LBD07084-06-1
S. 5742 2
set the stage for recovery. It is, therefore, the intent of this legis-
lation to avoid as many evictions and foreclosures of small businesses
as possible for businesses experiencing a financial hardship during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
As such, it is necessary to temporarily allow small businesses
impacted by COVID-19 to remain in their place of business. A limited,
temporary stay is necessary to protect the public health, safety and
morals of the people the Legislature represents from the dangers of the
COVID-19 emergency pandemic.
§ 2. Section 1 of part A of a chapter of the laws of 2021 relating to
establishing the "COVID-19 Emergency Protect Our Small Businesses Act of
2021", as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 471-A and A. 3207, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 1. Definitions. For the purposes of this act: 1. "Eviction
proceeding" means a summary proceeding to recover possession of real
property under article seven of the real property actions and
proceedings law relating to a commercial unit or any other judicial or
administrative proceeding to recover possession of real property relat-
ing to a commercial unit.
2. "Landlord" includes a landlord, owner of a commercial property and
any other person with a legal right to pursue eviction, possessory
action or a money judgment for rent, including arrears, owed or that
becomes due during the COVID-19 covered period, as defined in section 1
of chapter 127 of the laws of 2020.
3. "Tenant" includes a commercial tenant that is a resident of the
state, independently owned and operated, not dominant in its field and
EITHER employs [fifty] ONE HUNDRED or fewer persons, OR, THE COMMERCIAL
TENANT'S BUSINESS WAS CLOSED TO IN-PERSON OPERATIONS BY EXECUTIVE ORDER
OR DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH DIRECTIVE FOR TWO OR MORE WEEKS BETWEEN MAY 15,
2020 AND MAY 1, 2021, AND EMPLOYS FIVE HUNDRED OR FEWER PERSONS.
4. "Hardship declaration" means the following statement, or a substan-
tially equivalent statement in the language in which the commercial
lease or tenancy agreement was written or negotiated, in 14-point type,
published by the office of court administration, whether in physical or
electronic written form:
"NOTICE TO COMMERCIAL TENANT: If you have lost significant revenue or
had significantly increased necessary costs during the COVID-19 pandem-
ic, and you sign and deliver this hardship declaration form to your
landlord, you cannot be evicted until at least May 1, 2021 for nonpay-
ment of rent or for holding over after the expiration of your lease. You
may still be evicted for violating your lease by persistently and unrea-
sonably engaging in behavior that substantially infringes on the use and
enjoyment of other tenants or occupants or causes a substantial safety
hazard to others.
If your landlord has provided you with this form, your landlord must
also provide you with a mailing address and e-mail address to which you
can return this form. If your landlord has already started an eviction
proceeding against you, you can return this form to either your land-
lord, the court, or both at any time. You should keep a copy or picture
of the signed form for your records. You will still owe any unpaid rent
to your landlord. [You should also] TO THE EXTENT YOU CAN PAY LESS THAN
THE FULL RENT, IT IS RECOMMENDED YOU DO SO AND keep careful track of
what you have paid and any amount you still owe.
COMMERCIAL TENANT'S DECLARATION OF HARDSHIP DURING THE
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
S. 5742 3
I am the owner, chief executive officer, president, or similar officer
of (name of business), in which is a commercial tenant at (address of
commercial unit). My business is resident in New York state, independ-
ently owned and operated, not dominant in its field, and EITHER employs
[fifty] ONE HUNDRED or fewer persons, OR, THE COMMERCIAL BUSINESS WAS
CLOSED TO IN-PERSON OPERATIONS BY EXECUTIVE ORDER OR DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH DIRECTIVE FOR TWO OR MORE WEEKS BETWEEN MAY 15, 2020 AND MAY 1,
2021, AND EMPLOYS FIVE HUNDRED OR FEWER PERSONS. My business is experi-
encing financial hardship, and is unable to pay the rent IN FULL or
other financial obligations under the lease in full or obtain an alter-
native suitable commercial property because of one or more of the
following:
1. Significant loss of revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Significant increase in necessary expenses related to providing
personal protective equipment to employees or purchasing and installing
other protective equipment to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 with-
in the business.
3. Moving expenses and difficulty in securing an alternative commer-
cial property make it a hardship for the business to relocate to another
location during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To the extent the business has lost revenue or had increased expenses,
any public assistance the business has received since the start of the
COVID-19 pandemic [does] MUST not fully make up for the business's loss
of revenue or increased expenses, AND THE BUSINESS STILL MEETS THE
AFOREMENTIONED ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA TO QUALIFY FOR A FINANCIAL HARDSHIP.
I understand that the business must comply with all other lawful terms
under its commercial tenancy, lease agreement or similar contract. I
further understand that lawful fees, penalties or interest for not
having paid rent in full or met other financial obligations as required
by the commercial tenancy, lease agreement or similar contract may still
be charged or collected and may result in a monetary judgment. I
further understand that the landlord may be able to seek eviction after
May 1, 2021, and that the law may provide certain protections at that
time that are separate from those available through this declaration.
Signed:
Printed name:
Date signed:
NOTICE: You are signing and submitting this form under penalty of law.
That means it is against the law to make a statement on this form that
you know is false."
§ 3. Sections 1 and 2 of subpart A of part B of a chapter of the laws
of 2021 relating to establishing the "COVID-19 Emergency Protect Our
Small Businesses Act of 2021", as proposed in legislative bills numbers
S. 471-A and A. 3207, are amended to read as follows:
Section 1. Application. This section shall apply to any action to
foreclose a mortgage relating to commercial real property, provided the
owner or mortgagor of such property owns ten or fewer commercial units
whether directly or indirectly and is a business that is resident in New
York State, independently owned and operated, not dominant in its field,
and EITHER employs [fifty] ONE HUNDRED or fewer persons, OR, THE COMMER-
CIAL TENANT'S BUSINESS WAS CLOSED TO IN-PERSON OPERATIONS BY EXECUTIVE
ORDER OR DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH DIRECTIVE FOR TWO OR MORE WEEKS BETWEEN
MAY 15, 2020 AND MAY 1, 2021, AND EMPLOYS FIVE HUNDRED OR FEWER PERSONS.
S. 5742 4
The ten or fewer commercial units may be in more than one property or
building as long as the total aggregate number of ten units are current-
ly occupied by a tenant or are available for rent.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, this act shall not apply to,
and does not affect any mortgage loans made, insured, purchased or secu-
ritized by a corporate governmental agency of the state constituted as a
political subdivision and public benefit corporation, or the rights and
obligations of any lender, issuer, servicer or trustee of such obli-
gations.
§ 2. Definitions. For the purposes of this act, "Hardship Declaration"
means the following statement in 14-point type, published by the office
of court administration, whether in physical or electronic written form:
"NOTICE TO COMMERCIAL MORTGAGOR: If you have lost significant revenue
or had significantly increased necessary costs during the COVID-19
pandemic, and you sign and deliver this hardship declaration form to
your mortgage lender or other foreclosing party, you cannot be fore-
closed on until at least May 1, 2021.
If your mortgage lender or other foreclosing party provided you with
this form, the mortgage lender or other foreclosing party must also
provide you with a mailing address and e-mail address to which you can
return this form. If you are already in foreclosure proceedings, you may
return this form to the court. You should keep a copy or picture of the
signed form for your records. You will still owe any unpaid mortgage
payments and lawful fees to your lender. You should also keep careful
track of what you have paid and any amount you still owe.
COMMERCIAL MORTGAGOR'S DECLARATION OF COVID-19-RELATED HARDSHIP
I am the owner, chief executive officer, president, or similar officer
of (name of the business), which is the mortgagor of the property at
(address of commercial unit). My business owns, whether directly or
indirectly, ten or fewer commercial units. My business is resident in
New York State, independently owned and operated, not dominant in its
field, and EITHER employs [fifty] ONE HUNDRED or fewer persons, OR, THE
COMMERCIAL BUSINESS WAS CLOSED TO IN-PERSON OPERATIONS BY EXECUTIVE
ORDER OR DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH DIRECTIVE FOR TWO OR MORE WEEKS BETWEEN
MAY 15, 2020, AND MAY 1, 2021, AND EMPLOYS FIVE HUNDRED OR FEWER
PERSONS. My business is experiencing financial hardship and is unable to
pay the mortgage in full because of one or more of the following:
1. Significant loss of revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Significant increase in necessary expenses related to providing
personal protective equipment to employees or purchasing and installing
other protective equipment to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 with-
in the business.
3. Moving expenses and difficulty in securing an alternative commer-
cial property make it a hardship for the business to relocate to another
property during the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. One or more of the business's tenants has defaulted on a signif-
icant amount of their rent payments since March 1, 2020.
To the extent that the business has lost revenue or had increased
expenses, any public assistance the business has received since the
start of the COVID-19 pandemic does not fully make up for the business's
loss of revenue or increased expenses.
I understand that the business must comply with all other lawful terms
under my commercial mortgage agreement. I further understand that lawful
fees, penalties or interest for not having paid the mortgage in full as
required by the commercial mortgage agreement may still be charged or
collected and may result in a monetary judgment. I also understand that
S. 5742 5
the mortgage lender or other foreclosing party may pursue a foreclosure
action against the business on or after May 1, 2021, if I do not fully
repay any missed or partial payments and lawful fees.
Signed:
Printed Name:
Date Signed:
NOTICE: You are signing and submitting this form under penalty of law.
That means it is against the law to make a statement on this form that
you know is false."
§ 4. Sections 1 and 2 of subpart B of part B of a chapter of the laws
of 2021 relating to establishing the "COVID-19 Emergency Protect Our
Small Businesses Act of 2021", as proposed in legislative bills numbers
S. 471-A and A. 3207, are amended to read as follows:
Section 1. Application. This act shall apply to any action to fore-
close on delinquent taxes or sell a tax lien relating to commercial real
property, provided the owner or mortgagor of such property owns ten or
fewer commercial units whether directly or indirectly and is a business
that is resident in New York State, independently owned and operated,
not dominant in its field, and EITHER employs [fifty] ONE HUNDRED or
fewer persons, OR, THE COMMERCIAL BUSINESS WAS CLOSED TO IN-PERSON OPER-
ATIONS BY EXECUTIVE ORDER OR DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH DIRECTIVE FOR TWO OR
MORE WEEKS BETWEEN MAY 15, 2020 AND MAY 1, 2021, AND EMPLOYS FIVE
HUNDRED OR FEWER PERSONS. The ten or fewer commercial units may be in
more than one property or building as long as the units are currently
occupied by a tenant or are available for rent.
§ 2. Definitions. For purposes of this act: 1. "Tax lien" means an
unpaid tax, special ad valorem levy, special assessment or other charge
imposed upon real property by or on behalf of a municipal corporation or
special district or other public or private entity which is an encum-
brance on real property, whether or not evidenced by a written instru-
ment.
2. "Tax foreclosure and tax lien sale" shall mean any such tax lien
sale or tax foreclosure pursuant to article 11 of the real property tax
law, or any general, special or local law related to real property tax
lien sales or real property tax foreclosures.
3. "Hardship Declaration" means the following statement in 14-point
type, whether in physical or electronic written form:
"COMMERCIAL OWNER DECLARATION OF COVID-19-RELATED HARDSHIP
I am the owner, chief executive officer, president, or similar officer
of (name of the business), which is the owner of the commercial property
at (address). My business owns, whether directly or indirectly, ten or
fewer commercial units. My business is resident in New York State,
independently owned and operated, not dominant in its field, and EITHER
employs [fifty] ONE HUNDRED or fewer persons, OR, THE COMMERCIAL BUSI-
NESS WAS CLOSED TO IN-PERSON OPERATIONS BY EXECUTIVE ORDER OR DEPARTMENT
OF HEALTH DIRECTIVE FOR TWO OR MORE WEEKS BETWEEN MAY 15, 2020 AND MAY
1, 2021, AND EMPLOYS FIVE HUNDRED OR FEWER PERSONS. My business is expe-
riencing financial hardship, and is unable to pay its full tax bill
because of one or more of the following:
1. Significant loss of revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Significant increase in necessary expenses related to providing
personal protective equipment to employees or purchasing and installing
other protective equipment to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 with-
in the business.
S. 5742 6
3. Moving expenses and difficulty in securing an alternative commer-
cial property make it a hardship for the business to relocate to another
property during the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. One or more of the business's tenants has defaulted on a signif-
icant amount of their rent payments since March 1, 2020.
To the extent that the business has lost revenue or had increased
expenses, any public assistance that the business has received since the
start of the COVID-19 pandemic [does] MUST not fully make up for the
loss of revenue or increased expenses, AND THE BUSINESS STILL MEETS THE
AFOREMENTIONED ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA TO QUALIFY FOR A FINANCIAL HARDSHIP.
I understand that lawful fees, penalties or interest for not having
paid the business's taxes in full may still be charged or collected and
may result in a foreclosure action against the business on or after May
1, 2021, if the business does not fully repay any missed or partial
payments and fees.
Signed:
Printed Name:
Date Signed:
NOTICE: You are signing and submitting this form under penalty of law.
That means it is against the law to make a statement on this form that
you know is false."
§ 5. Section 1 of subpart C of part B of a chapter of the laws of 2021
relating to establishing the "COVID-19 Emergency Protect Our Small Busi-
nesses Act of 2021", as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 471-A
and A. 3207, is amended to read as follows:
Section 1. Application. 1. This act shall apply to an owner of commer-
cial real property, provided the owner or mortgagor of such property
owns ten or fewer commercial units whether directly or indirectly and is
a business that is resident in New York State, independently owned and
operated, not dominant in its field, and EITHER employs [fifty] ONE
HUNDRED or fewer persons, OR, THE COMMERCIAL BUSINESS WAS CLOSED TO
IN-PERSON OPERATIONS BY EXECUTIVE ORDER OR DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH DIREC-
TIVE FOR TWO OR MORE WEEKS BETWEEN MAY 15, 2020 AND MAY 1, 2021, AND
EMPLOYS FIVE HUNDRED OR FEWER PERSONS. The ten or fewer commercial units
may be in more than one property or building as long as the total aggre-
gate number of ten units are currently occupied by a tenant or are
available for rent.
2. Hardship declaration. For purposes of this act, "hardship declara-
tion" shall mean the following statement in 14-point type, whether in
physical or electronic written form, and the department of financial
services shall publish a copy of the hardship declaration on its
website:
"NOTICE TO COMMERCIAL OWNER/MORTGAGOR: If you have lost significant
revenue or had significantly increased necessary costs due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, and you sign and deliver this hardship declaration
form to your lending institution, you cannot be discriminated against in
the determination of whether credit should be extended or reported nega-
tively to a credit reporting agency until at least May 1, 2021.
If a lending institution provided you with this form, the lending
institution must also provide you with a mailing address and e-mail
address to which you can return this form. You should keep a copy or
picture of the signed form for your records.
COMMERCIAL OWNER/MORTGAGOR DECLARATION OF COVID-19-RELATED HARDSHIP
I am the owner, chief executive officer, president, or similar officer
of (name of the business), which is the OWNER/MORTGAGOR of the property
at (address of commercial unit). My business owns, whether directly or
S. 5742 7
indirectly, ten or fewer commercial units. My business is resident in
New York State, independently owned and operated, not dominant in its
field, and EITHER employs [fifty] ONE HUNDRED or fewer persons, OR, THE
COMMERCIAL BUSINESS WAS CLOSED TO IN-PERSON OPERATIONS BY EXECUTIVE
ORDER OR DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH DIRECTIVE FOR TWO OR MORE WEEKS BETWEEN
MAY 15, 2020 AND MAY 1, 2021, AND EMPLOYS FIVE HUNDRED OR FEWER PERSONS.
My business is experiencing financial hardship, and is unable to pay the
mortgage in full because of one or more of the following:
1. Significant loss of revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Significant increase in necessary out-of-pocket expenses related to
providing personal protective equipment to employees or purchasing and
installing other protective equipment to prevent the transmission of
COVID-19 within the business.
3. Moving expenses and difficulty in securing an alternative commer-
cial property make it a hardship for the business to relocate to another
commercial property during the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. One or more of my tenants has defaulted on a significant amount of
their rent payments since March 1, 2020.
To the extent that the business has lost revenue or had increased
expenses, any public assistance that the business has received since the
start of the COVID-19 pandemic [does] MUST not fully make up for the
loss of revenue or increased expenses, AND THE BUSINESS STILL MEETS THE
AFOREMENTIONED ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA TO QUALIFY FOR A FINANCIAL HARDSHIP.
Signed:
Printed Name:
Date Signed:
NOTICE: You are signing and submitting this form under penalty of law.
That means it is against the law to make a statement on this form that
you know is false."
3. Discrimination in credit decisions. Notwithstanding any law to the
contrary, lending institutions shall not discriminate in the determi-
nation of whether credit should be extended to any owner of commercial
real property as defined in subdivision one of this section because, as
provided for in this act, such owner has been granted a stay of mortgage
foreclosure proceedings, tax foreclosure proceedings or of tax lien
sales, or that an owner of commercial real property as defined in subdi-
vision one of this section is currently in arrears and has filed a hard-
ship declaration with such lender.
4. Prohibition on negative credit reporting. Notwithstanding any law
to the contrary, as provided for in this act, the granting of a stay of
mortgage foreclosure proceedings, tax foreclosure proceedings or tax
lien sales, or that an owner of commercial real property as defined in
subdivision one of this section is currently in arrears and has filed a
hardship declaration with their lender shall not be negatively reported
to any credit reporting agency.
§ 6. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same
manner as a chapter of the laws of 2021, relating to establishing the
"COVID-19 Emergency Protect Our Small Businesses Act of 2021", as
proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 471-A and A. 3207, takes
effect; provided that the amendments to section 1 of part A, sections 1
and 2 of subpart A of part B, sections 1 and 2 of subpart B of part B,
and section 1 of subpart C of part B of a chapter of the laws of 2021,
relating to establishing the "COVID-19 Emergency Protect Our Small
Businesses Act of 2021", as proposed in legislative bills numbers
S. 471-A and A. 3207, made by sections two, three, four and five of
S. 5742 8
this act, respectively, shall not affect the expiration of such sections
and shall be deemed expired therewith.
