Yesterday Mayor Bloomberg signed off on the city’s first law enabling tenants to sue landlords in Housing Court for systemic harassment. Previously, tenants had to take landlords to court for each and every violation, such as failure to provide hot water or letting so much water leak that floors collapse. The so-called Tenant Protection Act is primarily aimed at landlords who are trying to force tenants out of rent-regulated apartments in order to bump the rent up to obscene market rates.
The new law was cheered by tenants at a rally outside City Hall yesterday; one of them told the Times that when she complained about problems with bed bugs, “her landlord told her to put the insects in a tortilla and eat them.” Though the civil penalties for harassment seem a little low – fines range from $1,000 to $5,000 – the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents 25,000 city property owners and managers, lobbied hard against the law. A representative for the group insisted to the Times that tenant harassment was not widespread and that the bill would glut the Housing Court with frivolous lawsuits.
Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn (pictured at yesterday's rally), who co-sponsored the bill, has promised to provide more resources to the court as needed. And regarding the frivolous lawsuit concerns, Louise Seeley, executive director of the City-Wide Task Force on Housing Court, notes that 98 percent of housing court cases are filed by landlords. Testifying at a committee hearing, she pointed out that “emptying long-standing tenants from buildings is a business plan. Tenants do not have the time and money to spend the day in housing court [over frivolous cases].” And the new law allows landlords to be compensated for their attorney’s fees when cases are deemed frivolous.
Photo: Bill Alatriste.
