§ 309. Repairs, vacation and demolition of buildings. 1. a. The term
"nuisance" shall be held to embrace public nuisance as known at common
law or in equity jurisprudence. Whatever is dangerous to human life or
detrimental to health, and whatever dwelling is overcrowded with
occupants or is not provided with adequate ingress and egress or is not
sufficiently supported, ventilated, sewered, drained, cleaned, or
lighted in reference to its intended or actual use, and whatever renders
the air or human food or drink unwholesome, are also severally, in
contemplation of this law, nuisances. All such nuisances are unlawful.

b. Whenever the department shall certify that any multiple dwelling,
or any part of its premises, or the plumbing, sewerage, drainage,
lighting or ventilation thereof, is in a condition or in effect
dangerous to life or health, the department may, after giving notice to
the owner and an opportunity to be heard at a hearing held for such
purpose declare the same, to the extent it may specify, a public
nuisance. Such declaration shall be filed as provided by section three
hundred twenty-eight of this chapter, if applicable, or as a public
record in the department. The officers of a corporation upon which
notice of such hearing has been served other than a banking organization
as defined in section two of the banking law, a national banking
association, a federal savings and loan association, The Mortgage
Facilities Corporation, Savings Banks Life Insurance Fund, The Savings
Banks Retirement System, an authorized insurer as defined in section one
hundred seven of the insurance law, or a trust company or other
corporation organized under the laws of this state all the capital stock
of which is owned by at least twenty savings banks or a subsidiary
corporation all of the capital stock of which is owned by such trust
company or other corporation, shall serve similar notice on all
stockholders of record of the corporation and other persons known to be
stockholders or beneficial owners of the stock of the corporation. A
stockholder upon whom such notice has been served shall serve similar
notice upon any persons holding a beneficial interest in his stock.

c. The department may order or cause such nuisance to be removed,
abated, suspended, purified, altered, repaired or otherwise improved as
the order shall specify.

d. The department may order or cause any multiple dwelling or any part
of its premises, or any excavation, structure, sewer, plumbing, pipe,
passage, matter or thing in or about such premises to be purified,
cleansed, disinfected, removed, altered, repaired or improved.

e. Whenever the department shall certify that a nuisance exists in a
multiple dwelling, or any part of its premises, which constitutes a
serious fire hazard or is a serious threat to life, health or safety,
the department may issue a written order to the owner directing the
removal or remedying of such nuisance in the manner and within the time
specified in such order which shall be not less than twenty-one days
after the service thereof on the owner in the manner specified in
subdivision one of section three hundred twenty-six of this chapter
except that if the department shall determine that the condition is such
that a delay of twenty-one days in remedying or removing the same may
cause irreparable harm to the building or constitutes an imminent danger
to its occupants, or the occupants of adjoining property or the general
public, then the time specified for such remedy or removal may be less
than twenty-one days.

f. If any order of the department is not complied with or not so far
complied with as the department may regard as reasonable, within the
time therein designated, then such order may be executed by the
department, its agents or contractors, or, as an alternative, if the
multiple dwelling involved shall have been declared to be a public
nuisance pursuant to paragraph b of subdivision one of section three
hundred nine of this chapter and such declaration shall have been filed
as therein provided, the department or a receiver appointed pursuant to
subdivision five of this section or any tenant of such multiple dwelling
may institute and maintain an action in the supreme court in the county
where the multiple dwelling is located, or in the housing part of the
New York city civil court, if the multiple dwelling is located in the
city of New York, against any owner or owners to whom the order was
issued pursuant to paragraph e of subdivision one of this section for an
order compelling such owner of owners to comply with the department's
order and, if such action be brought by such receiver or tenant, for
payment of the costs and disbursements of the action including legal
fees. Except as owners may have otherwise agreed, any owner who removes
or remedies the nuisance in compliance with an order of the department
or court shall de entitled to recover a proportionate share of the total
expense of such compliance from all other owners to whom the
department's order was issued or to whom such owner sent a copy of the
department's order within thirty days of receipt of same by registered
mail.

g. The department may in its discretion let out contracts for the
repairs to be done pursuant to this section in accordance with the
provisions of local laws, ordinances, rules and regulations of the city
applicable to the letting of contracts for public works.

2. a. An "untenanted hazard" is a multiple dwelling or any part
thereof, or any structure on the same premises with a multiple dwelling,
which has been untenanted for a period of sixty days or more and either
is not guarded continuously by a resident caretaker or has any exterior
openings which are not sealed in a manner approved by the department and
is a fire hazard or in a condition dangerous or detrimental to human
life, health or morals.

b. Whenever an officer of the department shall certify that any
multiple dwelling or part thereof is an untenanted hazard, the
department shall so notify the owner by attaching a notice in a
conspicuous place on the premises to such effect, and sending by
registered mail a copy of such notice to such owner, at the address or
addresses registered with the department, or, if no address is
registered with the department and such owner cannot with due diligence
be served personally, by sending a copy of such notice by registered
mail to the last known address of such owner. The department shall also
send a copy of such notice by registered mail to every owner of record
of a mortgage upon such premises, at the address of such owner appearing
in the record of such mortgage in the office in which mortgages are
registered in the county in which such premises are located or, if no
address appear therein, by sending such notice by registered mail to the
person at whose request such instrument was recorded.

c. Such notice shall contain a description of the dwelling, and a
statement of the particulars in which the dwelling is deemed to be an
untenanted hazard, and the order that the dwelling or part thereof be
demolished. Such notice and order shall require the person thus served
to certify within ten days thereafter to the department his assent or
refusal to demolish the same.

d. If such demolition is not commenced within twenty-one days after
the mailing and posting of such notice and order, such department shall
then serve all such aforementioned persons further notice to the effect
that on a certain day it will apply to the special term of the supreme
court for the hearing of motions for the county in which such premises
are located, or to the housing part of the New York city civil court, if
the premises are located in the city of New York, for an order declaring
such untenanted hazard to exist and directing the demolition of such
premises or part thereof.

e. Such court shall, if it finds the statements in the notice to be
true, direct that, if within five days after the order is entered it is
not complied with, the department may proceed with the execution of such
order through contractors in accordance with the provisions of local
laws, ordinances, rules and regulations of the city applicable to the
letting of contracts for public works, or through its own officers,
agents or employees.

f. The expenses and disbursements incurred by the department in
carrying out such orders shall be met from any appropriation for such
purpose or, to the extent that no such appropriation has been made or
that any such appropriation is insufficient, from the proceeds of the
sale of obligations pursuant to the local finance law.

3. Whenever the department has incurred any expense for which payment
is due under the provisions of this section, the department may
institute and maintain a suit against the owner of the dwelling in
respect to which such expense shall have been incurred and may recover
the amount of such expense as in this section provided. In any case
where expenditures made or obligations incurred by a receiver appointed
pursuant to subdivision five of this section in remedying a nuisance are
not paid or reimbursed from the rents and income of the dwelling or
where the receivership expenses, fees and commissions are not paid or
reimbursed from the rents and income of the dwelling, the receiver may
institute and maintain a suit against the owner of the dwelling to
recover such deficiency.

4. a. The department or a receiver appointed pursuant to subdivision
five of this section shall have a lien, for the expenses necessarily
incurred in the execution of an order, upon the premises upon or in
respect of which the work required by said order has been done or
expenses incurred, which lien shall have priority over all other
mortgages,liens and encumbrances of record, except taxes and assessments
levied pursuant to law. In the event that a receiver having a lien, in
favor of the department of real estate, is discharged and such lien is
in effect at the time of such discharge, such lien shall continue to
vest in the department of real estate.

b. No such lien shall be valid for any purpose until the department or
receiver, as the case may be, shall file where notices of mechanics'
liens are required to be filed, a notice containing the same particulars
as required to be stated with reference to mechanics' liens, with the
further statement that the expense has been incurred in pursuance of the
order of the department, and giving the date of the order, or in
performance by the receiver of the work required to remedy a condition
pursuant to an order of the court establishing the receivership and
giving the date of the order, or that a deficiency has accrued with
respect to the receivership established pursuant to an order of the
court and giving the date of the order, as the case may be. Such notice
shall be filed at any time during the progress of the work required by
such order or undertaken by the receiver, or within four months after
the completion of the contract, or the final performance of the work or
the final furnishing of the materials, dating from the last item of work
performed or materials furnished or, in the case of a deficiency, at any
time before the discharge of the receiver.

c. The officer with whom such notice is filed shall make the same
entry on the book or index in which mechanics' liens are entered as he
is required to enter in cases of mechanics' liens, together with a
reference to such order by date; and thereafter such lien shall, except
as herein otherwise provided, have the same effect in all respects as to
all persons as a mechanics' lien; and all proceedings with reference to
such lien, its enforcement and discharge, shall be carried on in the
same manner as similar proceedings with reference to other mechanics'
liens.

d. Unless, within six months after actual notice of such filing,
proceedings are taken by the party against whom or whose premises a lien
is claimed, to discharge such lien, the filing shall, as to all persons
having such actual notice, become conclusive evidence that the amount
claimed in the notice of lien, with interest, is due, and is a just lien
upon the premises.

e. Such lien shall continue to be a lien for a period of one year from
the time of its filing unless proceedings are in the meantime taken to
enforce or discharge it, which may be done at any time during its
continuance. In case proceedings are so taken, the lien shall remain in
effect until the final termination of such proceedings; and if such
proceedings shall result in a judgment for the amount claimed or any
portion thereof, such judgment shall, to such extent, be a lien in the
same manner and from the same time as the original lien.

5. a. If the department shall desire that a receiver be appointed as
herein after provided to remove or remedy a nuisance described in
paragraph e of subdivision one of this section and that such receiver
shall obtain a lien for costs incurred in connection therewith in favor
of the department of real estate, which shall have the priority with
respect to existing mortgages or liens provided in paragraph e of this
subdivision, it shall within five days after the service of the order
upon the owner serve a copy of such order upon every mortgagee and
lienor of record personally or by registered mail, return receipt
requested, at the address set forth in the recorded mortgage or lien.
Appended to the copy of such order shall be a notice addressed to such
mortgagee and lienor stating that in the event the nuisance is not
removed or remedied in the manner and within the time specified in the
order, the department may apply to the supreme court, or to the housing
part of the New York city civil court, if the premises are located in
the city of New York, or, to the district court, if the premises are
located in whole or in part within a district of the court, or, to the
city court of a city outside the city of New York, if the premises are
located in whole or in part within such city, for an order to show cause
why a receiver of the rents, issues and profits of the property shall
not be appointed with rights therein superior to those of such owner,
mortgagee or lienor.

b. The department shall file a copy of such notice and order in the
office of the county clerk in which mechanics liens affecting the
property would be filed.

c. 1. The department may thereafter apply to the supreme court in the
county where the property is situated, or to the housing part of the
civil court of the city of New York, if the property is situated in the
city of New York, by verified petition for an order directing the owner
and any mortgagees or lienors of record to show cause why the
commissioner or chief executive of the bureau or department of real
estate of the municipality should not be appointed receiver of the
rents, issues and profits of the property and why said receiver should
not remove or remedy such condition and obtain a lien in favor of the
department of real estate against the property having the priority
provided in paragraph e of this subdivision to secure repayment of the
costs incurred by the receiver in removing or remedying such condition.
Such application shall contain (a) proof by affidavit that an order of
the department has been issued and served on the owner, mortgagees and
lienors in accordance with and within the periods specified in paragraph
e of subdivision one of this section and paragraph a of this subdivision
and filed in accordance with the provisions of paragraph b of this
subdivision; (b) a statement that a nuisance which constitutes a serious
fire hazard or is a serious threat to life, health, or safety continued
to exist in said property after the time fixed for the removal thereof
in the department order and a description of the property and conditions
constituting such nuisance; (c) a brief description of the nature of the
work required to remove or remedy the condition and an estimate as to
the cost thereof. Such order to show cause shall be returnable not less
than five days after service is completed and shall provide for personal
service of a copy thereof and the papers on which it is based on the
owners and mortgagees of record and lienors. If any such owner,
mortgagee or lienor cannot with due diligence be served personally
within the city where the property is located and within the time fixed
in such order, then service may be made on such persons by posting a
copy thereof in a conspicuous place on the premises where the nuisance
exists, and by sending a copy thereof by registered mail, return receipt
requested, to the owner at the last address registered by him with the
department, or in the absence of such registration, to the address set
forth in the last recorded deed with respect to said premises, or, in
the case of a mortgagee or lienor, to the address set forth in the
recorded mortgage or lien and by publication in a newspaper of general
circulation in the county where such premises are located, which
newspaper, if there is an official law paper for such county, shall be
such official law paper. Service shall be deemed complete on filing
proof of service thereof in the office of the clerk of the court in
which such application is made.

2. If the condition constituting the nuisance is such that unless
immediately cured irreparable damage may be caused to the building or it
constitutes an imminent danger to its occupants, or the occupants of
adjoining properties then the order to show cause may be returnable in
the discretion of the court in less than five days, and in such case,
service may be made on the owner, mortgagee and lienor by posting a copy
thereof in a conspicuous place on the premises where the nuisance exists
and by mailing a copy in the case of the owner to the address filed with
the department and in the case of the mortgagee and lienor to the
address recorded. If a receiver be appointed as hereinafter provided,
and service shall not have been made in accordance with subparagraph
one, then his appointment shall be temporary only and expire not more
than thirty days thereafter unless, prior to the expiration of such
thirty days, the department shall serve notice on the owner, mortgagees
and lienors in the manner provided for in subparagraph one hereof of
intention to apply to the court at a date fixed in such notice and not
less than five days after the service of such notice, for an extension
of said receivership. In such event the period of the appointment of the
temporary receiver shall be deemed to be extended for a further period
of fifteen days. In addition to the requirements set forth in
subparagraph one, such notice shall also contain a statement of any
expenditures made or obligations incurred by the receiver during the
period of his temporary appointment. On the date fixed in such notice,
the court shall determine whether or not to extend the period of
receivership and such determination shall be made as if the application
were an original one for the appointment of a receiver, pursuant to
subparagraph one.

3. On the return of said order to show cause, determination shall have
precedence over every other business of the court unless the court shall
find that some other pending proceeding, having a similar statutory
precedence, shall have priority. If the court shall find that the facts
stated in such application warrant the granting thereof, then the
commissioner or chief executive of the bureau or department of real
estate of the municipality shall be appointed receiver of the rents,
issues and profits of the property. However after determination of the
issue if the owner or any mortgagee or lienor or other person having an
interest in the property shall apply to the court to be permitted to
remove or remedy the conditions constituting the nuisance and shall (1)
demonstrate the ability promptly to undertake the work required; and (2)
post security for the performance thereof within the time, and in the
amount and manner, deemed necessary by the court, then the court may in
lieu of appointing such receiver issue an order permitting such person
to perform the work within a time fixed by the court. If at the time
fixed in the order the conditions constituting the nuisance have not
been satisfactorily remedied or removed, then the court shall appoint
such receiver. If after the granting of an order permitting a person to
perform the work but before the time fixed by the court for the
completion thereof it shall appear to the department that the person
permitted to do the same is not proceeding with due diligence, then the
department may apply to the court on notice to those persons who have
appeared in the proceeding for a hearing to determine whether such
receiver shall be appointed immediately. On the failure of any such
owner, mortgagee, lienor or other person having an interest in the
property to complete the work in accordance with the provisions of said
order, the department, or any such receiver thereafter appointed shall
be reimbursed for costs incurred by him in removing or remedying the
condition and other charges herein provided for out of such security.

d. 1. Any receiver appointed pursuant to this subdivision shall have
all of the powers and duties of a receiver appointed in an action to
foreclose a mortgage on real property, together with such additional
powers and duties as herein granted and imposed. The receiver shall with
all reasonable speed remedy the nuisance and remove all the delinquent
matters and deficiencies in the dwelling including those constituting a
fire hazard or a threat to life, health or safety and may, in addition
to ordinary repairs, maintenance and replacement, make other
improvements to effect a rehabilitation of the property, in such fashion
as is consistent with maintaining safe and habitable conditions over the
remaining useful life of the dwelling. He shall have the power to let
contracts therefor or incur expenses in accordance with the provisions
of local laws, ordinances, rules and regulations applicable to contracts
for public works except that advertisement shall not be required for
each such contract. Notwithstanding any such laws, ordinances, rules or
regulations, the receiver may let contracts or incur expenses for
individual items of repairs, improvements or supplies without the
procurement of competitive bids where the total amount of any such
individual item does not exceed twenty-five hundred dollars. The
receiver shall not be required to file any bond. He shall collect the
accrued and accruing rents, issues and profits of the dwelling and apply
the same to the cost of removing or remedying such nuisance, to the
making of such other improvements as aforestated, to the payment of
expenses reasonably necessary to the proper operation and management of
the property, including insurance and the fees of the managing agent,
and the necessary expenses of his office as receiver, the repayment of
all monies advanced to the receiver by the department of real estate to
cover the costs incurred by the receiver and interest thereon; and then,
if there be a surplus, to unpaid taxes, assessments, water rents, sewer
rents and penalties and interest thereon, and then to sums due to
mortgagees or lienors. If the income of the property shall be
insufficient to cover the cost of remedying or removing such nuisance,
or to making of such other improvements as aforestated, or of the
expenses reasonably necessary to the proper operation and management of
the property and other necessary expenses of the receiver, the
department of real estate shall advance to the receiver any sums
required to cover such cost and expenses and thereupon shall have a lien
against the property having the priority provided in paragraph e for any
such sums so advanced with interest thereon.

2. Nothing herein contained shall be deemed to relieve the owner of
any civil or criminal liability incurred or any duty imposed by this
chapter by reason of acts or omissions of the owner prior to the
appointment of any receiver hereunder, nor shall anything contained
herein be construed to suspend during the receivership any obligation of
the owner for the payment of taxes or other operating and maintenance
expenses of the dwelling nor of the owner or any other person for the
payment of mortgages or liens.

3. The receiver shall be entitled to the same fees, commissions and
necessary expenses as receivers in actions to foreclose mortgages. Such
fees and commissions shall be paid into the fund created pursuant to
subdivision nine of this section. The receiver shall be liable only in
his official capacity for injury to person and property by reason of
conditions of the premises in a case where an owner would have been
liable; he shall not have any liability in his personal capacity. The
personnel and facilities of the bureau or department of real estate and
the corporation counsel shall be availed of by the receiver for the
purpose of carrying out his duties as such receiver and the cost of such
services shall be deemed a necessary expense of the receiver.

4. The receiver shall be discharged upon rendering a full and complete
accounting to the court when such condition has been removed and the
cost thereof and all other costs authorized by this paragraph have been
paid or reimbursed from the rents and income of the dwelling and the
surplus money, if any, has been paid over to the owner or the mortgagee
or lienor as the court may direct. However, at any time, the receiver
may be discharged upon filing his account as receiver without affecting
the right of the department of real estate to its lien. Upon the removal
of such condition, the owner, the mortgagee or any lienor may apply for
the discharge of the receiver upon payment to the receiver of all moneys
expended by the receiver for removal of such condition and all other
costs authorized by this paragraph which have not been paid or
reimbursed from the rents and income of the dwelling.

5. Anything herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding, a
temporary receiver appointed on the return of an order to show cause
served only in accordance with subparagraph two of paragraph c of this
subdivision shall not, without express order of the court, make any
repairs or improvements to the property or incur any expenses in the
operation thereof during the period of his temporary appointment except
such as may be necessary to remedy or remove the immediate condition
which called for his appointment and to the ordinary operation and
maintenance of the property. For such specific purpose the receiver
shall be entitled to let such contracts and undertake such expenses as
may be necessary to accomplish the specific results without
advertisements and without procuring competitive bids.

e. Any lien of a receiver, in favor of the department of real estate,
arising under this section shall have priority over all other mortgages,
liens and encumbrances of record except taxes and assessments levied
pursuant to law.

f. Failure to serve a copy of the order and notice required in the
manner specified by paragraph e of subdivision one and paragraph a of
this subdivision, or failure to serve any mortgagee or lienor with a
copy of the order to show cause as required by subparagraph one of
paragraph c of this subdivision shall not affect the validity of the
proceeding or the appointment of a receiver, but the rights of the
department of real estate or of the receiver shall not in such event be
superior in any way to the rights of any mortgagee or lienor who shall
not have been served as provided herein.

g. Any mortgagee or lienor who at his expense remedies or removes the
nuisance to the satisfaction of the court pursuant to the provisions of
subparagraph three of paragraph c of this subdivision shall have and be
entitled to enforce a lien equivalent to the lien granted to the
receiver in favor of the department of real estate hereunder. Any
mortgagee or lienor who, following the appointment of a receiver by the
court, shall reimburse the receiver and the department of real estate
for all costs and charges as hereinabove provided shall be entitled to
an assignment of the lien granted to the receiver in favor of the
department of real estate.

6. When the department shall have executed any order so far as it may
require, the department shall file among its records such order and an
affidavit stating with fairness and accuracy in general terms the items
of expense and the date of execution of such order. When it shall appear
that such execution, or the expenses thereof, related to several
premises belonging to different persons, such affidavit shall state what
part belongs to or arose in respect to each of the premises as the
department may direct. The department may revise the correctness of such
apportionment of expenses as truth and justice may require.

7. a. Whenever the department shall sue for the expenses involved in
the execution of any order, it may join in the same suit any claim for
any penalty for the violation of any provisions of this chapter. Joint
or several judgments may be had against one or more of the defendants in
the suit, as they or any of them may be liable in respect of all or any
of such claims. The expenses of executing such an order, and any
judgment in any abatement suit provided for in this chapter, and the
several judgments that may be recovered for any such penalties and
expenses, until the same are paid or discharged shall be a lien like
other judgments, and also a lien and charge upon rent and compensation
due or then maturing from any tenant or occupant of the dwelling and
premises or parts thereof to which any such order or judgment relates,
or in respect of which any such expenses were incurred.

b. The department may serve a copy of an order or a transcript of a
judgment and any affidavit showing the expense of execution upon any
person who owes or is about to owe any rent or compensation for the
occupancy of any premises to which such order or judgment relates, and
in respect of which such expenses were incurred. The department may, at
any time after such service, demand in writing that such rent or
compensation to the extent of such claim shall, when such rent or
compensation becomes due and payable, be paid to the department and such
person shall thereupon become obligated to pay the same. A receipt shall
be given for each such payment stating on account of what order or
judgment and expenses it has been received. The amount so received shall
be deposited wherever other funds of the department are kept. If a
special fund has been created and maintained, as provided in section
three hundred four, such payments shall be deposited to the credit of
such fund.

c. Any person refusing or omitting to make such a payment after such
service and demand may be sued therefor by the department. Such person
shall not in such suit dispute the authority of the department to incur
or order such expenses or the validity or correctness of such expenses
or judgment in any particular, or the right of the department to have
the same paid from such rent or compensation. The receipt of the
department for any sum so paid shall, in all suits and proceedings and
for every purpose, be as effectual in favor of any person holding the
same as actual payment of the amount thereof to the owner or other
person on persons who would, but for the provisions of this section and
of such demand, have been entitled to receive the sum so paid. No tenant
or occupant of any premises shall be dispossessed or disturbed, nor
shall any lease or contract or rights be forfeited or impaired, nor any
forfeiture or liability be incurred, by reason of any omission to pay to
any owner, contractor or other person any sum so paid to the department.

8. The department shall retain any money so paid until twelve days
after it has received evidence by satisfactory affidavit that the party
or parties, or his or their agent, who but for the provisions hereof
would have been entitled to receive the same, has had written notice of
such payment being made, which notice shall be served in the manner
provided by this chapter for the service of an order. If at the end of
such twelve days the party or parties so notified have not instituted
suit to recover such money the department shall pay it to the fiscal
officer of the city. If a special fund has been created and maintained
as provided in section three hundred four, the fiscal officer shall
deposit such money to the credit of such fund.

9. The expenses incurred by the receiver in removing or remedying a
condition pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be met from a
fund to be known as the multiple dwelling section three hundred nine
operating fund. Such fund shall consist of such amounts as may be
appropriated by the board of estimate or other analogous appropriating
body of the city. Such fund shall be maintained in a separate account by
the department of real estate and expenditures therefrom may be made by
the receiver to meet the costs of removing or remedying such conditions,
subject to audit by the comptroller or chief fiscal officer of the city.
The receiver shall repay the amounts so expended to such fund from the
proceeds of any amounts recovered pursuant to the provisions of this
section. In the event that the amount in such fund is insufficient for
such purposes and if no appropriation or an insufficient appropriation
has been made therefor, the expenses incurred by the receiver in
removing or remedying such conditions may be met from the proceeds of
the sale of bonds issued in accordance with the provisions of the local
finance law.

In the event that the amounts from time to time in such fund exceed
two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), such excess may be applied to
the payment of the principal and interest due upon any bonds issued
pursuant to this subdivision, or, if no such bonds are outstanding, any
such excess may be transferred to the general fund of the city.

10. Reference in this section to a bureau or department of real estate
or to a commissioner or chief executive of a bureau or department of
real estate of a municipality, when used in connection with or affecting
either a receiver or a multiple dwelling in the city of New York, shall
be construed to mean the department or commissioner of housing
preservation and development or the department or commissioner of
buildings, or both such departments or commissioners, as the case may
be, of the city of New York.

11. a. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, where a repair has
been made by the department pursuant to this section, or any other law,
to abate a hazardous condition or correct any violation of this chapter,
or any other state or local law, which arises from the existence of lead
based paint, the department may, in whole or in part, waive its right to
a lien on the affected premises and repayment of such expenses and
disbursements as were necessary to abate such hazardous conditions or
correct such violation of law. The department shall promulgate rules
setting forth the standards for such waivers.

b. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, where there is a
hazardous condition or violation of this chapter or other state or local
law which arises from the existence of lead based paint, the department
may make grants or loans to owners for the expenses, in whole or in
part, of abating such hazardous condition or correcting such violation
of law. The department shall promulgate rules setting forth the
standards for such grants or loans.