NY State Senate Bill 2019-S4794

Senate Bill S4794

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Relates to providing enhanced enforcement of the warranty of habitability for housing accommodations

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Judiciary Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 08, 2020	referred to judiciary
Mar 25, 2019	referred to judiciary

co-Sponsors

2019-S4794 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A6266
Current Committee:: Senate Judiciary
Law Section:: Real Property Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §235-b, RP L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2013-2014: S5474, A6842
2015-2016: S2758, A6750
2017-2018: S3618, A6256
2021-2022: S5070, A5546
2023-2024: S6010, A2042

2019-S4794 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Provides for enhanced enforcement of the warranty of habitability for housing accommodations; provides court may award punitive damages to a tenant upon finding the landlord's breach of warranty was intentional and malicious.

2019-S4794 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S4794

SPONSOR: PARKER
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the real property law, in relation to
enforcement of the warranty of habitability

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this bill is to amend the Real Property Law by granting
the courts discretion to award punitive damages in cases where the
warranty of habitability is breached intentionally or with conscious
disregard to severe risks to the life, health, or safety of the tenant.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

This bill is to amend the Real Property Law by granting the courts
discretion to award punitive damages in cases where the warranty of
habitability is breached intentionally or with conscious disregard to
severe risks to the life, health, or safety of the tenant.

JUSTIFICATION:

Although the courts have awarded punitive damages for breach of the
warranty of habitability in certain egregious cases, the circumstances
in which punitive damages may be granted are defined solely with respect
to specific fact patterns addressed in existing decisional law.  Without
a clear statutory mandate to award punitive damages in egregious cases
where the warranty is breached, the courts may be reluctant to extend
the application of existing case law, even in cases where doing so may
be merited for deterrence purposes.

This bill would remedy that problem by declaring that the policy of the
State of New York is to deter intentional violations of the warranty of
habitability through awards of punitive damages when necessary.  Accord-
ingly, this bill would amend section 235-b of the Real Property Law by
adding a new subdivision to the warranty of habitability statute. The
new subdivision would grant courts the authority to issue punitive
damage awards as a matter of law in cases where the warranty is breached
intentionally or with a conscious disregard for the life, health, or
safety of the tenant. By officially sanctioning the use of punitive
damage awards as for deterrence purposes in egregious cases, this bill
enables courts to award such damages with the imprimitur of the legisla-
ture rather than on the solely analogical and sometimes speculative
basis of existing case law.

In doing so, this bill would both codify and expand the bases for awards
of punitive awards under existing decisional law. The cases currently
recognize intentional violations of the warranty as a basis for punitive
damages (See Minjak Co., v. Randolph, 140 A.D.2d 245; 528 N.Y.S.2d 554,
1st Dept 1988), but there is no clear basis in case law for awarding
such damages in cases where conclusive evidence of an intentional breach
is lacking, even though the landlord may have consciously disregarded
severe risk to the health and safety of the tenants. In those cases,
this bill would place such damage awards within the sound discretion of
the court and would provide a clear articulation of the legislative
purpose for authorizing such awards.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2017-18: S3618 - REFERRED TO JUDICIARY
2015-16: S.2758/A.6750 - Referred to Judiciary
2013-14: S.5474 - Referred to Judiciary
2009-10: A.5662 - Referred to Housing
2007-08: A.9494A - Died in Rules

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill would take effect on the ninetieth day after becoming law.

2019-S4794 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4794
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 25, 2019
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sens. PARKER, SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed,
   and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
 
 AN ACT to amend the real property law, in relation to enforcement of the
   warranty of habitability
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Legislative findings and purpose.  The  legislature  hereby
 finds that the rental housing market in the state of New York remains in
 a state of crisis, due not only to severe shortages in the stock of safe
 and  affordable  housing  but  also to the state of disrepair and blight
 that afflicts rental housing opportunities available to people of  lower
 incomes  throughout  the  state.  The legislature further finds that the
 warranty of habitability set forth in section 235-b of the real property
 law represents a critical safeguard of the health and safety of  tenants
 across the state of New York by requiring that all rental housing accom-
 modations  be  maintained  in  a  safe  and  sanitary  condition for the
 tenants; that enforcement efforts by the several agencies of the city of
 New York and the state of New York, although often successful,  are  not
 always  sufficient to deter such breaches of the warranty by such owners
 and landlords, so that in spite of  the  protections  provided  by  law,
 every  year  many  tenants  in the state of New York must endure housing
 conditions that fail to meet the basic standards of safety  required  by
 law.  In  light  of the foregoing, the legislature hereby finds that the
 state of New York must adopt additional measures to deter the most egre-
 gious breaches of the warranty of  habitability  set  forth  in  section
 235-b  of the real property law, and that the codification of law award-
 ing punitive damages to tenants who suffer intentional breaches  of  the
 warranty  is an appropriate method to realize such a purpose. The legis-
 lature therefore enacts the following law granting the courts discretion
 to award punitive damages in cases where the  warranty  of  habitability
 set  forth  in section 235-b of the real property law is breached inten-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD05953-01-9

 S. 4794                             2
 
 tionally or with conscious  disregard  to  severe  risks  to  the  life,
 health, or safety of the tenant.
   § 2. Section 235-b of the real property law is amended by adding a new
 subdivision 4 to read as follows:
   4.  THE  COURT MAY AWARD PUNITIVE DAMAGES TO THE TENANT UPON A FINDING
 THAT THE LANDLORD'S BREACH OF THE WARRANTY SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION WAS
 INTENTIONAL AND MALICIOUS  OR  DEMONSTRATES  A  CONSCIOUS  DISREGARD  OF
 SEVERE RISKS TO THE LIFE, HEALTH, OR SAFETY OF THE TENANT.
   §  3.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
 have become a law.

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Senate Bill S4794

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Sponsored By

Kevin S. Parker