In New York City's public housing, two out of five households are led by someone age 62 or older. /Name /Im24 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. The rule is as follows: a landlord may bring a holdover action to evict a tenant, even if there is someone living in an illegal basement. After an argument over the heat, Mifsud called Stewart the n-word repeatedly in the texts. Most browsers include functionality to let you increase or decrease the text on a web page. After the flooding stopped and the water began to drain, Luis took a video of himself in a bathing suit, taking stock of their ruined possessions as he waded around his home. The pilot programs interruption comes at a time when tenant advocates say theyre hearing residents of basement apartments are facing greater pressure from their landlords. 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. Kavanagh said he expects a floor vote on the legislation before the session ends on June 2. Even if you live in a 2 family with an illegal apartment, and you call DOB on it, they can evict you even if you're not living in the illegal apartment, since the basement apartment would be . If the tenant does neither after that time, the landlord can move forward and file an eviction lawsuit. A household may qualify based on current income or calendar year 2020 income that is at or below 80 percent AMI. The tenants, many of them immigrants, often reside without a lease as they live in fear of being discovered by authorities. Basement Apartments Safe for All had even developed specific conversion blueprints, focused on such details as waiving parking requirements, floor-area ratio and, crucially, providing owners. Attorneys may be able to work out a deal with a landlord and avoid court. If the Vacate Order is issued by HPD, the agency will notify the owner and occupants and provide an enforcement date. Honestly, I didnt want to return there, said Carol, who asked that her last name not be published. Department of Buildings Building Information Search System, whether a landlord may collect rent when a house is in foreclosure. Basement Apartment Conversion Pilot Program (BACPP). By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. We should recognize that they are an important part of our city's affordable housing stock and ensure they are safe for the residents.. Can a Landlord Collect Rent for an Illegal Apartment? Youre offline. Paying the fine for the violation will be much cheaper then trying to evict from an illegal apartment. New York residents are under an order by the state to remain in their homes. One of the easiest ways to determine if a basement (or any space, for that matter) is illegal is to look at the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) for that building. The Certificate of Occupancy says that on your floor only four apartments are permitted but you know that there are five apartments. modsquad81. The city remains committed to the basement pilot as an important tool for unlocking more affordable housing, and are excited to move forward with nine qualifying homeowners, said House. You can report a residential space used as a business. I called the police, and I was so despondent. The Corona apartment where Norma and Luis lived, the night of Hurricane Ida. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. BACPP provides eligible low- to middle-income homeowners living in one- to three-family homes in East New York and Cypress Hills, Brooklyn (Community District 5) with low or no-interest, or possible forgivable, loans to convert their basement or cellar into a safe, legal, and rentable apartment, based on altered building code legislation pass in February 2019, Intro. The New York State Human Rights Law also makes it illegal for a landlord to discriminate against a tenant based on creed, age, sexual orientation, marital status, or military status. And its hard to interpret it as any other way, except that its a way of getting around the eviction moratorium.. Its not that we left, we were kicked out, as if we were worthless, said Luis. Two family residential houses abound in Queens and Brooklyn. Criminal court is a huge assembly-line type justice place, where you have hundreds of thousands of cases going through every year on all different levels, said Deenihan. The owner does not have any active housing, civil or criminal cases against them and has not been accused of a crime by a city agency. A detainee who was attacked on Rikers Island, a former jail mental health counselor, a former commissioner, and a juvenile detention manager: All weigh in on the crisis and what can be done. Report past illegal conversion of a commercial space. 0000001094 00000 n They are detailed for police officers in the police patrol guide. 2022 NY Slip Op 51210(U) [77 Misc 3d 1214(A)] Decided on September 9, 2022 Civil Court Of The City Of New York, Queens County Sanchez, J. endobj Each agency may issue violations for illegal occupancy conditions or issue Vacate Orders that the occupant leave the illegal space. 23 0 obj The bill would grant theDepartment of Buildingsthe authority to create exceptions and new building codes. They called a tenant helpline instead and were connected to the Queens Legal Aid Society, which offered them free legal advice. /S 132 We still havent figured out how we move forward with the little bit of money left in the budget.. These income limits differ by county and household size. Criminal summonses, meanwhile, are adjudicated by the citys Law Department. If your landlord . 1. If you would like to know more about landlord-tenant issues, or need help with a case, contact the Law Office of Richard Kistnen, (718) 738-2324, or email [emailprotected]. If the rental of a basement in a two-family dwelling would result in changing the status of the building to a multiple dwelling (three-family or more) and would require a new Certificate of Occupancy issued by the Department of Buildings. Plumbing and everything works. With the housing justice movement advancing across the U.S., residents in one New York public housing project hope to serve as a model. A Housing Court judge found Holness landlord had failed to provide heat, hot water and electricity for weeks. >> $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ? She was shut out for good. The Kavnanagh-Epstein bill would grant the city authority to provide financial relief, rather than penalties, to landlords and tenant protections to those living in basement units. 0000074030 00000 n HPD will re-inspect the premises on the enforcement date to verify the illegal basement or cellar apartment is vacant and properly sealed. Doctor Urged NYCHA Arsenic Tests After Patients Death. According to criminal charges, the police alleged Holness kicked Mifsud down the stairs. She left the rehab facility this past May, during the pandemic, and was homeless. Threats of eviction are not only illegal, but also damaging to the well-being of New Yorkers. This is a change from the previous minimum of 8 feet, thanks to the recent revision of the city's building codes. Since NYC has so many different kinds of buildings and tenancies, were going to use a two family house as an example in this article. Both HPD and DOB may inspect for illegal occupancy of basements or cellars. But during the pandemic a time of extraordinary hardship for renters and landlords alike the police rarely did, even as thousands of tenants filed Housing Court cases against their landlords for the same acts. 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. Estimates indicate that tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers live in illegal basement or cellar units, which are unregulated and potentially unsafe. You can report past illegal conversion or alteration of a commercial space. We encourage legislators to pass this bill as a first step in providing New York City with the local control it needs to enact measures that bring these units up to code, creating safe housing for all, Afridi said. 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. /Prev 89579 Its very hard.. At least three cases are still pending in criminal court. 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. NYC Landlords Almost Never Get Arrested for Illegal DIY Evictions While thousands of tenants have filed cases claiming their landlords locked them out to defy the eviction moratorium, just a handful have been charged for the crime. Illegal occupancies abound here in NYC, especially in Queens and Brooklyn. Illegal apartments from analteredbasement, cellar, or attic. Boarding houses and rooming houses are SROs. There are lots of rules, regulations and procedures that need to be followed, especially by landlords, to make sure that a unit that they are renting is in full compliance to rent. The majority of those cases were eventually dismissed, while four are still pending. In order for the apartment to be legal, the ceiling height must be a minimum of 7.5 feet high. Because their restaurant work was cut during the pandemic, they had fallen behind on rent but were gradually paying their landlord back, according to them and a rent ledger they maintained. /XObject << /Im13 24 0 R >> In California, while you must vacate an illegal unit once it is discovered, you may not have to pay any rent and may be entitled to a refund of part or all of the rent you have paid while you were there. Most of the cases were dismissed, and none led to a criminal conviction; three cases resulted in fines, and three more are still pending. Comptroller Brad Lander Proposes New Approach to Provide Resident Rights and Protections for NYC Basement Apartments August 30, 2022 Modeled on NY's Loft Law, this regulatory framework would require immediate basic safety interventions, protect tenants, & offer resources to building owners Proposal is part of a longer-term path toward legalization To recap our example, we have a two family house where the tenant lives month to month with no lease on the second floor; the landlord lives on the first floor; and there is someone living in the basement which is not designated for dwelling purposes. View > Zoom InMacintosh Shortcut: Command+. /Names << /Dests 10 0 R>> The number of vacate orders was even higher during the same March through October period in 2019, with 156 orders issued in that period, according to HPD data. Holness withheld her rent in February because of the persistent utility shutoffs, according to evidence she later offered in a Housing Court case she filed against Mifsud. The judgment amounted to $30,250. Im a scavenger, and Im a person picking out from peoples garbage.. When youre illegally locked out or evicted, getting back in is one of the hardest battles you could fight as a tenant, said Krishnan. A landlord in Queens says her tenants curse and spit at her and owe more than $23,000 in rent. Occupants of illegal basement and cellar apartments face potential dangers such as carbon monoxide poisoning, inadequate light and ventilation, and inadequate egress in the event of a fire. The carve-outs would make it easier to regulate the apartments and declare them legal without being fully compliant, Kavanagh said. 0000063002 00000 n That meant she had to stay away from Mifsud except when entering or leaving the building. These represent extreme circumstance and are issued at the urgency of the households safety and well-being, he said. For a subterranean apartment to potentially qualify as a legal living space approved by the Department of Buildings, more than half of its height must be above curb level. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Legalizing basements cant happen at the city level alone which is why I am grateful for Assembly member Epstein andSen. Kavanaghfor their leadership and partnership in finally creating a pathway to helping more New Yorkers access safe and legal homes, said Jessica Katz, the city's chief housing officer. endobj trailer The flooding of last September proved just how important it is that basement units be safe, regulated homes, Manhattan Assemblywoman Yuh-line Niou said. The landlord has brought a holdover case to evict the second floor tenant. We Asked Four People With Inside Knowledge. During this period, property owners must 0000003619 00000 n They cant do nothing about it because its not criminal.. 3 But seeking help for everything from dealing with hostile landlords to repairs can lead to homelessness. According to him, police alleged he hit Mifsud in November 2020 and kicked her down the stairs in December. Survey participation is voluntary. ft. apartment is a 1 bed, 1.0 bath unit. Eviction notices for trumped-up reasons. 0000057902 00000 n A holdover case is a case where the landlord is seeking to recover possession of the unit. A group of Queens officials who have lived in basement apartments themselves said Wednesday that calls to remove such units are not realistic. The laws are different in different states. Holness also said that her temporary order of protection complicated things, because the police said she could be arrested for just being around her own home. The basement is occupied by only members of the family or families occupying the dwelling. More than 7,000 nurses returned to work Thursday morning after reaching a tentative agreement for better staffing ratios. As a result, the second floor tenant has been living in the apartment as a month to month tenant. Under the states multiple dwelling law, the conversion process into legal two-family homes is expensive for landlords, which has compounded the proliferation of accessory dwelling units in recent years. You will also be fined for having an illegal basement rental. By the time Lansden had ordered Holness be let back in, another Housing Court judge, Enedina Pilar Sanchez, had ordered Mifsud to allow HPD crews in to do emergency repairs correcting the heat violation. (914) 377-6560 8:30 am -4:30 pm. >> } !1AQa"q2#BR$3br The thing is, state law constrains what they can do to make them legal.. Term, 2005) (emphasis added). What are your rights? Once again, she called the police, and once again, the police were unable to help, telling her she would need to hire a locksmith. 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