Tenants demanding repairs in the city\u2019s most dangerous apartment buildings will be put on a fast track in housing court, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and court officials said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The speedier court process will apply to so-called HP, or \u201chousing part,\u201d cases filed against the owners of buildings with vacate orders, elevator outages or other major problems, like heat and hot water failures. Tenants and the city\u2019s Department of Housing Preservation and Development file such cases to force landlords to make necessary repairs when other city enforcement or tenant requests fail.<\/p>\n
The new directive will compel landlords to answer the complaints in court within five days after many cases are filed. It comes as heating failures and elevator outages continue to rise, and as tenants report a growing number of problems to the city\u2019s housing agency, annual statistics<\/a> show. Tenant advocates blame the increasing problems on negligent landlords and lengthy delays in enforcement, while owner groups counter that rules capping rent increases<\/a> in stabilized apartments leave many landlords with little money to address mounting repairs and maintenance.<\/p>\n Mamdani, who has focused on tenant protections since taking office, said the new court process will force landlords to speed up repairs and address problems that prevent tenants from returning to their apartments.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a building is dangerous, when an elevator is out or when a landlord has abandoned their responsibility to provide a safe home, tenants should not have to wait months or years for relief,\u201d he said in a written statement.<\/p>\n The new process is detailed in a directive dated July 16 from New York City Civil Court Administrative Judge Shahabuddeen Ally, who called the cases triggering the truncated court schedule \u201cbuilding-wide emergency HP\u201d actions.<\/p>\n Under Ally\u2019s order, the cases will be referred to the supervising judge in each county courthouse, and the landlord will be due in court within five days, as opposed to \u201cweeks after commencement.\u201d<\/p>\n New York City Housing Court Supervising Judge Jack Stoller said the shortened process ensures \u201cthat tenants facing the most severe and dangerous housing conditions receive timely access to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBy prioritizing these matters for expedited resolution, the court reaffirms its dedication to ensuring safe housing for the most vulnerable New Yorkers while also ensuring that landlords have a right to present their arguments as well,\u201d Stoller added<\/p>\n Repairs cases in housing court can take years to resolve, despite dangerous conditions or vacate orders that force tenants<\/a> to leave their apartments and find other accommodations. A 2021 report<\/a> by the New York City Bar Association Housing Court Committee recommended courts expedite the cases and assign multiple judges to handle them to compel fixes more quickly.<\/p>\n Elevator outage complaints have surged to about 22,000 last year compared to around 17,000 in 2021, according to a Gothamist analysis<\/a>. But the complaints are concentrated in a smaller number of buildings, revealing how chronic problems often go unresolved for months or years.<\/p>\n The number of complaints reported to the city\u2019s housing agency also surged to 835,000 last fiscal year from 707,000 in the 2023 fiscal year, the latest mayor\u2019s management report<\/a> shows.<\/p>\n The new directive specifically applies to buildings with a vacate orders that block tenants from returning to at least a third of the apartments, as well as any properties with elevator outages, \u201cimmediately hazardous,” or Class C violations affecting a third of the apartments. It will also apply to instances where tenants or the city\u2019s housing agency requests a third-party manager to run buildings on behalf of a negligent landlord \u2013 an arrangement known as an Article 7A proceeding.<\/p>\n Housing Courts were first formed in New York City in 1972 to give tenants a forum to demand repairs, but such actions now make up a fraction of the tens of thousands of cases file each year.<\/p>\n Most housing court cases are filed by landlords seeking unpaid rent or attempting to evict residents. New York City landlords filed more than 116,000 eviction cases over the past year, according to an review of court records<\/a> by the policy group Eviction Lab. Roughly 8,000 households were evicted in the five boroughs over the first six months of the year, a Gothamist analysis<\/a> found.<\/p>\n