MOTT HAVEN — Three bills that aim to prevent landlords from making harassing buyout offers to tenants were signed into law by Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday.
Under the new legislation, landlords are prohibited from making a buyout offer within 180 days of a tenant refusing an offer, threatening a tenant, contacting them at odd hours or providing false information in relation to a buyout.
Landlords are also now required to inform tenants they have the right to stay in their apartment, get advice from an attorney and refuse to be contacted about a buyout offer for 180 days from the most recent offer.
"There are too many cases in this city of landlords using cash offers to get rent-regulated tenants to move so the landlords can charge sky-high rents. That will end now. Those days are over. There will be real consequences for this abusive behavior," de Blasio said.
Landlords face penalties of $1,000 to $10,000 if found guilty of the offense.
The laws come on the heels of a string of allegations against so-called slumlords who try to harass tenants to drive them out, or use tactics including neglect or withholding services to force them out. A Crown Heights landlord was arrested in June for not providing heat during the winter and destroying apartment walls in his buildings in an effort to get tenants out so that he could charge higher rents, according to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
It's not uncommon in New York City for landlords to offer payments for tenants to move out of apartments whose rents are governed under the city's rent protection laws.
The Rent Guidelines Board decides each year how much landlords can raise rents under one- and two-year leases for 1 million apartments.
Current rent laws include a measure known as vacancy decontrol that allows a landlord to remove an apartment from rent regulation when the monthly rent reaches $2,500 per month.
De Blasio fought unsuccessfully for ending vacancy decontrol during the most recent legislative session in Albany. Instead, the $2,500 cap was raised slightly and tied to future decisions of the Rent Guidelines Board.
"We're just not going to let this problem continue to hemorrhage and undermine the city we love and people who deserve better," said de Blasio. "We are doing everything in our power to protect our tenants."
Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who sponsored the bill prohibiting landlords from making buyout offers within 180 days of one being refused, said the laws will protect tenants as more people move to the city.
Brooklyn Councilman Jumaane Williams, chairman of the Committee on Housing and Buildings, and Manhattan Councilman Daniel Garodnick sponsored the other two bills
"As New York City grows and rents skyrocket we hear far too many stories of tenants who are threatened, menaced and harassed by unscrupulous landlords who want to put out long-time residents in favor of gaining newer, more lucrative leases," she said.
"Too many residents live in fear — fear of being forced to leave their homes, fear of retribution, fear of living at the mercy of a landlord who wants to kick them out. And for too long, these tenants have had no recourse, so we're changing that today."
The new laws take effect in 90 days.
