Rental Property Investor · Rochester, NY · Member since 2018 · 69 posts · 33 votes
On the 14th of June 2019 New York state passed a lot of new laws for Landlords to follow. I work in residential and this is what I have learned so far from all these changes.
1. Eviction Process: There is now a 14 day notice (used to be a 3-day notice)
2. Late Fees: The late fee is now capped to $50 or %5 of the rent, whichever is lower.
3. Receipts: You have to give a receipt to all tenants when they pay no matter the way they pay. If they didn't pay in person you have 15 days to get it to them.
4. Security Deposits: No more double security deposits.. It cannot exceed 1 month of rent.
Does this mean you need to sell all your properties in New York? I think it is to early to tell what this will mean for investors in the long term.
There is much more to this law and this is just what I have gathered so far. Let me know what you have found.
Architect · Providence, RI · Member since 2018 · 137 posts · 55 votes
6y
Quick question. I'm about to apply for eviction on Friday for last months rent. Looks like they will be late again for this months rent. If the tenant pays for one of the months before friday, can I accept rent or will it disrupt the whole process?
Real Estate Agent · Ithaca, NY · Member since 2016 · 427 posts · 323 votes
7y
Some of my clients have had a very hard time with the ways a tenant can hold things up. Essentially they can keep the eviction going for months for things like not having received a paycheck yet, paying the $50 fee, missing court dates, etc. The actual laws seem reasonable, but then the landlord has no recourse whatsoever. Have you heard anything more about that part of it?
Rental Property Investor · Rochester, NY · Member since 2018 · 69 posts · 33 votes
7y
I haven't personal read the whole law (its like 80 pages) and a lot of it is still up in the air however, most of what you said does seem like what it is going to be happening. We will have to see what the courts end up doing. But the way it's looking like is that evicting someone is going to be very difficult. You may have to get more creative if you want to get people out.
One other thing I just remember is that you cannot deny someone to rent because they have had an eviction on their record.
Am I understanding this right? It looks like I can’t deny applicants if they were involved in a legal dispute with a previous landlord, even if they were evicted. That’s crazy. This is the section I’m still reeling over from § 227-f:
“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.”
This almost makes it sound like trying to screen applicants will hurt landlords, since there’s an implied violation for any landlord who does a background check and then refuses to rent to an applicant. The fine per violation is between $500 and $1000.
How are other New York landlords handling this? Are you still choosing to screen knowing that denying an applicant could get you fined?
Rental Property Investor · Rochester, NY · Member since 2018 · 69 posts · 33 votes
7y
It definitely adds another layer of difficulty to the screening process. However, you can still deny people based on credit score. There is a correlation between poor credit and people that have been evicted (unfortunately those with poor credit that could be a good tenant are getting hurt). We have just made our other requirements stricter to try and counter the new law.
Also, if you are getting any info that says if they have been evicted I personally would stop. If you deny them for another reason that could be hard proving that in court since you knew they had been evicted.
As always talk with a lawyer. Since the law is so new we don't know what the judges will hold up and what they will throw out. Hopefully it gets updated because so far the people I have seen this hit the hardest is the tenants that are trying to get back on their feet.
Architect · Providence, RI · Member since 2018 · 137 posts · 55 votes
6y
Quick question. I'm about to apply for eviction on Friday for last months rent. Looks like they will be late again for this months rent. If the tenant pays for one of the months before friday, can I accept rent or will it disrupt the whole process?