
35 owner-occupant of an existing private or multiple dwelling pursuant to
36 this article unless the agency finds that the area in which such dwell-
37 ing is situated is a blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating area or has
38 a blighting influence on the surrounding area, or is in danger of becom-
39 ing a slum or a blighted area because of the existence of substandard,
40 unsanitary, deteriorating or deteriorated conditions, an aged housing
41 stock, or other factors indicating an inability of the private sector to
42 cause such rehabilitation to be made, except that any such finding shall
43 not be required for any such loan for, in whole or in part, rehabili-
44 tation of a specified inhabited basement or cellar or other specified
45 basement or cellar for which such owner has sought a permit pursuant to
46 the local law authorized pursuant to section two hundred eighty-nine of
47 the multiple dwelling law.
48 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
