Amd §§26-412 & 26-516, NYC Ad Cd; amd §12, Emerg Ten Prot Act of 1974
Provides that penalties may be levied against a person who intentionally withholds a housing accommodation from the market, including for the purpose of future co-operative conversion.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1217
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sens. BAILEY, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, KRUEGER, PARKER, SERRANO,
STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be
committed to the Committee on Housing, Construction and Community
Development
AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York and the
emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, in relation
to warehousing of housing accommodations and penalties therefor
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings and intent. The legislature finds and
2 declares that each person in the state shall have a right to be housed
3 and that such right to housing is a basic human right.
4 The legislature further finds and declares that the practice of "ware-
5 housing", that is of intentionally withholding housing accommodations
6 from the housing market, including the withholding of apartments for
7 purposes of future co-operative apartment conversion, has contributed
8 significantly to the shortage of housing in this state, especially in
9 the city of New York.
10 The legislature further finds and declares that the practice of ware-
11 housing has violated the right to housing of many of the citizens and
12 residents of this state.
13 It is thus the intent of the legislature to eliminate the practice of
14 warehousing by providing strong penalties to deter such practice.
15 § 2. Section 26-412 of the administrative code of the city of New York
16 is amended by adding a new subdivision g to read as follows:
17 g. It shall be unlawful to harass a tenant to obtain vacancy of such
18 tenant's housing accommodation or to have intentionally withheld a hous-
19 ing accommodation from the market, including withholding such accommo-
20 dation for the purpose of future co-operative apartment conversion. For
21 the purposes of this subdivision, harassment consists of engaging in a
22 course of conduct or repeatedly committing acts which alarm or seriously
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03223-01-5
S. 1217 2
1 annoy a tenant or other person residing in the tenant's housing accommo-
2 dation and which serve no legitimate purpose.
3 § 3. Paragraph 2 of subdivision c of section 26-516 of the administra-
4 tive code of the city of New York, as amended by section 23 of part A of
5 chapter 20 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:
6 (2) to have harassed a tenant to obtain vacancy of [his or her] such
7 tenant's housing accommodation or to have intentionally withheld a hous-
8 ing accommodation from the market, including withholding such accommo-
9 dation for the purpose of future co-operative apartment conversion, the
10 commissioner may impose by administrative order after hearing, a civil
11 penalty for any such violation. Such penalty shall be at a minimum in
12 the amount of two thousand but not to exceed three thousand dollars for
13 the first such offense, and at minimum in the amount of ten thousand but
14 not to exceed eleven thousand dollars for each subsequent offense or for
15 a violation consisting of conduct directed at the tenants of more than
16 one housing accommodation.
17 § 4. Clause (ii) of paragraph 3 of subdivision a of section 12 of
18 section 4 of chapter 576 of the laws of 1974, constituting the emergency
19 tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, as amended by section 27
20 of part A of chapter 20 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as
21 follows:
22 (ii) to have harassed a tenant to obtain vacancy of [his] such
23 tenant's housing accommodation or to have intentionally withheld a hous-
24 ing accommodation from the market, including withholding such accommo-
25 dation for the purpose of future co-operative apartment conversion, the
26 commissioner may impose by administrative order after hearing, a civil
27 penalty for any such violation. Such penalty shall be at minimum in the
28 amount of two thousand but not to exceed three thousand dollars for the
29 first such offense, and at minimum in the amount of ten thousand but not
30 to exceed eleven thousand dollars for each subsequent offense or for a
31 violation consisting of conduct directed at the tenants of more than one
32 housing accommodation.
33 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately provided that the amend-
34 ment to section 26-412 of the city rent and rehabilitation law made by
35 section two of this act shall remain in full force and effect only so
36 long as the public emergency requiring the regulation and control of
37 residential rents and evictions continues, as provided in subdivision 3
38 of section 1 of the local emergency housing rent control act; and
39 provided further that the amendment to section 26-516 of the rent
40 stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine made by section three
41 of this act shall expire on the same date as such law expires.
