But an eviction moratorium keeps them from being kicked out. You can see if you're eligible for counsel by calling Legal Services of New Jersey at 1-888-576-5529. However, if the problems could not be solved then it would become a vacate or evict. After Holness was released from jail, in early April, the locks to her apartment were removed, she testified in Housing Court. Menu > Zoom > +, In the View menu, select Zoom. You can report a residential space used as a business. Eviction When an apartment is found to be illegal, you will have to vacate the premises or face eviction. /P 0 City & State contacted prosecutors in ten of the state's most populous counties, including the five boroughs of New York City. Unauthorized basement and cellar units come with risks including exit issues, unsafe gas and electrical systems, and a lack of light and ventilation, theDepartment of Buildingssays. Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website. In general, rent stabilization in New York City applies to buildings of six or more units built between February 1, 1947 and December 31, 1973. The court in the same case stated above that " there is no statute prohibiting the collection of rent from an illegal one or two family dwelling." Case law supports my argument. Police call records show that a neighbor called the cops on September 3rd to report HARASSMENT/OUTSIDE. But the police did not help their neighbor, according to Norma. Its not that we left, we were kicked out, as if we were worthless, said Luis. The state Senate and the Assembly are close to passing legislation that would legalize the underground market of unregulated basement apartments in New York City. Can a Landlord Collect Rent for an Illegal Apartment? Even if Lynch doesn't show up having the violation will work in your favor for eviction. Both HPD and DOB may inspect for illegal occupancy of basements or cellars. Re: Can tenant lock . Including all New York City Housing Court cases where tenants alleged a disruption of services, a lack of repairs, harassment, illegal lockouts or an uninhabitable apartment, tenants filed just over 16,450 cases seeking relief over those two years. How to evict a tenant out of illegal basement apartment in nyc. The illegal basement apartment is a different concern. View more property details, sales history and Zestimate data on Zillow. Free viewers are required for some of the attached documents. The rental agreement in many states becomes unenforceable. The bottom of any yard or other required open space cannot be higher than six inches below the window sill of any required window in the room. Even as a pandemic eviction moratorium shields many New Yorkers, the city's housing agency has ejected scores of tenants from basement apartments and other unauthorized dwellings, records show. Copyright 2023 Law Office of Richard Kistnen. THE CITY was unable to reach the landlord of their unit after multiple requests. To report a residential rental less than 30 days, go to the Housing Used for Short-Term Rental (Vacation Rentals or Illegal Home-Sharing) page. Report past illegal conversion of a manufacturing space. It was our home. Criminal summonses, meanwhile, are adjudicated by the citys Law Department. Perhaps it is a basement apartment in a single family home that is not cleared to be an apartment. Unless the lease states otherwise, rent is due . left the program with just $91,000 for the year, LISTEN: A State of the State for an Unsettled State, How These NYC Public Housing Residents Became Models for Tenant Rights Activism, In State of the State Speech, Hochul Backs Adams Housing Agenda, Northwest Bronx Leads City in Heat Complaints, No Heat in Your NYC Apartment? She also reported that her mailbox was broken and that there was a mice infestation. Basements and cellars are very different spaces and have different legal uses. We already lost everything.. Between 2007 and 2017, there was a 43% increase in renters over 60. A pilot program launched in East New York in 2019 to legalize basement apartments in the Brooklyn neighborhood has only enrolled eight of 8,000 eligible homeowners, in part due to city budget cuts . /Contents 23 0 R She was shut out for good. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] 0000000017 00000 n During this period, property owners must In 2021, only one person issued a criminal summons for unlawful eviction pleaded guilty, and was fined $100, possibly for a non-criminal violation such as disorderly conduct. For tenants, calls to the police for an unlawful eviction can lead nowhere even when other government agencies confirm landlords acted illegally. Honestly, I didnt want to return there, said Carol, who asked that her last name not be published. New Jersey, for instance, makes it very clear to landlords that they may not profit from illegal activity. Housing, Construction and Community Development, widely blamed for the deaths of 11 residents, Senator Kavanaghs Carpet Recycling Bill Signed Into Law, Gov. Some tenants have become homeless after their basement apartments were exposed. Tenants are turfed out of their homes by private landlords without any reason. The police department was previously budgeted for $454 million in overtime pay for the current fiscal year but is already on pace to spend over $820 million. The most important was our underwear and our uniforms, because we were supposed to be working, said Norma. I didnt want to waste my time talking to a cop, and in the end, they wouldnt do anything, said Luis. Or, perhaps the building is not registered with the city as an apartment or rental unit. You will also be fined for having an illegal basement rental. Deenihan, the Legal Aid lawyer, noted his office had seen a dramatic increase in landlords alleging assaults when tenants called the police. l zE.QfV*r|L!e !IztIz]t.ygJRb]@co$_miDheHbcK{P p?=XANBHS8fnT}*+\Vo(KuZ^}X Pi2LbCu`^sHL)IDT[YQe$V Dth VW`][,/$frk9!vs ~cVjg+2kW+od Usually, if a cellar has any windows, the windows are too small for an adult to fit through. View > Zoom InMacintosh Shortcut: Command+. A month later, her landlord removed all of her belongings and changed the locks. In NYC, you can search for a propertys Certificate of Occupancy by searching the Department of Buildings Building Information Search System. Department of Housing Preservation and Development inspectors issued 95 vacate orders for illegal occupancy between March and October of this year. Report an SRO illegally converted, overcrowded, or used as business. When he opened the backyard door, dirty water cascaded into their apartment like a waterfall, according to him and multiple photos and videos provided to THE CITY. If you are a commercial tenant, you can get information about financial and legal resources, including help reviewing and negotiating commercial leases, on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Businesses page. /Type /XObject During the pandemic, New York Attorney General Letitia James issued guidance to police statewide, urging them to enforce unlawful evictions as a criminal matter if they had probable cause. 0000001094 00000 n I think its absolutely abysmal, said City Councilmember Shekar Krishnan (D-Queens), who co-founded the housing legal services provider Communities Resist. Its hard. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. The bills have support from moderate and progressive Democrats in both houses, including Queens Sen. Jessica Ramos, Manhattan Sen. Brad Hoylman and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried. Click a topic, or press the enter key on a topic, to reveal its answer. SRO dwellings are specific types of dwellings that rent out single rooms. If it wasnt obvious basements needed a pathway to legalization before, now were seeing that having no legal protections makes you exponentially more vulnerable during a pandemic like this, said Will Spisak, of Chhaya Community Development Corporation. When does heat turn on in nyc apartments? In New York City's public housing, two out of five households are led by someone age 62 or older. HPD did not respond to requests for comment. /TrimBox [0 0 612 792] A spokesperson for the Staten Island DA said their office has handled no unlawful eviction cases since 2019. The high number of dismissals is not surprising based on how the justice system works, said Gerard Deenihan, a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Societys Queens office. Illegal activity in progress, including gambling, drug dealing, or immediate danger to life or property. Officers never believe our clients and our clients end up having to sue, when they should be immediately back in and the landlord should sue if they think they have a reason to evict somebody, said Nori. Perhaps it is a 3 unit that is only approved to be a 2 unit building. The city has at various times tried to create programs to legalize that situation, grant amnesty to property tenants and make sure safety features are in place, Kavanagh explained. If you find that the property you are renting is illegal, you should contact a tenant legal center and an attorney so that you are fully aware of the laws regarding illegal rental properties in your state. The police appear more likely to issue an arrest when additional crimes are alleged, case files suggest. /CropBox [0 0 612 792] Most browsers include functionality to let you increase or decrease the text on a web page. But, according to the report, Attempts to contact landlord unsuccessful. Listing Total Wanted: 1, the police did not arrest Mifsud. The answer is usually pretty simple. 2. Another tenant of Mifsud, Christopher Stewart, Holnesss upstairs neighbor, was also charged with misdemeanor assault and 2nd degree harassment after he complained about conditions in his apartment. The landlord has brought a holdover case to evict the second floor tenant. Then on March 10, Holness sued Mifsud in Housing Court with the help of a Legal Aid Society lawyer, seeking emergency repairs. Holness called the police, and they tried and failed to open the building door, she testified, backed up with a photo of the cops trying unsuccessfully to get in. The New York State Eviction Moratorium that allowed tenants to file a hardship declaration to stop their eviction expired on January 15, 2022. . J90+Y18X[&hZV(CtoNJ|,Y,2jS\\m+L=H:\ Q&xtF&+!O8(*I,U wlR(TI\CPg3$UESk|'l`%FWj[X(UD1]@=[iSgGEH& \W !-lxT( However, this does not mean that the tenant can remain in the unit and not pay any rent - it means that the agreement as it was signed is not longer in effect. Term, 2005) (emphasis added). As later noted in an HPD lawsuit, the landlord had a responsibility to keep her building in good repair. The suit further noted that these violations meant Holnesss life was in immediate and constant danger.. New York State laws make it illegal for landlords to engage in any action that is intended to force tenants to leave their homes or otherwise give up their rights under law. Tenants in the New York City Housing Authority's Cooper Park Houses, a historically Black low-income housing complex in Brooklyn, are accustomed to making do and defying the odds, whether that means scrambling to secure last-minute holiday meals for . Manhattan Assemblyman Harvey Epstein is sponsoring a similar bill in the Assembly. Carol, 63, of Queens, lives in a homeless shelter after a Housing Court decision issued last summer determined that her previous apartment was an illegal dwelling. /Type /Page According to Norma and Luis, during the pandemic the landlord also told them incorrectly that the eviction moratorium only applied to citizens, not undocumented immigrants. Report a residential space used as a business. At least three cases are still pending in criminal court. City officials ordered an apartment vacated on Hoyt Street in Brooklyn. Your use of this website constitutes acceptance of the Terms of Use, Supplemental Terms, Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. I called the police, and theyre saying to me, Its not criminal, its not criminal, its not criminal, said Holness. Eviction cases are not handled by the small claims court system. Report a commercial space used as a residence. >> Suing her landlord in June didnt restore her to her previous home, because she was living in what the city deemed an illegal boiler room. Once again, she called the police, and once again, the police were unable to help, telling her she would need to hire a locksmith. If you are the renter [] Holness kept calling the police, and officers wrote up two incident slips on March 21 noting her reports of harassment and illegal eviction. A group of Queens officials who have lived in basement apartments themselves said Wednesday that calls to remove such units are not realistic. The citys district attorneys have disclosed a dozen other cases in that time where landlords were charged with unlawful eviction in combination with other charges, such as assault. Too many of our most vulnerable community memberslow-income residents, immigrants, seniorslive in illegal basement units with no safety regulations and no protections, said Jose Miranda, member of NYC Base, a coalition of community groups, planners and lawyers that advocates for legalizing the citys basement apartments. Department of Buildings Building Information Search System, whether a landlord may collect rent when a house is in foreclosure. New York residents are eligible for ERAP if they meet the following criteria: Household gross income is at or below 80 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI). 0000064661 00000 n One prosecutor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the law leads to more dismissals, because the DAs staff have to track down volumes of evidence for every case. John Farr. Hochul signs carpet, rug recycling bill, Judge orders developer to sell old P.S. Keep in mind that the tenant must vacate illegal properties, and if he/she refuses to then the landlord must pay for eviction proceedings as well. Lets also not forget an important fact in our example: there is someone living in an illegal basement. Eviction for Nonpayment of Rent. The time to act is now.. Know that saying, "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is"? Many of New York's basement apartments are illegally or informally rented because they don't meet the city's complex standards for legal occupancy. ;KiadxtaV9[">)jcjT Eviction Moratorium Exception: Nearly 100 Basement Apartments Hit With Vacate Orders During Pandemic. The rental agreement in many states becomes unenforceable. Cozy Basement Apt 30mins To Nyc Nutley Updated 2022 S. City Puts 14b On Illegal Basement Apartments. /Filter [/DCTDecode] And then I was just thinking to myself, there is no justice for people here that are Black, Holness said. The Far Rockaway building where Carol Holness lived, as does landlord Rachel Mifsud. In a July 2021 sworn affidavit in Housing Court, Holness said Mifsud had thrown her TV in the trash and that she was still missing a dining room set, three bed sets and an entertainment center. DOB also posts Tips for Renters to help identify when an apartment is illegal. The Pratt Center for Community Development, a community planning organization within thePratt Institute, has been advocating for the legalization of accessory dwelling units for 15 years. /Pages 18 0 R 11-17-2010, 06:05 PM. [1] notice to pay rent or vacate the premises. City of New York. Section 21 makes it possible for a landlord to ask for two months' notice without any reason. Around the date Mifsud was served with the court papers, the building locks got changed altogether, Holness testified, and Mifsud did not provide her with a key. Section 21 makes it very clear to landlords that they may not from! 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