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. You can see if you're eligible for counsel by calling Legal Services of New Jersey at 1-888-576-5529. They are detailed for police officers in the police patrol guide. Cutting the red tape to ensure the citys basement apartments are livable is the bare minimum we should do, said Beth Finkel, the organization's state director. 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. 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. /Height 346
1. 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 City Health Commissioner Refused. In Corona, Norma and Luis fled flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ida that poured water waist high in their basement apartment. 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. Common browsers are included in this page; mention of a specific browser does not imply endorsement or recommendation. 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 Re: Can tenant lock . You rent an illegal basement apartment So, you evict a tenant the same way from any property , you follow the eviction law for your jurisdiction. In our example, we were using a two family residential house in Queens. (914) 965-3331 4:30 pm-8:30 am. /Type /XObject
I dont want to be caught in a situation to move into a worse situation.. /Outlines 14 0 R
They said they last owed their landlord $200, which their rent ledger indicates they owed as of May 2021. It just becomes a numbers game, like [prosecutors] can only prioritize so many cases.. 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.
Other illegally subdivided areas of an apartment, house, or a building. Heres What to Do Next. Tenants-rights advocates have spent years urging the city to legalize basement apartments. View > Text Size > Largest, In the View menu, select Zoom In. If it was somebody white calling, I believe this would be a different case, said Holness. The judgment amounted to $30,250. Insufficient heat and/or hot water. /E 79901
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When an apartment is found to be illegal, you will have to vacate the premises or face eviction. I called the police, and I was so despondent. Property owners will be liened any costs incurred by the agency and provide relocation services (which may include temporary housing) to any occupants who receive these services. Eviction notices for trumped-up reasons. He still has a criminal summons case for unlawful eviction pending. At Montefiore, nurses won a 19% wage increase over three years. 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. 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. The landlord demanding that tenants pay rent only by letting him withdraw it directly from their bank accounts, and sometimes taking out more than one month's rent. stream
(a) it shall be unlawful for any person to evict or attempt to evict an occupant of a dwelling unit who has lawfully occupied the dwelling unit for thirty consecutive days or longer or who has entered into a lease with respect to such dwelling except to the extent permitted by law pursuant to a warrant of eviction or other order of a court of 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. 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. 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. The Far Rockaway building where Carol Holness lived, as does landlord Rachel Mifsud. 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. Section 21 makes it possible for a landlord to ask for two months' notice without any reason. Housing Court later found Mifsud had failed to provide heat, hot water and electricity for weeks on end. Menu > Zoom > +, In the View menu, select Zoom. For assistance with your ECB/OATH violations, illegal basement violations, gas company violations, gas boiler violations, or any plumbing building violations in NYC, call John Farr at 917-324-2535. Doctor Urged NYCHA Arsenic Tests After Patients Death. If a tenant is defending against a case like this, the best option would be to review the court papers for language seeking a money judgment and, if such language is in the court papers, file a motion to dismiss the case. So all my furniture, what I have personal belongings, nothing, I get nothing. 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. A third category of rent stabilized apartments covers buildings with three or . 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. 22 0 obj
What Is An Illegal Apartment In Nyc Are The . There are specific conditions under which a landlord can move a tenant out of his property: 1) If the written lease between a landlord or tenant is up, 2) If a tenant withholds rent from the landlord, or 3) If a tenant has severely violated the lease. Shes now suing Mifsud in small claims court for what she alleges was thousands of dollars in lost property. /MediaBox [0 0 612 792]
About 47% of criminal summons issued in 2021 by the NYPD for unlawful eviction were dismissed, while 44% are still pending. It was our home. 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. /ColorSpace /DeviceRGB
If your apartment is indeed illegal, the landlord cannot collect rent on it in the first place, as he's breaking the law. Carol Holness alleges her former landlord threw her belongings in the trash while trying to evict her from her Rockaways home. 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. HPD will re-inspect the premises on the enforcement date to verify the illegal basement or cellar apartment is vacant and properly sealed. The City intends to use the data collected from this survey to generally add and improve City services. Acting Director Lena Afridi argued that basement apartments are a common housing option for immigrant and working-class New Yorkers and carry an important source of income for small, independent landlords. The majority of those cases were eventually dismissed, while four are still pending. The price seems like a steal. 0000001094 00000 n
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For housing advocates, the scant number of arrests confirms what theyve long observed that the police do not treat unlawful eviction as a crime, preferring to let tenants and landlords duke it out in Housing Court. /Type /Catalog
The NYPD made just 39 arrests for the crime of unlawful eviction in 2020 and 2021, when that crime was the top charge listed at arraignment, state court data shows. Removing the kitchen in your tenants apartment would be considered an illegal eviction and punishable by criminal law. 11-17-2010, 06:05 PM. You can check the Certificate of Occupancy on the DOB website to see if the basement you wish to rent is legal. A spokesperson said that generally cases are sealed because the charges were dismissed or defendants pleaded guilty to a non-criminal violation such as disorderly conduct. Please call 311 for more information on compliance. A basement is a story of a building partly below curb level but with at least one-half of its height above the curb level. Usually these are separate rooms or living spaces sharing the utilities of a primary tenant, either with or without his knowledge. Three days after HPD issued the violations which the agency posted on its website Holness called the police to report her utilities had been sporadically shut off from February 25, a police complaint report shows. 0000003619 00000 n
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Thus, renting a basement designated for storage or accessory use creates an illegal occupancy in the building. Now comes the interesting part. This project was produced with support from the Investigative Reporters & Editors Journalist of Color Investigative Reporting Fellowship. Can you be evicted from an illegally rented property? In New York City, a claim can be made up to $10,000. This type of activity violates zoning regulations. NEW YORK -- Assemblymember Harvey Epstein, chair of the Assembly subcommittee on Retention of Homeownership and Stabilization of Affordable Housing and Senator Brian Kavanagh, chair of the Senate Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development unveiled legislation to pave the way for the enactment of local laws legalizing basement apartments. You need a Notice to Vacate ASAP! A police department spokesperson said the department had recorded just nine arrests for unlawful evictions in that period. Norma and Luis did not receive any federal stimulus and unemployment benefits because they are undocumented, and they did not apply to the states Excluded Workers Fund, which has stopped taking applications. Copyright 2023 MH Sub I, LLC dba Nolo Self-help services may not be permitted in all states. Survey participation is voluntary. Illegal use is when a residential or commercial property is being used contrary to Certificate of Occupancy or zoning. But an eviction moratorium keeps them from being kicked out. Department of Housing Preservation and Development inspectors issued 95 vacate orders for illegal occupancy between March and October of this year. 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. /Pages 18 0 R
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What are your rights? The BASE (Basement Apartments Safe for Everyone) campaign is a coalition of community organizations, advocates, tenants, homeowners, and community members who are organizing working-class neighborhoods and communities of color to increase the number of legally-recognized, affordable, and safe basement apartments, as well as other accessory dwelling units ("ADUs") in New York City. Cozy Basement Apt 30mins To Nyc Nutley Updated 2022 S. City Puts 14b On Illegal Basement Apartments. startxref
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]. 0000074981 00000 n
But Holness said she never got the keys. In November 2021, Judge Enedina Pilar Sanchez ordered Mifsud to pay the city in civil penalties for the dozens of days Holness was without heat and the 89 days she was without hot water, charged at $250 per day. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. On May 25, Housing Court Judge John S. Lansden found Holness quite credible and said there is no doubt that [she] was a tenant for the last three years and was removed from the subject premises without due process of law Holness won her case, and was granted an order to get into her apartment. Two family residential houses abound in Queens and Brooklyn. 0000058871 00000 n
In order for the apartment to be legal, the ceiling height must be a minimum of 7.5 feet high. A basement is a story of a building partly below curb level but with at least one-half of its height above the curb level. [1] notice to pay rent or vacate the premises. Participants in this survey will not receive further communication from the City with regards to this survey. The landlord has brought a holdover case to evict the second floor tenant. But, according to the report, Attempts to contact landlord unsuccessful. Listing Total Wanted: 1, the police did not arrest Mifsud. That is not a reasonable solution for a city with a housing crisis.. The bill (S8783/A9802) allows for . <<
Tenants have to choose between the harassment and the bad conditions or complaining and being thrown out by the city, said Sateesh Nori, a housing attorney for Legal Aid in Queens. The basement is occupied by only members of the family or families occupying the dwelling. Members and sponsors make THE CITY possible. >>
As is often the case, a tenant is renting the second floor apartment, while the landlord lives in the first floor apartment. Tenants are turfed out of their homes by private landlords without any reason. The rental agreement in many states becomes unenforceable. Usually, if a cellar has any windows, the windows are too small for an adult to fit through. Heating Regulations for the City of Yonkers. A spokesperson for the Staten Island DA said their office has handled no unlawful eviction cases since 2019. /S 132
Basements and cellars differ in their amount of height above curb level. However, renting an illegal apartment comes with its own risks, including that your landlord won't have to comply with local laws relating to renting places to . Both HPD and DOB may inspect for illegal occupancy of basements or cellars. You can opt out at any time. The Council's hearing and approval process would ensure members of the Basement Board are representative of the diverse constituencies, including homeowners and tenants, impacted by its policymaking and create more accountability and transparency in the appointment process. DOB also posts Tips for Renters to help identify when an apartment is illegal. The tenant will most likely report the illegal basement and you will be required to return all of the tenants rent money back to her. Copyright 2023 Law Office of Richard Kistnen. 23 0 obj
As New York City Cleans Up From Ida Landlords Won T Be Fined For Illegal Basement Apartments Abc7. Report past illegal conversion of a manufacturing space. /Name /Im24
The notice mentioned that they received a complaint about "illegal conditions" which means someone ratted me out.I did purchase a gas stove for the basement (illegal, but I can have someone remove it temporarily), a small refrigerator and installed a kitchen sink. O&]@Gt.+`4otm*V{
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These income limits differ by county and household size. >>
View > Zoom > Zoom In, In the View menu, select Text Size. The basement is occupied by one family and does not include boarders. To change the text size on NYC.gov you can use your web browser's settings. We already lost everything.. The NYC Base Campaign says more than 300,000 such units could be converted into legal homes. /Length 232
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 Basement Board would consist of members appointed by the Mayor of New York City and approved by a majority vote of the New York City Council (also known as "advice and consent of the Council"). Even as a pandemic eviction moratorium shields many New Yorkers, the citys housing agency has ejected scores of tenants from basement apartments and other unauthorized dwellings, records show. A group of Queens officials who have lived in basement apartments themselves said Wednesday that calls to remove such units are not realistic. Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law 431. 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. A landlord in Queens says her tenants curse and spit at her and owe more than $23,000 in rent. /Subtype /Image
There are several reasons that a property could be illegal to rent. 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. John Farr. /Root 21 0 R
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Department of Buildings Building Information Search System, whether a landlord may collect rent when a house is in foreclosure. An SRO unit is one or two rooms and either lacks a complete kitchen and/or bathroom or shares them with other units. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. The Brooklyn DAs office did not disclose how many cases it handled, while the Queens DA did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Its very hard.. Most browsers include functionality to let you increase or decrease the text on a web page. She then resided in a rehab facility for nearly a year. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. The majority of tenants in these units are immigrants and people of color, and we must act to protect them from future storms.. I was afraid they would do the same thing over and over, she said of her landlord. She was shut out for good. We still havent figured out how we move forward with the little bit of money left in the budget.. Everything is dead, he said in the video, looking at his appliances. HPD did not respond to requests for comment. Its goal: to work with property owners to legalize 40 basement apartments in one- to three-family homes. 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 . 20 0 obj
Over the next few days, Norma and Luis tried to negotiate a months-long pause in their rent with their landlord, so they could rebuild their lives and get repairs. 0000000017 00000 n
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. Mifsud did not respond to multiple requests for comment from THE CITY. The NYPD declined to comment. 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. 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. ft. apartment is a 1 bed, 1.0 bath unit. There is a minimum ceiling height of 7 ft. 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. Nine days later, a judge ordered Mifsud to fix the most immediately hazardous code violations within 24 hours. They sought a pause on rent, but their landlord told them to leave instead. It also carries hefty civil penalties, too. >>
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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. In New York, a basement, cellar, or attic apartment needs to be at least 7 feet high in order to be considered a living space. x.kluH(&,uijV/Ppq1!=m~RdJFl;:8*^#M)ARE+!F.&$0 8yAB`]J Newark has free . You can report a rooming house, boarding house, or other Single Room Occupancy (SRO) dwelling that is used as a business, illegally converted, or overcrowded. HPD cited Mifsud eight times in January 2021 for violations in Stewarts apartment, two of them immediately hazardous. A Housing Court judge found Holness landlord had failed to provide heat, hot water and electricity for weeks. 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. Then on March 10, Holness sued Mifsud in Housing Court with the help of a Legal Aid Society lawyer, seeking emergency repairs. Manhattan Sen. Brian Kavanagh, who chairs the Senate Housing Committee, said his top priority before the legislative session ends early next month is to pass this bill. View > Zoom InMacintosh Shortcut: Command+. Lawmakers say basement tenants were reluctant to report unsafe and dangerous conditions because they lived in unauthorized housing. /Width 348
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The landlord was arrested and charged, though his criminal case was dismissed. Usually, if a cellar has any windows, the windows are too small for an adult to fit through. I didnt want to waste my time talking to a cop, and in the end, they wouldnt do anything, said Luis. The 600 sq. Report a commercial space used as a residence. On May 4, Holness sued Mifsud again in Housing Court on the basis of the missing locks. And its hard to interpret it as any other way, except that its a way of getting around the eviction moratorium.. My husband told me, Norma, lets go, because this is not going to stop. So all we did was get a black bag, a black garbage bag and pick up some important papers and what we could find, said Norma. This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports. If you are the renter [] <<
For tenants, calls to the police for an unlawful eviction can lead nowhere even when other government agencies confirm landlords acted illegally. $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ? Between April and October 2021, HPD sued Mifsud five times in Housing Court, seeking building access for HPD repair crews and court orders directing Mifsud to provide heat, hot water and electricity, as well as civil penalties, according to petitions. 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 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. Norma said they piled as many of their possessions as they could on their soaked furniture before rushing out. Learn more about Digital Accessibility from the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities. The case from the Supreme Court, Appellate Term, Second Department, decided the case of Pickering v Chappe, 2010 NY Slip Op 20326 (29 Misc 3d 6) "there is no bar to the . It would allow the city to grant amnesty to property owners who come forward and show they manage accessory dwelling units: underground basement spaces that have been illegally converted into apartments. 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. Advocacy groups that had been pressing for such an effort for more than a decade celebrated the program, hoping that it would expand to other boroughs and provide thousands of additional apartments across the city. 0000064661 00000 n
When we left, Carol [Holness] became the enemy, because Carol knew everything, said Stewart. Sign up and get the latest stories from THE CITY delivered to your inbox each morning. Each agency may issue violations for illegal occupancy conditions or issue Vacate Orders that the occupant leave the illegal space. Term, 2005) (emphasis added). Kavanagh estimates 50,000 households with at least 100,000 people are living in illegal basement apartments across the five boroughs. They point to the 11 New Yorkers who died last week when . The official NYC heat season begins October 1 and runs until May 31. Md&8KSwe Qp&kUnaD2JbV{S&lk_*gVZN4[2Up'os* 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). The thing is, state law constrains what they can do to make them legal.. 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