Bill Text: NY A05546 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Provides for enhanced enforcement of the warranty of habitability for housing accommodations; provides the court may award punitive damages to a tenant upon finding the landlord's breach of warranty was intentional and malicious.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-05-17 - reported referred to rules [A05546 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A05546-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         5546--A

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 19, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. WALKER, VANEL, GOTTFRIED, COLTON, COOK -- Multi-
          Sponsored by -- M. of A. SIMON  --  read  once  and  referred  to  the
          Committee  on  Housing  --  recommitted to the Committee on Housing in
          accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged,  bill
          amended,  ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
          tee

        AN ACT to amend the real property law, in relation to enforcement of the
          warranty of habitability

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Legislative  findings and purpose. The legislature hereby
     2  finds that the rental housing market in the state of New York remains in
     3  a state of crisis, due not only to severe shortages in the stock of safe
     4  and affordable housing but also to the state  of  disrepair  and  blight
     5  that  afflicts rental housing opportunities available to people of lower
     6  incomes throughout the state. The legislature  further  finds  that  the
     7  warranty of habitability set forth in section 235-b of the real property
     8  law  represents a critical safeguard of the health and safety of tenants
     9  across the state of New York by requiring that all rental housing accom-
    10  modations be maintained  in  a  safe  and  sanitary  condition  for  the
    11  tenants; that enforcement efforts by the several agencies of the city of
    12  New  York  and the state of New York, although often successful, are not
    13  always sufficient to deter such breaches of the warranty by such  owners
    14  and  landlords,  so  that  in  spite of the protections provided by law,
    15  every year many tenants in the state of New  York  must  endure  housing
    16  conditions  that  fail to meet the basic standards of safety required by
    17  law. In light of the foregoing, the legislature hereby  finds  that  the
    18  state of New York must adopt additional measures to deter the most egre-
    19  gious  breaches  of  the  warranty  of habitability set forth in section
    20  235-b of the real property law, and that the codification of law  award-
    21  ing  punitive  damages to tenants who suffer intentional breaches of the

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD07765-02-2
        A. 5546--A                          2

     1  warranty is an appropriate method to realize such a purpose. The  legis-
     2  lature therefore enacts the following law granting the courts discretion
     3  to  award  punitive  damages in cases where the warranty of habitability
     4  set  forth  in section 235-b of the real property law is breached inten-
     5  tionally or with conscious  disregard  to  severe  risks  to  the  life,
     6  health, or safety of the tenant.
     7    § 2. Section 235-b of the real property law is amended by adding a new
     8  subdivision 4 to read as follows:
     9    4.  The  court may award punitive damages to the tenant upon a finding
    10  that the landlord's breach of the warranty set forth in this section was
    11  intentional and malicious  or  demonstrates  a  conscious  disregard  of
    12  severe  risks  to  the  life, health, or safety of the tenant.  Punitive
    13  damages under this section shall not be awarded to tenants of  any  such
    14  multiple  dwelling  owned  or  operated by a municipal housing authority
    15  organized pursuant to article thirteen of the public housing law.
    16    § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
    17  have become a law.