Prohibits the owner of a building from declining to renew a lease to a tenant whose lease term started prior to the owner's purchase of the building on the grounds of occupancy by the owner or an immediate family member.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5591
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 16, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. MITAYNES -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Housing
AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to prohibiting the owner of a building from declining to
renew a lease to a tenant whose lease term started prior to the
owner's purchase of the building on the grounds of occupancy by the
owner or an immediate family member
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subparagraph (b) of paragraph 9 of subdivision c of section
2 26-511 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by
3 section 14 of part Q of chapter 39 of the laws of 2019, is amended to
4 read as follows:
5 (b) where he or she seeks to recover possession of one dwelling unit
6 because of immediate and compelling necessity for his or her own
7 personal use and occupancy as his or her primary residence or for the
8 use and occupancy of a member of his or her immediate family as his or
9 her primary residence, provided however, that this subparagraph shall
10 permit recovery of only one dwelling unit and shall not apply where the
11 tenant's initial tenancy, or the initial tenancy of any family member of
12 the tenant to which the tenant succeeded, commenced before the owner
13 acquired the building containing such dwelling units. Furthermore, this
14 subparagraph shall not apply where a tenant or the spouse of a tenant
15 lawfully occupying the dwelling unit is sixty-two years of age or older,
16 has been a tenant in a dwelling unit in that building for fifteen years
17 or more, or has an impairment which results from anatomical, physiolog-
18 ical or psychological conditions, other than addiction to alcohol,
19 gambling, or any controlled substance, which are demonstrable by
20 medically acceptable clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques, and
21 which are expected to be permanent and which prevent the tenant from
22 engaging in any substantial gainful employment, unless such owner offers
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04865-01-3
A. 5591 2
1 to provide and if requested, provides an equivalent or superior housing
2 accommodation at the same or lower stabilized rent in a closely proxi-
3 mate area. The provisions of this subparagraph shall only permit one of
4 the individual owners of any building to recover possession of one
5 dwelling unit for his or her own personal use and/or for that of his or
6 her immediate family. A dwelling unit recovered by an owner pursuant to
7 this subparagraph shall not for a period of three years be rented,
8 leased, subleased or assigned to any person other than a person for
9 whose benefit recovery of the dwelling unit is permitted pursuant to
10 this subparagraph or to the tenant in occupancy at the time of recovery
11 under the same terms as the original lease; provided, however, that a
12 tenant required to surrender a dwelling unit under this subparagraph
13 shall have a cause of action in any court of competent jurisdiction for
14 damages, declaratory, and injunctive relief against a landlord or
15 purchaser of the premises who makes a fraudulent statement regarding a
16 proposed use of the housing accommodation. In any action or proceeding
17 brought pursuant to this subparagraph a prevailing tenant shall be enti-
18 tled to recovery of actual damages, and reasonable attorneys' fees. This
19 subparagraph shall not be deemed to establish or eliminate any claim
20 that the former tenant of the dwelling unit may otherwise have against
21 the owner. Any such rental, lease, sublease or assignment during such
22 period to any other person may be subject to a penalty of a forfeiture
23 of the right to any increases in residential rents in such building for
24 a period of three years; or
25 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amend-
26 ments to section 26-511 of chapter 4 of title 26 of the administrative
27 code of the city of New York made by section one of this act shall
28 expire on the same date as such law expires and shall not affect the
29 expiration of such law as provided under section 26-520 of such law.
