![dual family act i part iii download dual family act i part iii download](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000884.0x00014a/IOR_L_PS_20_C91_3_0044.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg)
But prospective tenants with no or poor credit history, newcomers to New York, and students enrolled in New York’s many universities might be collateral damage of the new laws. These changes are welcomed by tenants, who have long flooded the halls of small-claims courts with complaints that their landlords wrongly withheld their security deposits or inflated and fabricated repair costs to retain their deposits. Landlords have the burden of proof to justify their retention of a security deposit, and the GOL now provides for punitive damages of up to twice the amount of the deposit for any willful violation of its provisions. Notably excluded are additional rents such as late and legal fees. 2 The new law also narrows what may be withheld from the deposit to include “reasonable” costs due to nonpayment of rent or utility charges, damage beyond ordinary wear and tear, and moving and storage of the tenant’s belongings. A landlord that fails to comply forfeits any claim to the deposit. The law now provides that if any portion of the security deposit is retained, the landlord must provide (i) an itemized statement of the claimed conditions within 14 days after the tenant vacates and (ii) any remaining portion of the deposit. Under the former law, landlords had to return a security deposit within a “reasonable time,” meaning a month or two. For a landlord to retain any portion of the security deposit, the landlord must, after the vacatur inspection, give the tenant an itemized statement specifying any repairs or cleaning needed to give the tenant an opportunity to cure the conditions. Similarly, a landlord may not use the agreement to impeach a tenant’s testimony at an abatement hearing asserting a habitability breach.Ī landlord must again notify the tenant of the right to inspect the premises with the landlord 1-2 weeks before the tenant vacates. Tenants may not use the agreement to establish the existence of violations in an HP (repair) proceeding or to assert a warranty-of-habitability breach in a nonpayment proceeding. The law limits the admissibility of this agreement to a tenant’s action to recover a security deposit and only as evidence of conditions at the start of the tenancy. The parties “shall” then execute a written agreement noting any conditions. Landlords must give tenants an opportunity to inspect the premises before they take occupancy. The amended GOL now also provides for a mandatory inspection procedure. Some landlords argue, however, that with the word “or” in GOL § 7-108 referring to “deposit or advance,” first and last months’ rent are still allowed, because it is payment for current use and occupancy The broad language of the new limitation includes “advances” as well as deposits.
![dual family act i part iii download dual family act i part iii download](https://online.fliphtml5.com/xhix/gpca/files/large/2.jpg)
The practice of requiring pre-paid rent, typically as the “first and last months’ rent,” is now prohibited. SECURITY DEPOSITS AND PRE-PAID RENT ARE LIMITED TO ONE MONTH’S RENTĪlthough security deposits have long been limited to one month’s rent for rent-stabilized tenants, HSTPA amended the GOL effective June 14, 2019, to extend this limit to unregulated tenants statewide. To the tenants’ benefit and the landlords’ burden, the Legislature has amended many parts of the Real Property Law (RPL), the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (RPAPL), and the General Obligations Law (GOL), starting with how tenancies are created and ending with how tenants may be restored to possession after eviction. Only here and there did the Legislature amend laws pertaining to unregulated units or how courts must adjudicate eviction actions and proceedings. Historically, changes in New York landlord-tenant law focused on the rent-regulation scheme.
DUAL FAMILY ACT I PART III DOWNLOAD SERIES
This concluding part of our three-part series covers the rest of HSTPA. 2019)) outlined the law before and after HSTPA. In Parts I and II of our series, we discussed how the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA 1) has dramatically altered New York’s residential-rental landscape. Howard, and Judge Weisberg are co-authors of the State Bar’s forthcoming 12th edition of New York Residential Landlord-Tenant Law and Procedure. Weisberg for his comments on all three parts of this article. Mora for his comments on Part III of this article and NYC Housing Judge Michael L. The authors thank Poughkeepsie City Court Judge Frank M. NY’s Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 Part III – WHAT LAWYERS MUST KNOW