There have recently been several reported incidents of building owners hiring tenant relocation specialists to try to convince tenants, many of whom are rent-regulated, to leave their apartments. This bill would create a licensing scheme for tenant relocation specialists and agencies which would require applicants to pass an exam, furnish a surety bond, pay a licensing fee and make initial contact with tenants in writing. It would also bar licensees from harassing tenants or providing false information to tenants. Finally, this bill would require the Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs to provide an annual report to the Mayor and the Council on the implementation of this law.
- Daniel R. Garodnick
- Jumaane D. Williams
- Margaret S. Chin
- Costa G. Constantinides
- Vanessa L. Gibson
- Andy L. King
- Karen Koslowitz
- Rory I. Lancman
- Stephen T. Levin
- Donovan J. Richards
- Deborah L. Rose
- Helen K. Rosenthal
- James G. Van Bramer
- Andrew Cohen
- Laurie A. Cumbo
- Inez D. Barron
- Ben Kallos
- Rosie Mendez
- Ydanis A. Rodriguez
- Ruben Wills
- Enacted
History
Affirmative
- Maria Del Carmen Arroyo
- Andrew Cohen
- Costa G. Constantinides
- Robert E. Cornegy, Jr.
- Elizabeth S. Crowley
- Laurie A. Cumbo
- Chaim M. Deutsch
- Inez E. Dickens
- Daniel Dromm
- Rafael L. Espinal, Jr.
- Mathieu Eugene
- Julissa Ferreras-Copeland
- Daniel R. Garodnick
- Vanessa L. Gibson
- David G. Greenfield
- Corey D. Johnson
- Ben Kallos
- Andy L. King
- Peter A. Koo
- Karen Koslowitz
- Rory I. Lancman
- Brad S. Lander
- Stephen T. Levin
- Mark Levine
- Alan N. Maisel
- Melissa Mark-Viverito
- Darlene Mealy
- Carlos Menchaca
- Rosie Mendez
- I. Daneek Miller
- Antonio Reynoso
- Donovan J. Richards
- Deborah L. Rose
- Helen K. Rosenthal
- Ritchie J. Torres
- Mark Treyger
- Eric A. Ulrich
- James Vacca
- Paul A. Vallone
- Jumaane D. Williams
- Ruben Wills
Medical
Negative
Affirmative
Medical
Absent
Int. No. 682-A
By Council Members Garodnick, Williams, Chin, Constantinides, Gibson, King, Koslowitz, Lancman, Levin, Richards, Rose, Rosenthal, Van Bramer, Cohen, Cumbo, Barron, Kallos, Mendez, Rodriguez and Wills
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to conduct in connection with offers to induce a person to vacate a dwelling unit
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Declaration of legislative intent and findings. a. The council finds and declares that:
1. Although there are legitimate reasons for building owners to offer tenants money or other valuable consideration to vacate their apartments, in recent years, and due in part to rapidly increasing rents, some owners have engaged in abusive and intimidating behaviors to coerce such tenants into accepting these buyout offers and leaving their homes; and
2. The rights of building owners to make these buyout offers must be balanced with the rights of tenants to negotiate or refuse such offers and to be free of harassment.
b. As a result, it is necessary and appropriate to place reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on the making of these buyout offers in order to protect tenants from harassment while still allowing owners and tenants to engage in negotiations over such offers.
§ 2. Paragraph 48 of subdivision a of section 27-2004 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new subparagraph f-3 to read as follows:
f-3. offering money or other valuable consideration to a person lawfully entitled to occupancy of such dwelling unit to induce such person to vacate such dwelling unit or to surrender or waive any rights in relation to such occupancy while engaging in any of the following types of conduct:
(1) threatening, intimidating or using obscene language;
(2) initiating communication with such frequency, at such unusual hours or in such a manner as can reasonably be expected to abuse or harass such person;
(3) initiating communication at the place of employment of such person without the prior written consent of such person; or
(4) knowingly falsifying or misrepresenting any information provided to such person; or
§ 3. This local law takes effect on the same date as a local law of the city of New York for the year 2015 amending the administrative code of the city of New York relating to amending the definition of harassment to include certain buyout offers, as proposed in introduction number 757-A, takes effect.
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