| Entities | New York (10) |
| Topics and Issues |
In August 2022, the New York attorney general’s office announced it is
[continuing its] efforts to protect New York tenants by cracking down on ‘tenant blacklisting,’ or when landlords use housing court records as a basis to deny a potential tenant’s rental application. Tenant blacklisting was made illegal in 2019 following changes to the Real Property Law, which outlawed efforts to deny housing to renters with a history of landlord-tenant court cases. As a part of her efforts to eliminate tenant blacklisting in New York, Attorney General James took action against, and secured a settlement with, Clipper Equity, LLC (Clipper Equity), a New York City real estate company that denied applicants with past housing court records and violated city and state Human Rights Laws by requiring applicants to disclose their marital status. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has also launched an online complaint form for New Yorkers to report instances in which landlords have engaged in tenant blacklisting.
The OAG noted that
[t]o remain in compliance with the law, OAG recommends landlords and property owners refrain from requesting a potential tenant’s court records and rental histories altogether and cease relationships with tenant screening bureaus who continue to provide court records. Any New Yorker who believes that they have been denied an apartment because of their rental history should submit a tenant blacklisting complaint online with OAG.
The OAG also noted in its August press release, “[t]his agreement is the latest in Attorney General James’ efforts to protect tenants.” Other work includes where the OAG, in recent months,
- Secured more than $400,000 for tenants harassed by Ink Property Group, along with up to $1.75 million for affordable housing (August 2022)
- Joined New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas in preserving an affordable housing cooperative development in Rockland County (August 2022)
- Recovered nearly $300,000 of illegally withheld security deposits for Brooklyn tenants (July 2022).
- Delivered $50,000 to Community Action for Safe Apartments (CASA), a tenant organizing project, from law firm Kucker, Marino, Winiarsky & Bittens LLP after they unlawfully provided improper and damaging legal advice to New York tenants (June 2022).
- Sued Brooklyn-based eviction lawyers for engaging in deceptive rent collection practices and initiating frivolous lawsuits against New York tenants (April 2022).
Resources:
New York Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA), Ch. 36, Laws 2019 (S. 6458/A. 8281). According to an official summary of the bill, “Section five [of Part M] bans the use of “tenant blacklists” and protects a tenant’s ability to fight for their rights in housing court.” New York Real Property Law, Sec. 227-f reads as follows:
§ 227-f. Denial on the basis of involvement in prior disputes prohibited.
1. No landlord of a residential premises shall refuse to rent or offer a lease to a potential tenant on the basis that the potential tenant was involved in a past or pending landlord-tenant action or summary proceeding under article seven of the real property actions and proceedings law. There shall be a rebuttable presumption that a person is in violation of this section if it is established that the person requested information from a tenant screening bureau relating to a potential tenant or otherwise inspected court records relating to a potential tenant and the person subsequently refuses to rent or offer a lease to the potential tenant.
2. Whenever the attorney general shall believe from evidence satisfactory to him or her that any person, firm, corporation or association or agent or employee thereof has violated subdivision one of this section, he or she may bring an action or special proceeding in the supreme court for a judgment enjoining the continuance of such violation and for a civil penalty of not less than five hundred dollars, but not more than one thousand dollars for each violation.