Requires landlords to check state sex offender registry when leasing to a new tenant, subtenant or adult occupant, and to notify tenants with children under age sixteen of any listing of such tenant, subtenant or adult occupant as a level three sex offender; exempts landlord from any civil or criminal liability for damages for any discretionary decision to release relevant information pursuant to this section or for failing to release such information, unless it is shown the landlord acted with gross negligence or in bad faith.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2763
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 1, 2011
___________
Introduced by Sen. HASSELL-THOMPSON -- 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 multiple dwelling law, in relation to landlord
checks of the state sex offender registry and notification of certain
tenants
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
2 section 301-a to read as follows:
3 § 301-a. Sex offender registry check. 1. Landlords of multiple dwell-
4 ings shall, within the first sixty days following: (a) execution of a
5 lease with a new tenant, or (b) notice of occupancy by a third party or
6 adult occupant in interest to a leased unit, perform a check of such new
7 tenant, subtenant or adult occupant in the sex offender registry main-
8 tained by the division of criminal justice services pursuant to section
9 one hundred sixty-eight-b of the correction law. Landlord access to the
10 registry shall be through the "900" telephone number maintained by the
11 division of criminal justice services, and according to the requirements
12 for access as specified in section one hundred sixty-eight-p of the
13 correction law or through the internet site maintained by the division
14 of criminal justice services.
15 2. If such new tenant, subtenant or adult occupant is listed in the
16 registry as a level three sex offender, the landlord shall provide writ-
17 ten notification of such finding to building tenants with children under
18 the age of sixteen whether the children permanently reside with such
19 tenant or reside from time to time on a temporary basis. It shall be the
20 tenant's duty to notify the landlord of the ages of such tenant's chil-
21 dren. A landlord of a multiple dwelling shall provide a list of names
22 of current tenants, subtenants or adult occupants of such multiple
23 dwelling to any tenant in such multiple dwelling, upon request by such
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06441-01-1
S. 2763 2
1 tenant. Such list shall not include specific apartment numbers or addi-
2 tional information.
3 3. All leases offered to tenants in multiple dwellings shall contain a
4 notice, conspicuously set forth therein, advising tenants of the
5 requirements of subdivisions one and two of this section.
6 4. No landlord shall be subject to any civil or criminal liability for
7 damages for any discretionary decision to release relevant information
8 pursuant to this section or for failing to release relevant information
9 pursuant to this section, unless it is shown that such landlord acted
10 with gross negligence or in bad faith.
11 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
12 it shall have become a law and shall apply to leases or subleases
13 entered into on or after such date.
