>> 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. If youre concerned about health or climate and considering ditching the gas in your kitchen, we explain the options, whether you rent or own. Beginning March 20, 2020, all evictions across New York State were suspended until June 19, 2020, and the courts are not accepting any new eviction or foreclosure cases. A tenant in an illegal apartment may be entitled to relocation expenses if the landlord attempts to You can check the Certificate of Occupancy on the DOB website to see if the basement you wish to rent is legal. Honestly, I didnt want to return there, said Carol, who asked that her last name not be published. However, if the problems could not be solved then it would become a vacate or evict. ( N E b # x ' Pendstream The majority of those cases were eventually dismissed, while four are still pending. 22 0 obj If the property is located in Nassau County, Suffolk County, or outside of New York City, you can sue up to $5,000 in City Courts or $3,000 in Town and Village Courts. /Length 232 /Type /Page Work out something with the tenant about moving out, offer some money for moving expences! Mifsud did not respond to multiple requests for comment from THE CITY. 1. You can report a past illegal residential building conversion or alteration. The landlord was arrested and charged, though his criminal case was dismissed. $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ? 0000000688 00000 n Lets also not forget an important fact in our example: there is someone living in an illegal basement. Members and sponsors make THE CITY possible. . /Type /XObject Evicting tenants without getting a judges order in Housing Court first is a crime in New York, and not an uncommon one. /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] Any alterations to an SRO must follow Single Room Occupancy regulations. /TrimBox [0 0 612 792] 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. But, according to the report, Attempts to contact landlord unsuccessful. Listing Total Wanted: 1, the police did not arrest Mifsud. >> 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. The time to act is now.. Of those who responded, Manhattan . << (914) 965-3331 4:30 pm-8:30 am. 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. 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. You need a Notice to Vacate ASAP! Nyc funded a pilot to make basement apartments safer but then it went off track looser rules on illegal housing sought the new york times city s illegally converted proved deadly in ida path cnn people trapped basements due flooding how do you know if where live is and are at risk telemundo 47 world today news tell apartment legal al eviction bringing code urban omnibus down ramps up what an tenants rights landlord greed carbon monoxide poisoning /Contents 23 0 R What are your rights? Im still staying at the shelter, trying to get permanent housing. O&]@Gt.+`4otm*V{ v0h9[8BX77rQXga0B~#ZnMs+ 1xwdc8):hv_GK7]K?!z|.k9|Jfg-1|b Ydendstream No defendant arrested in 2020 or 2021 has been convicted of unlawfully evicting a tenant when that charge was the top charge listed, according to the court data. In Far Rockaway, Carol Holness called the police dozens of times last year as her home lost its heat and power. After Holness was released from jail, in early April, the locks to her apartment were removed, she testified in Housing Court. For tenants, calls to the police for an unlawful eviction can lead nowhere even when other government agencies confirm landlords acted illegally. Looking to start a holdover eviction? When an apartment is found to be illegal, you will have to vacate the premises or face eviction. Prior to the pandemic, she had hoped to move but abandoned the search. Carol Holness alleges her former landlord threw her belongings in the trash while trying to evict her from her Rockaways home. 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. In this case, since the basement is not designed for dwelling purposes, it may not be rented. To change the text size on NYC.gov you can use your web browser's settings. To do so, they must first give 14 days'. A landlord in Queens says her tenants curse and spit at her and owe more than $23,000 in rent. 0000064661 00000 n The NYC Department of Buildings tacked a notice of inspection at my door.They came during the day when I'm at work. The NYPD bears the responsibility to enforce the city and states unlawful eviction laws, as detailed in police bulletins, legal guidances and the police patrol guide. 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. Recently we renovated the storage area in the basement put in a stove, fridge etc. If a Vacate Order is issued by either agency, the occupant is advised that they can receive relocation services through HPD. 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. Eviction cases are not handled by the small claims court system. 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. Holness kept calling the police, and officers wrote up two incident slips on March 21 noting her reports of harassment and illegal eviction. If the Vacate Order is issued by HPD, the agency will notify the owner and occupants and provide an enforcement date. Free viewers are required for some of the attached documents. 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. 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. 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. ZLIjjg}&%Ns834V\-"b^'.!h%vXZ"" @Pb_V;kt.u-AH Many two family houses in Queens have a C of O that states the first and second floors may be used for one family dwelling purposes, and the basement or cellar may be used for storage or accessory use. During the dead of winter, Holness said in an interview, she wore a diaper at night and slept in 14 layers of clothing to stay warm in her barely habitable apartment. /Parent 18 0 R On 111th Street in Corona, Queens, the basement apartment where Norma and Luis lived had only one window, one entrance, no gas hookup and no lease, according to them. Get updates on important news and legislation from this Committee. In some states, the information on this website may be considered a lawyer referral service. In every instance, the arrests came after those tenants made repeated complaints about building conditions to either Mifsud or HPD. The rental agreement in many states becomes unenforceable. C Z\" The Official Website of the City of New York. After an argument over the heat, Mifsud called Stewart the n-word repeatedly in the texts. % Each agency may issue violations for illegal occupancy conditions or issue Vacate Orders that the occupant leave the illegal space. But the repairs never happened, HPD court filings alleged. As a result, the second floor tenant has been living in the apartment as a month to month tenant. >> Insufficient heat and/or hot water. /Height 346 Instructors at Fordham University Threaten to Strike, Rising Groundwater Threatens New York City Researchers to Study How Much, Solitary at Rikers: People Go Crazy in There, LISTEN: The History of Rikers from Those Who Were There, NYC Asylum Seekers Returning to Port Authority for Help, The Future of Gas Stoves in New York: What to Know Ahead of a Ban, NYPDs Track Record on Overtime Spending Casts Doubt on Budget Claims, Fiscal Discipline: Libraries, Schools Would Absorb Cuts in Adams Preliminary Budget, Nurses End Strike, Reach Tentative Agreements with Montefiore and Mount Sinai Hospitals. You can simply stop paying rent, and challenge him to evict you. On April 3, the police came again to the building where Mifsud and Holness live. /H [ 790 304 ] Perhaps it is a fire hazard or there is no inside plumbing. 0000059225 00000 n A building on Rogers Avenue in Crown Heights cited for creating illegal rooming units. Perhaps you must go through a portion of another apartment to get to yours. Report a residential space used as a business. 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. Occupants of illegal basement and cellar apartments may be ordered by the City to vacate or leave any illegal basement or cellar apartment. Menu > Zoom > +, In the View menu, select Zoom. 0000057704 00000 n 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. There are several reasons that a property could be illegal to rent. 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. HPD cited Mifsud eight times in January 2021 for violations in Stewarts apartment, two of them immediately hazardous. Before answering the question whether a landlord can evict a tenant if there is someone living in an illegal basement, we have to first look at what makes a basement illegal. } !1AQa"q2#BR$3br Even when these conditions are met, the landlord must take the tenant to court, win, and . Utilities . Holness, a home health aide, saw her utilities cut and her locks changed last year in her Far Rockaway apartment, after her neighbor and landlord, Rachel Mifsud, received a foreclosure notice. 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. 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 official NYC heat season begins October 1 and runs until May 31. 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. In New York City, where you can expect to pay more than $2,000 a month for even a modest one-bedroom apartment, you can find one of these unregistered rentals for less than $1,000. Perhaps it is, by mortgage requirements, supposed to be owner occupied. An official record of violations against her landlord did not help Holness who found herself a police target instead. The illegal basement apartment is a different concern. 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 . The city allocated $11.7 million for the three-year program, which would subsidize low- or no- interest loans of up to $120,000 each for homeowners seeking to bring basements up to code, while guiding them throughout the construction process. Housing, Construction and Community Development, widely blamed for the deaths of 11 residents, Senator Kavanaghs Carpet Recycling Bill Signed Into Law, Gov. To avoid any potential defects, however, and to try and minimize a motion to dismiss that may be filed, it would be a best practice NOT to include any request for a money judgment. Most browsers include functionality to let you increase or decrease the text on a web page. The rental agreement in many states becomes unenforceable. The New York State Eviction Moratorium that allowed tenants to file a hardship declaration to stop their eviction expired on January 15, 2022. . To see the original article, click on the publication's link. 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. ft. apartment is a 1 bed, 1.0 bath unit. So here is the scenario. When does heat turn on in nyc apartments? The 600 sq. The judgment amounted to $30,250. He'll eventually be successful, but it will take a good amount of time and cost him a significant amount of money in fines/possible renovations. By law, landlords who try to evict tenants by harassment, intentionally cutting utilities or changing the locks can be arrested, issued a summons, and even go to jail for up to a year. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. 0000003619 00000 n Can a Landlord Collect Rent for an Illegal Apartment? Im not getting no help from the cops she added. I lose everything, said Holness. All Rights Reserved. During this period, property owners must We cant ignore the fact that these illegal apartments exist, Epstein said. Hochul signs carpet, rug recycling bill, Judge orders developer to sell old P.S. Usually, if a cellar has any windows, the windows are too small for an adult to fit through. Heres What to Do Next. 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. A cellar is an enclosed space having more than one-half of its height below curb level. Of the 11 defendants cases provided to THE CITY by the Manhattan, Brooklyn and Bronx DAs, six list unlawful eviction below charges like criminal trespassing, assault, burglary, menacing and criminal mischief. Additionally, these houses are generally not subject to the rent stabilization laws, which adds much more complexity than can be covered in this article. They called a tenant helpline instead and were connected to the Queens Legal Aid Society, which offered them free legal advice. endobj The attorney listings on this site are paid attorney advertising. The financial plan released Thursday sets up a monthslong process of negotiation and hearings within the City Council. 0000001094 00000 n 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. The City Health Commissioner Refused. A spokesperson for HPD, Jeremy House, told THE CITY that removing tenants from basement apartments and other illegal dwellings is done as a last resort. This can include illegally renting housing to guests who stay less than 30 days. There is a minimum ceiling height of 7 ft. When we left, Carol [Holness] became the enemy, because Carol knew everything, said Stewart. 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. You can see if you're eligible for counsel by calling Legal Services of New Jersey at 1-888-576-5529. At first, the landlord seemed receptive to helping them but later changed his mind. 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. The information provided on this site is not legal advice, does not constitute a lawyer referral service, and no attorney-client or confidential relationship is or will be formed by use of the site. 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. 0000000017 00000 n The tenants, many of them immigrants, often reside without a lease as they live in fear of being discovered by authorities. 64 as two-decade-long fight to reclaim building still going strong. If it was somebody white calling, I believe this would be a different case, said Holness. In another, a landlord allegedly cut the power and water to a tenant in a bid to evict them. /Resources << stream Some states are very strict with landlords who rent illegal apartments to tenants. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. The police appear more likely to issue an arrest when additional crimes are alleged, case files suggest. 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. 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. Can you be evicted from an illegally rented property? The price seems like a steal. You don't have permissions to view these records. Department of Housing Preservation and Development inspectors issued 95 vacate orders for illegal occupancy between March and October of this year. 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]. 23 0 obj 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 Kavanagh said he expects a floor vote on the legislation before the session ends on June 2. /Info 19 0 R Tenants in buildings built before February 1, 1947 who moved in after June 30, 1971, are also covered by rent stabilization. A basement has at least one-half of its height above curb level, while a cellar has less than one-half of its height above curb level. Illegal occupancies abound here in NYC, especially in Queens and Brooklyn. Criminal summonses, meanwhile, are adjudicated by the citys Law Department. 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. You would not be removing the kitchen for safety concerns. City officials ordered an apartment vacated on Hoyt Street in Brooklyn. JFIF C The guide lists specific instructions for arresting landlords if an officer has probable cause some sign that the law is likely broken. After both arrests, he was released from jail and issued two temporary orders of protection, which limited his contact with Mifsud. We Asked Four People With Inside Knowledge. How to evict a tenant out of illegal basement apartment in nyc. Department of Buildings Building Information Search System, whether a landlord may collect rent when a house is in foreclosure. Conditions to either Mifsud or HPD the vacate Order is issued by,! 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