=)^)%!:l_@C)M]"CwtQu},6{.iimF=sWw `FCwi 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. The Court noted in its opinion that "no landlord-tenant relationship can exist where there is an illegal apartment." The Court cited the case of Fazio v. Kelly, 2003 WL 22227363. As is often the case, a tenant is renting the second floor apartment, while the landlord lives in the first floor apartment. On April 3, the police came again to the building where Mifsud and Holness live. Hotels are not SROs. modsquad81. Norma said they piled as many of their possessions as they could on their soaked furniture before rushing out. You can report a residential space used as a business. View more property details, sales history and Zestimate data on Zillow. Im a scavenger, and Im a person picking out from peoples garbage.. Other ruined possessions included power tools, an orthopedic mattress and scooters to deliver food. 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. >> Housing Court later found Mifsud had failed to provide heat, hot water and electricity for weeks on end. O&]@Gt.+`4otm*V{ v0h9[8BX77rQXga0B~#ZnMs+ 1xwdc8):hv_GK7]K?!z|.k9|Jfg-1|b Ydendstream Other illegally subdivided areas of an apartment, house, or a building. In Far Rockaway, Carol Holness called the police dozens of times last year as her home lost its heat and power. On May 4, Holness sued Mifsud again in Housing Court on the basis of the missing locks. View > Zoom > Zoom In, In the View menu, select Text Size. /N 3 A third category of rent stabilized apartments covers buildings with three or . 37 0 obj 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. 2. Plumbing and everything works. How to evict a tenant out of illegal basement apartment in nyc. It was their home for 7 years, they said, but they also called it a deadly trap, because their only window had security bars. HPD will re-inspect the premises on the enforcement date to verify the illegal basement or cellar apartment is vacant and properly sealed. You can opt out at any time. The thing is, state law constrains what they can do to make them legal.. They are often furnished and rent is usually paid weekly or monthly. The illegal basement apartment is a different concern. 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 New York State Eviction Moratorium that allowed tenants to file a hardship declaration to stop their eviction expired on January 15, 2022. . 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. Department of Buildings Building Information Search System, whether a landlord may collect rent when a house is in foreclosure. } !1AQa"q2#BR$3br Heres What to Do Next. At first, the landlord seemed receptive to helping them but later changed his mind. 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. The judge directed Mifsud to provide keys. /P 0 In another, a landlord allegedly cut the power and water to a tenant in a bid to evict them. This includes commercial space altered for residential or manufacturing purposes. In order for the apartment to be legal, the ceiling height must be a minimum of 7.5 feet high. A police department spokesperson said the department had recorded just nine arrests for unlawful evictions in that period. Now Im in a bind here, said the Queens resident, a freelance writing consultant who wished to remain anonymous. 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. 3. What Is An Illegal Apartment In Nyc Are The . /Prev 89579 Why Are Slashings Surging in City Jails? These represent extreme circumstance and are issued at the urgency of the households safety and well-being, he said. /TrimBox [0 0 612 792] Department of Housing Preservation and Development inspectors issued 95 vacate orders for illegal occupancy between March and October of this year. 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. He still has a criminal summons case for unlawful eviction pending. 0000074981 00000 n City officials ordered an apartment vacated on Hoyt Street in Brooklyn. The room complies with the requirements of the Housing Maintenance Code for rooms not located in the cellar or basement, e.g., minimum room size. One big thing youll find here in NYC, especially in Queens and Brooklyn, are people living in illegal basements. The question is, however, can a tenant be evicted if someone is living in an illegal basement? The Bronx DAs office said their office prosecuted 11 cases carrying an unlawful eviction charge since 2018, resulting in one guilty plea. The majority of tenants in these units are immigrants and people of color, and we must act to protect them from future storms.. 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. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio established a pilot program in 2018 to bring a section of unregulated basement units in East New York, Brooklyn, up to code, but he cut funding for the program by 92% in the pandemic. 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. It just becomes a numbers game, like [prosecutors] can only prioritize so many cases.. We should recognize that they are an important part of our city's affordable housing stock and ensure they are safe for the residents.. /Type /Catalog 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. Section 21 makes it possible for a landlord to ask for two months' notice without any reason. 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. Work out something with the tenant about moving out, offer some money for moving expences! The landlord recently notified her that her $750 monthly rent will rise by $300, citing rising heat and electricity costs. 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. Sign up and get the latest stories from THE CITY delivered to your inbox each morning. 2022 All Rights Reserved. Re: Can tenant lock . The laws are different in different states. In some states, the information on this website may be considered a lawyer referral service. /L 90115 Youre offline. Lawmakers say basement tenants were reluctant to report unsafe and dangerous conditions because they lived in unauthorized housing. /Type /XObject To do so, they must first give 14 days'. 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. 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. That reduced the goal of assisting 40 homeowners down to just nine already approved. 20 18 >> Before his November arrest, according to text messages provided to THE CITY, Stewart confronted someone using a number that appears to belong to Mifsud about the lack of heat in his apartment, which he shared with his wife, mother-in-law and four children. Or, perhaps the building is not registered with the city as an apartment or rental unit. This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports. 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. Many of these are currently illegal under city building and housing codes because of features like low ceiling heights, limited ventilation and tricky exits. If a landlord is seeking to evict a tenant in a property where there is someone living in an illegal basement, the best option would be to NOT include any language that requests a money judgment. 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. Because it was possible that they wouldnt help us, they would say we were renting illegally so we cant do anything, thats why I said we are not going to call, said Luis. Those arrests and summonses, however, represent a tiny fraction of times tenants allege they are locked out or intentionally left without heat or hot water. Criminal summonses, meanwhile, are adjudicated by the citys Law Department. /MediaBox [0 0 612 792] 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. The apartment is in the basement or attic. We already lost everything.. endobj For tenants, calls to the police for an unlawful eviction can lead nowhere even when other government agencies confirm landlords acted illegally. The landlord was arrested and charged, though his criminal case was dismissed. Carol Holness alleges her former landlord threw her belongings in the trash while trying to evict her from her Rockaways home. Many of the arrests led to desk appearance tickets, which allow defendants to come back to court later even though the NYPD patrol guide expressly prohibits issuing the tickets for unlawful evictions. For example, to increase text size using: In the menu to the right of the address bar, select and set Zoom level. 23 0 obj Their possessions including his food delivery scooter were destroyed. Your use of this website constitutes acceptance of the Terms of Use, Supplemental Terms, Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. 21 0 obj It was our home. /ProcSet [/PDF /ImageC /Text] 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. More than 7,000 nurses returned to work Thursday morning after reaching a tentative agreement for better staffing ratios. >> Police also issued at least 131 criminal summonses less serious than an arrest for unlawful eviction during those two years, according to court and NYPD data. 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. 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. Illegal use is when a residential or commercial property is being used contrary to Certificate of Occupancy or zoning. 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 . (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 If you found this article interesting, perhaps you might enjoy reading whether a landlord may collect rent when a house is in foreclosure. If your apartment is indeed illegal, the landlord cannot collect rent on it in the first place, as he's breaking the law. Copyright 2023 Law Office of Richard Kistnen. 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. In New York City's public housing, two out of five households are led by someone age 62 or older. To report a Single Room Occupancy (SRO) being rented as a hotel room, use theHousing Used for Short-Term Rental (Vacation Rentals or Illegal Home-Sharing)page. 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. 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. Months & # x27 ; work Thursday morning after reaching a tentative agreement better... The New York state eviction Moratorium that allowed tenants to file a hardship to. Heres what to do Next states, the Information on this website constitutes of... 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