Policy Pro: Mamdani tees up housing law wishlist
City task force will begin exploring proposals in the fall
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Mayor Zohran Mamdani has a sweeping legislative wishlist that would expand the city’s power to crack down on common housing violations, tighten enforcement on landlords and empower tenants to take action against building owners.
The agenda comes out of a “Rental Ripoff” report the administration released Thursday after surveying roughly 2,400 New Yorkers about their experiences as renters. The report lays out 23 actions the city hopes to pursue over the next three years to improve the city’s housing conditions and increase pressure on noncompliant landlords.
But nearly half of those proposals — at least 11 — will require City Council bills, setting the stage for a high-stakes legislative process over the future of housing enforcement. Landlords, tenant advocates and other industry players are all likely to try to put their thumb on the scale.
To kick off that effort, the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants plans to launch a Legislative Task Force this fall, bringing together city agencies, Council members, tenant advocates, building owners, multifamily lenders and other stakeholders to shape the new laws.
One member is already locked in: Bronx Council member Pierina Sanchez, who chairs the Council’s housing and buildings committee. Sanchez confirmed to The Real Deal that she will serve on the task force and has begun what she described as “productive conversations” about potential legislation with City Hall.
Though she’s still reviewing the report, Sanchez said several early priorities are clear. Among them are modernizing the city’s property registration system “so owners have an easier time” and housing officials and tenants can quickly identify and reach building owners; strengthening enforcement programs for chronically distressed properties; and giving the city “stronger tools” to go after repeat offenders, she said. That includes acting on her bill to overhaul the city’s long-dormant Third Party Transfer program, which the Mayor has thrown his weight behind.
Sanchez said she intends to work with task force members to determine which proposals move first and how quickly they can advance them. Council Speaker Julie Menin’s office did not respond to questions about which other members might get a seat at the table. City Hall said it will announce more details about the all-important group closer to its launch this fall. It’s not clear if the body is invite-only or would welcome those who want to participate.
Here’s what tops the mayor’s wishlist for new city housing laws.
Beef up enforcement of housing code violations
- Update how the city enforces pest issues. The current Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) timeline to clear a violation is 21 days, but that’s short of the multi-month effort often needed to get rid of pests, making it hard for building owners to comply with the law. In the Rental Ripoff report, the city recognizes that this mismatch disincentivizes owners from taking action to fix the issue long-term and says it aims to better align city law with the on-the-ground realities of operators.
- Add fees or fines to HPD’s Underlying Conditions Program, which orders owners to fix mold and water leaks, and update the city’s Housing Maintenance Code to “strengthen enforcement” in cases where mold reoccurs.
Modernize bureaucracy and boost landlord penalities
- Update the city’s property registration system, which has not been significantly changed since 1953. Owners of buildings with three or more residential units subject to the city’s Housing Maintenance Code currently submit an annual registration form through a paper process and pay a $13 fee. They’re not required to provide electronic contact information, such as an email. The Mamdani administration wants to modernize the process by having owners submit property registrations electronically and updating contact information requirements. City officials also want to up the registration fee.
- Create an automatic fee or fine for any inspection conducted under HPD’s Certification Watchlist, which targets building owners who repeatedly misrepresent that a violation has been corrected.
- Develop an annual, recurring penalty against building owners who do not correct immediately hazardous violations.
- Expand the Department of Buildings lien authority to include all violations where the outstanding penalties total $25,000 or more.
- Enhance HPD’s Alternative Enforcement Program for chronically distressed buildings with legislative changes that “more efficiently target those buildings.” That includes increasing penalties, adding a multi-year annual fee structure, a “Repeat Building Assessment" fee and allowing building owners who take on an HPD preservation loan to address poor conditions to be automatically discharged from the program.
Empower tenants
- Craft tenant union regulations. The city will pursue rulemaking that defines a tenant organization and “its role in stewarding rental housing.”
- Enable tenant unions to conduct “enforcement days” with city officials. During such events, a team of city workers would target buildings in deteriorating condition with roof-to-cellar inspections where tenant organizers have identified buildings that are not already on the city’s code enforcement radar.
- Expand the list of violations tenants can use as a court defense from eviction if withholding rent. State law allows tenants to use certain health and safety violations — rent-impairing violations (RIVs) — as a housing court defense while withholding arrears. City rules currently list 75 violations that can be used as RIVs. The city, however, has not updated the list since 1992, and the Mamdani administration wants to expand it. City Hall said it will hold a hearing for tenants and landlords to weigh in on possible changes.
Increase consumer protections
- Propose legislation that “reconsiders” the use of credit checks as part of the rental application process. Potential changes may include that landlords only require either a credit check (paid for by the landlord or their broker) or a salary disclosure meeting the 40x rent requirement, but not both.
- Advance legislation that creates a standardized disclosure requirement in a lease for the utility fees tenants are expected to pay. The change would impact the entire rental market, particularly market-rate renters, according to City Hall.
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