The pandemic has ended, but with freedom of movement came an end to New York state’s eviction moratorium and an increase in evictions. The Associated Press reported last June that New York and other places across the country have seen eviction rates rise far above pre-pandemic levels.
For current tenants, tenants who are being evicted, people looking to rent and landlords, understanding tenants’ rights is essential. Deputy Mayor Alexandria Wojcik coordinated with The Legal Services of the Hudson Valley (LSHV) to hold a presentation last Tuesday in the Student Union Building which covered the rights tenants are entitled to in the process of looking for a rental, signing a lease, and during eviction proceedings.
Patty Perez, attorney from LSHV, spoke to attendees about tenants’s rights as outlined in New York Real Property Law. Tenants hold a number of protections while searching for an apartment. Landlords cannot discriminate against a tenant and deny them an apartment on the basis of them belonging to a protected class: race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability or familial status. Landlords also cannot discriminate because of a tenant’s lawful source of income, even if they receive income from government assistance. Tenant blacklisting has been illegal since 2019; landlords cannot use the appearance of a tenant’s name on a blacklist to justify denying them an apartment. There is a $20 limit on the fee a landlord can charge for a credit check, which can be waived if the tenant furnishes their own credit report. Landlords are prohibited from representing a unit as unavailable to a tenant when it actually is. The landlord may ask for a security deposit before the tenant moves in, but when the tenant leaves, the landlord has 14 days to make deductions to the deposit for repairs to the unit. According to the attorneys, the attorney general takes complaints about security deposit disputes.
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