Council Speaker Christine Quinn, center in photo at right, flanked by Councilmembers Dan Garodnick, to the right of her, and Melissa Mark Viverito, to the left of her, with Councilmember Rosie Mendez behind them and Ed Ma, a Community Board 2 member, wearing cap, next to Mark Viverito, rallied along with 300 tenants and housing advocates on City Hall’s steps last week to support the signing of the Tenant Protection Act.
First mentioned in Quinn’s 2007 State of the City address, Local Law No. 7 of 2008 will create a new umbrella of protection for tenants who are being harassed by their landlords.
“This bill is not just another tool in the fight to preserve affordable housing; it will allow more people to feel safe in their homes,” said Quinn. “After more than a year of hard work, I am proud to say that starting today, the Tenant Protection Act is the law of the land.”
Formerly, tenants were limited to taking their landlord to Housing Court only for individual violations relating to the physical condition of the apartment or failure to provide essential services.
Local Law No. 7 creates a violation for harassment in and of itself. Some of the actions that qualify as harassment under this legislation include: using force or making threats against a lawful occupant, repeated or prolonged interruptions of essential services, using frivolous court proceedings to disrupt a tenant’s life or force an eviction, removing the possessions of a lawful tenant, removing doors or damaging locks to a unit or any other acts designed to disturb a lawful occupant’s residence.
Under the new law, civil penalties for judicial findings of harassment range from $1,000 to $5,000.
