Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Nothing Happening Here Tonight...

NEWSFLASH

Another Kenmorean tries to escape before

Halloween... lotsa luck with that!

Monday, October 27, 2014

It's not JUST about the money - it's your REPUTATION, too!

I'm posting this article from the New York Times because it directly addresses some of my concerns about H.S.I.'s - and the CCoC's - gathering of PPI (Personal Protected Information) about their tenants (who they refer to as homeless, even though they have leases and pay rent - or have rent paid for them through various subsidies including Section 8). They use a protocol and software referred to as HMIS, and report data to HUD and other government agencies in order to receive additional funding to pay for the supportive housing programs in S.R.O.s.  Who knows where else it goes on the way to the government agencies - or where it goes afterwards? H.S.I.'s Privacy Policy is only available and posted on their website; I've posted the document on this blog because I have informally asked tenants at Kenmore Hall if they've ever seen it or been made aware of it when they're talking to social workers on the second floor, and so far, I haven't met anyone who's seen or heard of it. I'm tired of hearing other tenants blindly repeating the phrase "It's all about the money" like sheep; of COURSE it's all about the money - H.S.I. wants to collect as much government funding as possible to provide social services to tenants as possible, or they wouldn't be able to cover their salaries or the cost of programming for tenants (rent collected from tenants goes primarily toward covering maintenance and costs associated with keeping the "physical plant" aspects of the building covered). BUT - it's also about MUCH MORE - it's about your PRIVACY and REPUTATION, TOO. If you're poor, your reputation is harder to protect - and it matters much more. If you don't care, keep talking to social workers and staff. According to their Privacy Policy, H.S.I. apparently feels no particular obligation to let you see your records - especially if they think you're gathering information while planning a lawsuit.

The data collected by H.S.I.'s social workers whenever tenants talk to them may promote a false profile of each and every tenant living in their buildings; the profile includes being chronically homeless (remember, they call their tenants who are NO LONGER HOMELESS, HOMELESS even though there's a logical contradiction in terms once someone signs a lease and starts paying rent - or having it paid for them by participating in an appropriate program) or MICA (Mentally Ill, Chemically Abusing). Not all of us are chronically homeless, and many of us are NOT mentally ill, drunk or high. Who knows how long the profile will be attached to tenants, or who/what agencies it's actually being shared with, or how long the profile will be kept on file with other agencies? Who knows how much of the information identifies specific people?

I'm bringing this up on the blog because many of the very people who complain about having the social workers aggressively pursue them to participate in H.S.I.'s program don't seem to get the full implications of what's going on. It's annoying to have to connect the dots for people who don't seem naive or gullible, but who keep asking the same questions over and over. I'd like to give people credit for having the intelligence I assume they have based on their age and potential wisdom gained through life experience - but I've been repeatedly providing the same information in print and here in the virtual "blog-o-sphere", which is this: Tenants in S.R.O.s who have rent stabilized leases, like we do at Kenmore Hall, have plenty of rights. There are responsibilities that go along with those rights, too; on a practical level, you have to comply with what's in your lease, and make sure your rent is paid. You're NOT, however, obliged to cooperate with anything that's NOT in your lease, including the social services provided by a supportive housing program. This isn't a jail, shelter, or nursing home. READ YOUR LEASE: not just the most current one, but the ORIGINAL one. And think carefully about how you want social workers, who have an agenda that may not match your own, to represent you to other organizations. The potential damage to your reputation could be significant and long-lasting.

By the way, many of us may already be on the Tenant Blacklist referred to in an earlier post to this blog (scroll down). Anyone that's been through housing court has a good chance of landing on that list - and it's just one particularly juicy example of how personal data gets sold and works to the DIS-advantage of the people included in the list.

The Dark Market for Personal Data

By FRANK PASQUALE OCT. 16, 2014

Inside

Photo

Credit Sam Potts

Continue reading the main story

BALTIMORE MD- THE reputation business is exploding. Having eroded privacy for decades, shady, poorly regulated data miners, brokers and resellers have now taken creepy classification to a whole new level. They have created lists of victims of sexual assault, and lists of people with sexually transmitted diseases. Lists of people who have Alzheimer's, dementia and AIDS. Lists of the impotent and the depressed.

There are lists of 'impulse buyers.' Lists of suckers: gullible consumers who have shown that they are susceptible to 'vulnerability-based marketing.' And lists of those deemed commercially undesirable because they live in or near trailer parks or nursing homes. Not to mention lists of people who have been accused of wrongdoing, even if they were not charged or convicted.

Typically sold at a few cents per name, the lists don't have to be particularly reliable to attract eager buyers '” mostly marketers, but also, increasingly, financial institutions vetting customers to guard against fraud, and employers screening potential hires.

There are three problems with these lists. First, they are often inaccurate. For example, as The Washington Postreported, an Arkansas woman found her credit history and job prospects wrecked after she was mistakenly listed as a methamphetamine dealer. It took her years to clear her name and find a job.

Second, even when the information is accurate, many of the lists have no business being in the hands of retailers, bosses or banks. Having a medical condition, or having been a victim of a crime, is simply not relevant to most employment or credit decisions.

Third, people aren't told they are on these lists, so they have no opportunity to correct bad information. The Arkansas woman found out about the inaccurate report only when she was denied a job. She was one of the rare ones.

'Data-driven' hiring practices are under increasing scrutiny, because the data may be a proxy for race, class or disability. For example, in 2011, CVS settled a charge of disability discrimination after a job applicant challenged a personality test that probed mental health issues. But if an employer were to secretly use lists based on inferences about mental health, it would be nearly impossible for an affected applicant to find out what was going on. Secrecy is discrimination's best friend: Unknown unfairness can never be detected, let alone corrected.
These problems can't be solved with existing law. The Federal Trade Commission has strained to understand personal data markets '” a $156-billion-a-year industry '” and it can't find out where the data brokers get their information, and whom they sell it to. Hiding behind a veil of trade secrecy, most refuse to divulge this vital information.
The market in personal information offers little incentive for accuracy; it matters little to list-buyers whether every entry is accurate '” they need only a certain threshold percentage of 'hits' to improve their targeting. But to individuals wrongly included on derogatory lists, the harm to their reputation is great.

Continue reading the main story

The World Privacy Forum, a research and advocacy organization, estimates that there are about 4,000 data brokers. They range from giants like Acxiom, a publicly traded company that helps marketers target consumer segments, to boutiques like Paramount Lists, which has compiled lists of addicts and debtors. Companies like these vacuum up data from just about any source imaginable: consumer health websites, payday lenders, online surveys, warranty registrations, Internet sweepstakes, loyalty-card data from retailers, charities' donor lists, magazine subscription lists, and information from public records.
It's unrealistic to expect individuals to inquire, broker by broker, about their files. Instead, we need to require brokers to make targeted disclosures to consumers. Uncovering problems in Big Data (or decision models based on that data) should not be a burden we expect individuals to solve on their own.

Privacy protections in other areas of the law can and should be extended to cover consumer data. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or Hipaa, obliges doctors and hospitals to give patients access to their records. The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives loan and job applicants, among others, a right to access, correct and annotate files maintained by credit reporting agencies.
It is time to modernize these laws by applying them to all companies that peddle sensitive personal information. If the laws cover only a narrow range of entities, they may as well be dead letters. For example, protections in Hipaa don't govern the 'health profiles' that are compiled and traded by data brokers, which can learn a great deal about our health even without access to medical records.

Congress should require data brokers to register with the Federal Trade Commission, and allow individuals to request immediate notification once they have been placed on lists that contain sensitive data. Reputable data brokers will want to respond to good-faith complaints, to make their lists more accurate. Plaintiffs' lawyers could use defamation law to hold recalcitrant firms accountable.

We need regulation to help consumers recognize the perils of the new information landscape without being overwhelmed with data. The right to be notified about the use of one's data and the right to challenge and correct errors is fundamental. Without these protections, we'll continue to be judged by a big-data Star Chamber of unaccountable decision makers using questionable sources.

Frank Pasquale, a professor of law at the University of Maryland, is the author of the forthcoming book “The Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms That Control Money and Information.”

A version of this op-ed appears in print on October 17, 2014, on page A31 of the New York edition with the headline: The Dark Market for Personal Data. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe

Sunday, October 26, 2014

time to set your clocks back - NEXT WEEK

Daylight Saving Time (United States) 2014 began at 2:00 AM on
Sunday, March 9
and ends at 2:00 AM on
Sunday, November 2

Friday, October 24, 2014

It's incredibly important for tenants in this building to read and understand the Tenants' Bill of Rights because of all the questions they've recently had about exactly this issue. I can't stress enough how important it is for tenants here to pay attention to this; there's been a lot of confusion about what rights S.R.O. tenants have because H.S.I. management and staff have been insisting for the past year this is a supportive housing building, as though that cancels out the rights rent stabilized tenants are entitled to (and yes, we all have rent stabilized leases, and I've checked with local council members who helped draft this bill, and they tell me that the Bill of Rights applies just as much to S.R.O.s as any other building with rent-stabilized units).

There is a Tenant ProtectionAssistance Unit that gives tenants another option in getting legal issues with their landlords resolved and possibly bypass the court system. The Blacklist for landlords is a step in the right direction and may represent more progress for tenants. However, there's an equivalent listing of tenants who have had to go through court, and the scary thing is that people who may have had a totally legitimate reason for going to court may become stigmatized as deadbeats or troublemakers whether the outcome of their case was in their favor or not. Also, if you're planning to move out of the building, beware of discrimination based on having a rent subsidy lik Section 8; it's illegal, but part of the issue is having to PROVE you've been discriminated against.

Settlement in Investigation of Brooklyn Landlord Over Rent-Regulated Units - NYTimes.com.htm

By MIREYA NAVARROOCT. 7, 2014

Officials at New York Stateâ€™s Tenant Protection Unit said they have reached a settlement with a Brooklyn landlord accused of harassing longtime residents to clear the way for higher-paying tenants.

The accusations against the landlord, Yeshaya Wasserman, involved alleged practices in eight rent-regulated properties with 181 apartments in Flatbush and Crown Heights. The state investigation targeted practices that tenant advocates say have become more commonplace in fast-changing neighborhoods where the market now can demand rents many times higher than those paid by long-term residents.

Some of Mr. Wassermanâ€™s tenants have lived in their apartments for more than 20 years and pay less than $1,000 for three-bedroom units, said representatives of the Flatbush Tenant Coalition, which aided the state investigation. Some tenants complained that the landlord did not cash their rent checks, a tactic that officials said relies on the expectation that tenants will not have the money to pay the back rent when it is finally demanded of them. Other tenants said the landlord cut off heat and hot water or took them to housing court on frivolous charges.

The settlement requires the landlord to devise policies to protect tenants from illegal actions and to pay to have an independent monitor oversee business practices at his buildings, both current and future properties, for up to three years. The monitor will also audit rents set after vacancies, to make sure apartments are not illegally deregulated, and will administer a $60,000 compensation fund to be set up by the landlord to pay claims to any mistreated tenants.

Mr. Wassermanâ€™s lawyer, Steven Sidrane, declined to answer questions but said in a written statement, â€œWhile our client engaged in appropriate management procedures and denies any wrongdoing, it has agreed with T.P.U. to undertake recommended best practices in its policies and procedures in dealings with its tenants.â€

The landlord is also facing a federal lawsuit in which black tenants at one complex, Homewood Gardens Estates in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, say the efforts to evict them stem from racial discrimination.

Edward Josephson, the director of litigation at Legal Services NYC, which represents tenants in the lawsuit and in Mr. Wassermanâ€™s buildings, praised the Tenant Protection Unit for seeking settlements and stopping bad conduct and displacements faster than litigation would. The settlement came a year after enforcement officials served Mr. Wasserman with subpoenas.

Mr. Josephson said the $60,000 compensation is â€œa very modest amountâ€ but that the monitor is what gives the most value to the agreement.

â€œIt establishes a framework to closely look at everything the landlord does,â€ he said. â€œThereâ€™s at least a good chance that landlords will act differently if they know theyâ€™re watched closely.â€

Formed in 2012, the state unit investigates patterns of illegal behavior by landlords and conducts audits to deter the illegal deregulation of rent-stabilized apartments. The Wasserman settlement is similar to a major agreement announced this year in which the owner of about 1,700 apartments in Harlem, Washington Heights and the South Bronx agreed to an independent monitor after being accused of pressuring Spanish-speaking tenants with low buyout offers and other tactics to waive their tenancy rights.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a written statement that â€œthis administration will not tolerate landlords who seek to harass and bully tenants out of their homes.â€

Despite New Law, Subsidized Tenants Find Doors Closed - NYTimes.com.htm

Despite New Law, Subsidized Tenants Find Doors Closed

Annie Tritt for The New York Times

Dilcia Escano, with two of her children, Mageline, 13, left, and Juan Felipe, 4, says her voucher was refused.

By MANNY FERNANDEZ

Published: September 19, 2008Reprints

In March, New York City enacted a law making it illegal for landlords to discriminate against tenants who planned to use federal subsidies known as Section 8 vouchers to help pay their rent.

Bias Is Seen as Landlords Bar Vouchers (October 30, 2007)

But Section 8 discrimination remains a widespread problem, housing advocates, tenant lawyers and voucher holders say. Renters are routinely turned away by landlords who refuse to accept the vouchers, and apartment listings continue to discourage Section 8 tenants from seeking advertised units with phrases like “No Section 8” and “No programs,” supporters of the law said.
Dilcia Escano tells what housing advocates assert is a common story. Ms. Escano, 34, a single mother and pharmacy worker who lives in Washington Heights with her three children, said her landlord and the landlord’s representatives refused to take her voucher before the law passed and then refused to take it afterward.
“He said, ‘No, we don’t recognize that,’” Ms. Escano said her landlord told her. “I thought, all is lost.”
The nonprofit Fair Housing Justice Center released a report this month that found that on one day in July on the Web site www.craigslist.org, there were 1,543 apartment listings posted by landlords and real estate brokers that discriminated against renters who receive government subsidies.
“If this ad said ‘No blacks allowed’ or ‘No Catholics allowed,’ there would rightfully be a huge uproar,” said City Councilman Bill de Blasio, a Brooklyn Democrat who introduced the bill that became the law. “Effectively what they’re doing is illegal, and it has to stop.”
The law prohibits landlords from discriminating against tenants based on their use of Section 8 vouchers or any other form of local, state or federal government assistance. It amended the city’s Human Rights Law by adding a person’s “lawful source of income” to the list of protected classes.
The law applies to landlords with six or more units. Owners of five or fewer units are excluded, with two exceptions. The law applies to rent-controlled tenants in buildings with five or fewer units, and to buildings with five or fewer units that are owned by a landlord who also owns a building with six or more units.
The vouchers, financed by the federal government but administered by two city agencies, had for decades virtually guaranteed landlords in struggling neighborhoods a modest profit for housing low-income New Yorkers. But as those neighborhoods have gentrified, voucher holders are finding that property owners who might have taken their vouchers in the past are now turning them away, despite the new law.
Section 8 tenants, many of whom are poor, disabled or elderly black and Hispanic residents, pay about 30 percent of their income toward rent, and the vouchers cover the rest.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg criticized the bill for prohibiting private owners from making sound business decisions about their property while turning a voluntary government program into a mandatory one. The mayor vetoed the measure, but the City Council overrode the veto on March 26, and the law took effect immediately.
Since then, housing advocates have complained that the city has not done enough to enforce the law or to notify the public about its passage. Lawyers for landlords and tenants, meanwhile, are disputing whether the law applies to both prospective and current tenants.
A recent cursory review of Craigslist found dozens of listings for New York City apartments with phrases like “No Section 8.” Some of the listings make it a point to welcome renters with pets, but state bluntly, “No programs accepted in this building.”
Mr. de Blasio has written two letters to executives at Craigslist, advising them to discontinue the listings, and said he was considering protests or legal action against the Web site if the listings continue.
The law prohibits the circulation of housing advertisements that discriminate based on a person’s source of income.
A spokeswoman for Mr. de Blasio said that a lawyer for Craigslist contacted the Council’s General Welfare Committee, of which Mr. de Blasio is chairman, and said that the Web site was taking the matter seriously.
An e-mail message sent to Craigslist seeking comment did not receive a response.
One ad reading “No Section 8” for a two-bedroom apartment in a 32-unit building in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, boasted that the building “has more than 60 percent gentrified.” When asked about the law, a man listed as the “showing agent” said the landlord did not accept Section 8. “You’re asking questions I can’t answer,” he said before hanging up.
Others who placed ads barring Section 8 tenants said they were unaware of the law. “I didn’t know that,” said Veronica Dumitru, a real estate agent who posted a Craigslist ad for a Queens apartment reading, “No Section 8 or other programs please.” She said she was going to remove the language from her listings.
Diane L. Houk, executive director of the fair housing group, said the report, the advertisements and other data from their research were given to the authorities, including the state attorney general’s office. She said the report illustrated the frequency of the practice in just one month on one Web site.
“It’s not limited to any particular size apartment or to a borough or to a price range or to a kind of building or broker,” Ms. Houk said. “If you’re the tenant looking, it’s going to hit you at some point in your search.”
The city’s Commission on Human Rights opposed the bill when it was before the City Council, saying that it would add an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy to an already successful program. Now the commission is in charge of enforcing the new law for the city.
Since March, the commission has investigated or received 77 complaints of source of income discrimination, said Cliff Mulqueen, its deputy commissioner and general counsel. Of those complaints, 15 were resolved and the tenants’ vouchers were accepted after the commission contacted the property owners. The 62 other complaints became official cases. Some of those cases have since been settled, while 33 of them remain unresolved and active, he said.
The commission has the power to fine a landlord and award the tenant compensatory damages. No landlord has received a fine, he said. “We’re actively enforcing the law,” said Mr. Mulqueen, adding that the commission also monitors and looks into “No Section 8” advertisements on Craigslist. “I guess we could always do more. We’re doing what we can do.”
The Legal Aid Society has sued about 90 landlords from around the city in three separate lawsuits, alleging that they violated the law by refusing to take the vouchers of dozens of tenants. One of the tenants they are representing is Ms. Escano in Washington Heights.
Maxwell Breed, a lawyer for Ms. Escano’s landlord, Mon-Rose Realty Corporation, said: “Our policy is not to comment on pending litigation.”
Landlords who opposed the creation of the law said their refusal to accept the vouchers had nothing to do with race or class. They said that getting involved in the city’s Section 8 program by accepting vouchers was a bureaucratic nightmare of payment delays, apartment inspections and other problems.
Mitchell Posilkin, general counsel for the Rent Stabilization Association, a trade group that represents thousands of New York City landlords and property managers, said the group does not condone violations of the source of income law.
“On the other hand,” he said, “it seems pretty evident to us that a lot of people in the industry simply don’t know that this sort of practice is illegal. At least for the last decade it’s been entirely lawful to refuse to rent to tenants with vouchers.”

A version of this article appeared in print on September 20, 2008, on page B1 of the New York edition with the headline: Despite New Law, Subsidized Tenants Find Doors Closed.

A Tenant Blacklist, Culled From Tedium - NYTimes.com.htm

On the List, and Not in a Good Way

A Tenant Blacklist, Culled From Tedium

By JULIE SATOWOCT. 16, 2014

Room 225 at the New York State Courthouse in Lower Manhattan, where employees of tenant-screening companies compile information from publicly available case files for use by landlords. Credit Anthony Lanzilote for The New York Times

At New York City Housing Court, on the second floor of a dingy office building in Lower Manhattan, a woman sits quietly with a shawl pulled around her shoulders, looking up names on an old government computer and copying them into a sleek mini-laptop at her side. Behind her, tenants shift anxiously on their feet, clutching paperwork and waiting to speak with one of a handful of clerks sitting behind a glass partition.

The woman, who gives her name only as Carolyn out of fear of losing her job, sits at one of the three public-access computers in the room eight hours a day, five days a week. She is searching an online database for the names of tenants with cases before the court. The information she turns up will soon be compiled in a document and sold to landlords, who will use it as a kind of blacklist designed to prevent supposedly litigious or financially irresponsible tenants from renting apartments.

The state Office of Court Administration, which operates New Yorkâ€™s court system, charges a $20,000 initial fee and $350 per week thereafter for a daily data feed of housing court cases. The seemingly innocuous list of index numbers identifies every new housing court matter and updates existing ones. The feed used to include tenantsâ€™ names and addresses as well, but after years of complaints and negotiations, housing advocates and politicians thought they had won a victory when, in 2012, the Office of Court Administration began scrubbing that information.

But just as some Wall Street banks find ways to stay a step ahead of regulators, so, too, have companies that sell tenant names to landlords found a way around this hurdle. Under state law, housing court records are public, so the companies have taken to hiring people like Carolyn to spend hours plugging the index numbers on the court systemâ€™s data feed into the electronic case files to find the corresponding names and addresses. The resulting list can include anyone who was in court records, whether because they failed to pay rent, withheld it to force a landlord to make repairs, broke the terms of a lease, or as a result of a landlordâ€™s error.

Companies that compile the information for landlords â€œhave an extra step now, and it costs them a bit more, but the result is still the same,â€ said New York State Senator Liz Kruger, one of the elected officials who worked on the 2012 deal. â€œIt is frustrating. We thought we had stopped these tenant blacklists, but the companies have found a way around it, and now it looks like we are back where we started.â€

Andres E. Correa wound up on one of the lists. Mr. Correa had been living in an illegal sublet for several years when the landlord sued the tenant whose name was on the lease to evict him, and also sued Mr. Correa. After hiring a lawyer, Mr. Correa, who said he was unaware the sublet was illegal, struck a deal with the landlord: In the court case, Mr. Correa would be identified only as Andres Doe. When the case was settled, however, Mr. Correaâ€™s name was recorded in the court records and then picked up by a tenant-screening company.

â€œIt has been a nightmare,â€ said Mr. Correa, adding that he had been unable to sign a lease and had moved eight times in the past two years. Eventually, he hired James B. Fishman, a lawyer who has brought two class actions against screening firms, to help him clear his name.

Nearly all landlords, whether small-time or with thousands of units, perform background checks on prospective tenants. Numerous screening companies offer those who hire them various options to choose from, such as criminal records, watch lists for sexual offenders and eviction histories. Typically, the housing court information notes whether a tenant has been sued, the type of case, the amount of rent the landlord claimed and the outcome.

Federal credit-reporting laws allow screening companies to report information going back seven years, and landlords across the country are able to view it.

â€œIt is a balancing act between public information and the misuse of public information,â€ said David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the Office of Court Administration. â€œWe were responsive to advocacy groups who believed that the selling of names was leading to misuse,â€ he said, â€œand the reality is, this has made it a lot harder for people to misuse the information.â€

It certainly has made it more costly. For the past year and a half, Carolyn, 31, who is herself a tenant in Queens, has been paid by the hour to sift through a mountain of data for her employer. She declined to name the company, but there are only three firms currently paying the Office of Court Administration for its housing court-data feed: CoreLogic SafeRent, TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions and ALM, a legal media company. After compiling the lists of names, they can then sell the information to other screening companies or directly to landlords.

There are typically 300 to 400 housing court judgments filed each day in New York City. Carolyn said that it took her up to two weeks to update the information for a single borough, adding that she was running about six months behind.

Sitting day after day in such proximity to those whose names she is gathering takes its toll. â€œItâ€™s a job. The company sends me a list of case numbers and it is basically like data entry,â€ she said. Her employers are based in the South, and she rarely has direct contact with them; she has far more with the people she is profiling. â€œSometimes it is difficult. I know that not all tenants are bad tenants, and some people fall on bad times.â€

Some tenants know what she is doing. She said a woman once screamed at her, â€œtelling me that she knows what I do is just a job, but that people should know there is a tenant blacklist. And then people come in all the time and ask if their name is in the system, and if that means they are on the blacklist. I mean, câ€™mon. Yes!â€

Most tenants do not realize that housing court information can be used against them, said Judge Fern A. Fisher, who, as the deputy chief administrative judge for New York City Courts, oversees housing court. â€œI donâ€™t think most people are aware that companies have access to what happens in housing court. They should, but I think more people are concerned with keeping a roof over their heads.â€

Even winning a case may not keep someone off a bad-tenant list. If a tenant withholds rent to force a landlord to make repairs and the judge ultimately sides with the tenant, the only thing that shows up on a screening report is that there was a money judgment against the tenant for the remaining rent owed. Some tenants may even find themselves on a list mistakenly because their name is a common one.

None of the list brokers would comment on how the data they collect is used, but CoreLogicâ€™s website is clear about the rationale: â€œExperience shows that past lease performance is the single most important predictor of future resident behavior.â€

Screening companies typically have their own systems for flagging potentially troublesome tenants. And while some landlords simply follow along, others adopt a more thorough approach. â€œI donâ€™t necessarily disqualify a tenant when I see there has been a housing court case,â€ said Robert J. Klehammer, the vice president of multifamily rental management at FirstService Residential New York, which manages 8,000 rental apartments across the city. â€œBut I will ask the broker to go back and get an explanation.â€

Mr. Klehammer is perhaps more understanding than many, having spent over a decade working as an assistant commissioner at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. But, he said, screening reports are critical for weeding out problems. â€œThere are a lot of people out there who lie. And it is up to us, as a third-party manager, to make sure we donâ€™t rent to any bad tenants.â€

Money is also an issue. â€œMost of our fees are based on the rents we collect, so if a tenant is delinquent on their rent, I donâ€™t earn a fee. That puts a premium on me to get tenants who will pay the rent.â€

NYC's Worst Landlords Watchlist About the Watchlist NYC Public Advocate.htm

This webpage is an archived image of the Office of the Public Advocate's website as of December 31, 2013. These materials are made available as historical archival information only. The Office of the Public Advocate cautions that the information has not been reviewed subsequently for current accuracy and completeness, nor has the information been updated. The information contained on this page may have been superseded by subsequent events and the passage of time.

New York City has more apartments and tenants than any other American city. More than 2.14 million New Yorkers rent and over 64% of all apartments citywide are rentals. Unfortunately, New York City is also home to thousands of broken down buildings where tenants live in deplorable and unsafe conditions. Complaints of asthma-inducing mold, peeling lead paint, and broken plumbing come in to 311 by the thousands every month. For five years in a row, housing and landlord complaints have been the number one reason New Yorkers call 311.
In August 2010, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio launched NYCâ€™s Worst Landlords Watchlist to mount public pressure on landlords who let violations pile up year after year without consequence. Since it was launched in August 2010, the site has become one of the City's most used commonly used resources, helping tenants better organize to secure building repairs and enabling prospective renters to view a building's violation history of before signing a lease. The lastest rendition of the site, NYCâ€™s Worst Landlords Watchlist 3.0, includes more than 5,000 buildings.
Rankings and eligibility for NYCâ€™s Worst Landlords Watchlist is based on housing violation data from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). There are more than 150,000 buildings registered with HPD. From this total universe, over 5,400 qualified for the Watchlist -- representing 3.6% of the total private housing stock.

Eligibility

All buildings registered with HPD are analyzed to determine if they are elible for NYC's Worst Landlord Watchlist. The Public Advocate's office looks at the number of open violations that were issued after January 1, 2007. For a landlord to be listed on the Watchlist, they must own a building with fewer than 35 units with an average of at least three open, serious violations (B and C violations) per unit . Larger buildings must have an average of at least two open, serious violations (B and C violations) per unit. Buildings with one or two total units are not included in NYC's Worst Landlord Watchlist. Vacant buildings with no current tenants have also been excluded.
Housing code violations are classified by HPD into the following categories:

Class A: Non-hazardous violations, such as minor leaks or lack of signs designating floor numbers. An owner has 90 days to correct an A violation and two weeks to certify repair to remove the violation.

Class B: Hazardous violations, such as requiring public doors to be self-closing, adequate lighting in public areas, lack of posted Certificate of Occupancy, or removal of vermin. An owner has 30 days to correct a B violation and two weeks to certify the correction to remove the violation.

Class C: Immediately hazardous violations, such as inadequate fire exits, rodents, lead-based paint, lack of heat, hot water, electricity, or gas. An owner has 24 hours to correct a C violation and five days to certify the correction to remove the violation. If the owner fails to comply with emergency C violations such as lack of heat or hot water, HPD initiates corrective action through its Emergency Repair Program.

Class I: Violations for which there is an order from a judge to correct a violation. This category also applies if the building is in the Alternative Enforcement Program or an order to vacate exists.

Buildings in Rehabilitation

Properties that are certified as "buildings in rehabilitation" are exempted from inclusion on NYC's Worst Landlords Watchlist. The Public Advocate's office, in partnership with the City, has developed criteria, below, for buildings that have violations that would otherwise qualify them for Watchlist but are in the process of rehabilitation by responsible owners. In order to be exempt from inclusion on the Worst Landlords Watchlist, a property must either (1) be assigned to a court-appointed 7A Administrator or (2) meet all of the following criteria: (a) Owner purchased building within the past 18 months; (b) The building and/or owner has been noted publicly as working with City or State Agencies on rehabilitation; and (c) The City or State has verified that the building and/or owner have partnered with City or State Agencies on the rehabilitation of the premises.

Updating Property Information

Landlord information contained on NYC's Worst Landlords Watchlist is based on data contained in HPD Property Registration Forms. For more information about HPDâ€™s Property Registration Unit including details on how to update your propertyâ€™s registration, call (212) 863-7000 or click here. In cases where a propertyâ€™s HPD Registration appears out-of-date, the Office of the Public Advocate may also consult the New York City Department of Financeâ€™s Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS). In cases where ACRIS indicates a change in ownership that is more up-to-date than the propertyâ€™s HPD registration, data from ACRIS is used in place of data from HPD Property Registration Forms. To contact the Public Advocate's office, you can call 212-669-7250 or send an email to GetHelp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov.

Copyright Â© 2010-2013 | Office of the New York City Public Advocate
1 Centre Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10007 | (212) 669-7200
Website created in partnership with Albatross Digital

City to Publicly Shame Harassing Landlords - NYTimes.com.htm

City to Publicly Shame Harassing Landlords

By MIREYA NAVARRO SEPT. 30, 2014

New York City officials will publicly post the names of landlords found to have harassed tenants, hoping the public shaming will be a deterrent.

The mayor signed a bill on Tuesday that will require the cityâ€™s Department of Housing Preservation and Development to post on its website the names of landlords found in housing court to have harassed tenants.

A 2008 city law prohibits tactics, such as interrupting utilities, that are intended to force tenants to vacate an apartment or waive tenancy rights. Such efforts have been on the rise in gentrifying neighborhoods of the city where market-rate rents have soared and some landlords try to engineer vacancies to make room for higher-paying tenants.

Starting next year, landlords who run afoul of the anti-harassment law will face public exposure.

â€œThere are good landlords out there, but the ones who donâ€™t do the right thing need to feel consequences,â€ said Mayor Bill de Blasio, who as the cityâ€™s public advocate ran a Worst Landlords Watchlist to highlight landlords with numerous open building violations.

But tenant groups say many cases of withheld repairs, baseless eviction proceedings and other harassments go unreported because such cases are hard to prove and because tenants, if they lose, may be ordered to pay the landlordâ€™s legal fees. Councilwoman Margaret Chin, who co-sponsored the bill, said the publicity would work with landlords who may be willing to risk civil penalties, but not their reputations.

â€œA lot of them have investors, and the investors would have to ask, â€˜Is this a good guy?â€™Â â€ she said. â€œThis is to get it on the record who the bad actors are.â€

Housing officials said harassmentÂ complaints rose to 748 last year from 541 in 2012, but only a fraction of cases that reach housing court result in a finding of harassment. Of more than 3,600 cases filed since 2008, most have been dismissed, 810 led to settlements and 45 had a finding of harassment.

Mitchell Posilkin, general counsel for the Rent Stabilization Association, the trade group for the cityâ€™s landlords, said the figures showed how unnecessary the law was. He said it would do little more than taint and â€œvilifyâ€ property owners and â€œcurry favor with the tenant movement.â€

â€œIt creates an impression that harassment is somehow a systemic problem,â€ he said. â€œShould a tenant have their name published for failing to pay rent?â€

A spokesman for the housing agency said the public would be able to find offenders by the landlordâ€™s name and by building address. The department already lists building violations and litigation against landlords online, but this is the first time that cases of harassment will be added.

The information must be placed on the website within 30 days of a finding of harassment.

The new law also raises civil penalties for landlords who harass to a maximum of $10,000 per residential unit, from $5,000.

Just A Friendly Reminder....

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More useful resources for tenants and low-income people

ARE YOU HUNGRY? There's help - and here's how to get it:
The National Hunger Clearinghouse collects and distributes information about programs that address the immediate and long-term needs of struggling families and individuals. The National Hunger Hotline (1-866-3 HUNGRY or 1-866-348-6479), refers people in need of emergency food assistance to food pantries, government programs, and model grassroots organizations that work to improve access to healthy, nutritious food, and build self-reliance. If you have access to a computer with an internet connection, follow this link and use the resource online: www.whyhunger.org/findfood

Brooklyn’s Community Board 6 has an excellent database of agencies (some citywide, not just in Brooklyn) that provide assistance to city residents. www.brooklyncb6.org/directory/

http://ww5.nyccouncil.info/ The NY City Council has a listing of lodging resources…

The Fifth Avenue Committee in Brooklyn is an interesting local resource that combines a variety of social justice objectives including job resources & training, housing resources, and other programs. Their main website can be found at www.fifthave.org. They have also compiled an excellent listing of resources, which can be found at http://www.fifthave.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.ViewPage&pageId=572 .

A statement of what they do, and more resources, can be seen at: http://www.fifthave.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewPage&pageID=584&nodeID=1

NYC Resources: Housing & Development - http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/categories/housing-development.page

How Do I Get Access to My Clinical Records?

What is a clinical record?
This is any information related to mental health examinations or treatment you have received or are
currently receiving at a facility licensed or operated by the New York State Office of Mental Health. Under
Mental Hygiene Law §33.13, such a facility is under a duty to keep sufficient records of your treatment.
Under New York law, facilities are held to a high standard of confidentiality with respect to these records.
These are not public records, and will not be released without the consent of the patient, unless they are
in an excepted category.1
Do I have a right to access my clinical records?
Yes. Under Federal and New York law, a patient/client about whom clinical records are maintained by a
facility2 (e.g, psychiatric hospital, psychiatric ward, mental health clinic) has the right to access his/her
own clinical records.
However, a provider may deny access to all or part of your medical records and give you a prepared
summary of the record instead, if the provider believes that the information can reasonably be expected
to cause “substantial and identifiable harm” to you (the patient/client) or another person.
How do I obtain my clinical record?
To obtain copies or inspect your record in person, write a letter to the director of the facility that maintains
your records or the person who handles clinical record requests. Indicate what information you want.
You may have to include dates you were admitted to the facility, length of your stay and your social
security number.
How long will it take to receive my clinical records?
If you made a request to see the record in person, and there are no objections to your accessing the
record, your record must be provided to you within 10 days of the written request. If you have requested
copies, the facility can take between 10 and 14 days, or a “reasonable time,” to furnish you with copies.
If you want copies, a facility cannot charge you more than 75 cents per page, with the exception of x-rays
(which cost more), and the cost of mailing records. If you cannot afford the cost of copies, you are still
entitled to your clinical records.
1 This includes an order of a court; attorneys representing patients or clients in proceedings in which the patients’ or clients’
involuntary hospitalization is at issue; the New York State Commission on Quality of Care for the mentally disabled; the medical
review board of the State Commission of Correction; the State Board of Professional Medical Conduct; State Division of Criminal
Justice Services; a correctional facility with respect to named inmates; Director of Community Service (as defined in the Mental
Hygiene law); an endangered individual and a law enforcement agency when a treating psychiatrist or psychologist has determined
that a patient or client presents a serious and imminent danger to that individual. Records may also be disclosed with the consent of
the patient or client to a person or entity provided that the person or entity has a demonstrable need for the information contained in
the records.
2 This applies to facilities as defined by Mental Hygiene Law §33.16, licensed by the State Office of Mental Health.
2
What should I do if I am denied access to my records?
If you are denied access to your records, you may appeal the denial at no cost to a Clinical Records
Access Review Committee appointed by the Office of Mental Health. You should first notify the facility
that you would like a review of the denial. If your request is still denied, the facility must forward your
clinical records and the reason for its denial to the Clinical Records Access Review Committee within ten
days. Then you should send your appeal letter to:
Clinical Records Access Review Committee
Office of Mental Health
44 Holland Avenue
Albany, NY 12229
Your letter should explain your request, and should include dates of your requests for documents, the
business address of the records officer, your name and return address. Your request will be reviewed and
you will be given written notification of whether you will be given access or not.
If the Clinical Records Access Review Committee denies your request, you have a right to begin a special
proceeding in New York Supreme Court, which will determine whether a reasonable basis exists for the
facility to deny access.
What can I do if I believe my clinical record is inaccurate?
If you believe there is a mistake in your record regarding factual information, you may write a short
statement disagreeing with parts of your record and this becomes a permanent part of your medical
record.
© Copyright MFY Legal Services, Inc. 2006. All rights reserved.

What To Do If HSI Takes Your Property

One of our neighbors is having trouble getting H.S.I. staff at the Kenmore to return property they removed from her room while she was away for several weeks. I can't go into more details about her situation here, but the following information comes from Pine Tree Legal Assistance, and it looks pretty good to me: Home » Topics » Housing » Renting/Tenants' Rights » Personal Property Held by Landlord How to Get Your Property Back from Your Landlord Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version 1. Can Get Back My Personal Property From My Former Landlord Or Someone Else? 2. Do I Have To Have a Lawyer To Get A Court Order? 3. What Do I Need to Do? 4. Which Procedure Should I Use? 5. How Do I Bring A Complaint For Summary Proceeding To Recover Personal Property? 6. How Do I File A Complaint? 7. Will I Be Asked To Pay All Of The Court Costs? 8. How Do I Fill out the Complaint? 9. What is Exhibit A? 10. What Is A Summons? 11. What Do I Do With My Completed Forms? 12. How Do I Notify The Other Person About The Court Hearing? 13. Do I Have To Pay For This Service? 14. Do I Still Have To Pay If The Court Has Waived My Court Fees? 15. How Do I File The Forms? 16. What Should I Expect On The Day Of The Hearing? 17. What Happens If The Defendant Does Not Show Up At The Hearing? 18. What Should I Expect If The Defendant Does Show Up? 19. What Happens After The Hearing? 20. What Should I Do If I Disagree With The Judge's Decision? Is There Any Way I Can Get Back My Personal Property If It Is Being Held By My Landlord Or Someone Else? Yes. If someone has taken your personal property without your permission, you can get a court order that allows you to get the property back. Do I Have to Have A Lawyer To Get A Court Order? No. You may represent yourself. What Do I Need To Do? There are several ways to get a court order. We will explain the easiest two ways. First, you can sue in Small Claims Court if the total value of your property is $6,000 or less. In Small Claims Court, the judge can order that you be paid money for the value of the property that was illegally held, or he can order that the property itself be returned. The District Court Clerk for the District that serves your town will give you information on how to file in Small Claims Court – or go to the Court's web site.(link is external) If you decide to sue in Small Claims Court, this material does not apply to you. You should use the Court's Small Claims instructions(link is external) provided by the court. The second way to get your property back is to file in the District Court a "Complaint for Summary Proceeding to Recover Personal Property.” A hearing can be held as soon as seven days after the complaint has been served on the person who is holding your property. If you win, the judge will order that your property be returned. Which Procedure Should I Use? It depends on your situation. A Summary Proceeding is usually faster than going to Small Claims Court. However, in a Summary Proceeding, your remedy may be limited to the return of your property. So, for example, if you believe that your property has been damaged so that you no longer want it returned and you can show its prior value, you might wish to go to Small Claims Court. If you know that your landlord still has your property, then a Summary Proceeding will be quicker. Important Note: If you are thinking about bringing either type of complaint against your former landlord, read the section on "Abandoned Property" in our Rights of Tenants in Maine Handbook first. If your landlord is claiming that you owe him money, his claims against you make your case more complicated. He may have the right to withhold some of your property until your debt is settled. How Do I Bring A Complaint For Summary Proceeding To Recover Personal Property? You must file a Complaint with the District Court where: · You live, · Where your landlord lives, · Where you had your personal property when you were renting, or · Where your personal property is now. If you don't know which court to file in, call any District Court Clerk. Ask for the name and address of the District Court that serves on of the above locations. How Do I File A Complaint? Here is a summary of the steps: · The first thing you need to do is fill out a Complaint for Recovery of Personal Property Form(Complaint). · Next you need to get and fill out a Personal Property Recovery Summons (Summons). You must purchase this from from the District Court office; the fee is $5. When you go in to pick up the form, you can also ask the court clerk to provide you with a hearing date. · Next you need to have copies of the complaint and the summons delivered to the person you are suing. To do this officially, the Sheriff's Office must make the delivery and it must be done 7 days before the hearing date. · Finally, you need to file the original Complaint and Summons with the court clerk. This should be done at least 2 days before the hearing date. You can find more detailed information about each step below. The court also postsInstructions for Filing a Summary Personal Property Recovery Case. Will I Be Asked To Pay All Of The Court Costs? Yes. If you can't afford to pay the filing fee or the costs of service, however, you can get a form called Application to Proceed Without Payment of Fees and an Indigency Affidavit. Get these forms from any District Court clerk, or get them online (see below). Fill them out and return them to the clerk. Your signature on the Affidavit form must be notarized. If the judge agrees that you don't have enough money, you won't have to pay the fees. (If you need help with filling out these forms, go to our page on Court Fee Waivers.) Get interactive versions of the forms here: · Application to Proceed Without Payment of Fees · Indigency Affidavit How Do I Fill Out The Complaint? Use our interactive version of the Complaint form or print off the form and neatly print your information in the blank spaces of the form. Here is a brief description of the information you'll need to put in each section: · Location: court use, leave blank · Docket No.: court use, leave blank · Plaintiff: your full name · Defendant: the full name of the person you are suing · NOW COMES: your full name 1. where your property is currently located; if you do not know where it is located, then where it was taken from (for example, the apartment where you left it) 2. the property you want returned; be specific; attach another sheet of paper if your property list is long. 3. the full name of the person you are suing · WHEREFORE: where your property is currently located, if you do not know where it is located, then where it was taken from · Dated: the date you fill the form out · Plaintiff: your signature · Bar Number: the bar number of your attorney if you are being represented by one, if not then leave blank What Is A Summons? You must notify the defendant that you are filing a court complaint. You must give this notice at least 7 days before a court hearing. You do this with a Summons. First call the court clerk for the District Court where you will be filing your case. Tell the clerk that you will be filing a Complaint for Summary Proceeding to Recover Personal Property and need a court hearing date. Pick a time that will give the sheriff enough time to locate and serve the person who has your property. It is a good idea to pick a hearing date that will be at least 14 days after you give the papers to the sheriff's office for service. Write down the time and date the clerk gives you. Also ask the clerk for the street address of the court. You will need this information to fill out the Summons. You can pick up the Summons at the courthouse; there is a $5 fee. What Do I Do With My Completed Forms? Next, you need to “file” and “serve” the papers. First make one copy of each form (for you to keep) and one more copy of the Complaint and Summons (for the Defendant). You will give the originals to the court clerk. You can either “serve” the papers first, or “file” the papers first. If you are asking for a fee waiver (read more about fee waivers), then you will need to file first (read more on how to file). If you are going to pay the court fees and service costs yourself, then it is easier to “serve,” then “file.” Follow the steps outlined below. How Do I Notify The Other Person About The Court Hearing? Once your paperwork is ready, you will need to ask the sheriff’s office to make “personal service” of the papers on the Defendant. These are the papers you will give to the sheriff: · One copy of the Complaint, including any attached papers. You keep the original Complaint. You'll file it later with the Court Clerk. · The original and one copy of the Summons. Call the sheriff's office in the county where the defendant is living, working, or can be easily located. If the defendant is out of state, ask your local county sheriff to give you the address of the sheriff's department in the county where the defendant lives. Then hand-deliver or mail your court papers to the sheriff. Explain what you need to have done. Explain where and when the defendant might be served most easily. Also, remember to explain that the papers must be served at least 7 days before the date of your hearing. A deputy hand-delivers copies of the Complaint and Summons to the defendant. The deputy will fill out the bottom part of the original Summons to show that service has been made. The original Summons will be returned to you. You’ll file this original Summons with the Court Clerk later. Do I Have To Pay For This Service? Yes. There is no standard fee. You should expect to pay about $20 to $40. Do I Still Have To Pay If The Judge Has Waived my Court Fees? No. If the Court approved your "Application to Proceed Without Payment of Fees,” you can send the sheriff's bill directly to the District Court for payment. Ask the clerk for an "attested" copy of the judge's order waiving your fees. Give it to the sheriff when you deliver the papers for service. How Do I File the Forms? Your next step is to file the original of your Complaint with the District Court. The clerk will need your completed Summary Sheet, as well. You must pay the court’s filing fee at this time (unless the judge grants your fee waiver request). Remind the clerk that your Complaint asks for a recorded hearing. You will need this record if you decide later to appeal the judge's decision. Once you have received the original Summons back from the sheriff's office, file it with the Court Clerk also. (If you aren’t asking for a fee waiver, you can file all of your court papers at the same time, after you get the Summons back from the sheriff.) Keep copies of all your court papers to refer to at your hearing. NOTE: If you are "filing" your papers with the court before "serving" copies on the Defendant, go back to information on "serving" the papers after you have completed this step. What Should I Expect On The Day Of The Hearing? At your hearing, you will appear before a judge. Be prepared to prove that you own your property. To do this, you should bring every paper, sales receipt or bill that relates to the property. You can also bring any people who have first-hand knowledge that you own the property. For example, if a relative gave you an item as a present, it would be helpful to ask that relative to come to court and testify about giving you the gift. Remind the judge that you asked for a recorded hearing. What Happens If The Defendant Does Not Show Up At The Hearing? If the Defendant was served with the Summons and Complaint and is not in court, the judge will probably issue a default judgment. This means that you have won the case. What Should I Expect If The Defendant Does Show Up? If the defendant does show up, the judge will first ask you to tell him what the case is about. You should explain clearly that you own certain property and that the defendant has it and will not give it back. If you have receipts or other papers showing that you own the property, show them to the judge. If you have brought witnesses who can testify that they have first-hand knowledge that you own the property, ask the judge to allow them to testify. You can then ask your witnesses to tell the judge how they know that you own the property. The Defendant can ask you or your witnesses questions. The Defendant may also testify and bring in his own witnesses. You can question the Defendant and his witnesses. What Happens After The Hearing? If the judge agrees that you own the property, he or she will issue an Order saying that. Seven days after the judge's decision, you can ask the Court Clerk to give you a Writ of Possession, ordownload an interactive form to request the Writ. The clerk needs to issue an "attested" copy of the Writ. Then take the Writ to the sheriff or police department nearest to your property, and ask for an officer to go with you to get your property. What Should I Do If I Disagree With The Judge's Decision? Either side may appeal the judge's decision. The appeal must be filed within 21 days of the judge's decision. An appeal must be based on a legal issue. If you just disagree with the trial judge’s reasonable findings of fact, an appeal probably won’t do you any good. If you want to file an appeal, talk to a lawyer right away. Get an interactive Notice of Appeal form here. Updated October 2013 PTLA #69landlord, read the section on "Abandoned Property" in our Rights of Tenants in Maine Handbook first. If your landlord is claiming that you owe him money, his claims against you make your case more complicated. He may have the right to withhold some of your property until your debt is settled. How Do I Bring A Complaint For Summary Proceeding To Recover Personal Property? You must file a Complaint with the District Court where: · You live, · Where your landlord lives, · Where you had your personal property when you were renting, or · Where your personal property is now. If you don't know which court to file in, call any District Court Clerk. Ask for the name and address of the District Court that serves on of the above locations. How Do I File A Complaint? Here is a summary of the steps: · The first thing you need to do is fill out a Complaint for Recovery of Personal Property Form(Complaint). · Next you need to get and fill out a Personal Property Recovery Summons (Summons). You must purchase this from from the District Court office; the fee is $5. When you go in to pick up the form, you can also ask the court clerk to provide you with a hearing date. · Next you need to have copies of the complaint and the summons delivered to the person you are suing. To do this officially, the Sheriff's Office must make the delivery and it must be done 7 days before the hearing date. · Finally, you need to file the original Complaint and Summons with the court clerk. This should be done at least 2 days before the hearing date. You can find more detailed information about each step below. The court also postsInstructions for Filing a Summary Personal Property Recovery Case. Will I Be Asked To Pay All Of The Court Costs? Yes. If you can't afford to pay the filing fee or the costs of service, however, you can get a form called Application to Proceed Without Payment of Fees and an Indigency Affidavit. Get these forms from any District Court clerk, or get them online (see below). Fill them out and return them to the clerk. Your signature on the Affidavit form must be notarized. If the judge agrees that you don't have enough money, you won't have to pay the fees. (If you need help with filling out these forms, go to our page on Court Fee Waivers.) Get interactive versions of the forms here: · Application to Proceed Without Payment of Fees · Indigency Affidavit How Do I Fill Out The Complaint? Use our interarctive version of the Complaint form or print off the form and neatly print your information in the blank spaces of the form. Here is a brief desription of the information you'll need to put in each section: · Location: court use, leave blank · Docket No.: court use, leave blank · Plaintiff: your full name · Defendant: the full name of the person you are suing · NOW COMES: your full name 1. where your property is currently located; if you do not know where it is located, then where it was taken from (for example, the apartment where you left it) 2. the property you want returned; be specific; attach another sheet of paper if your property list is long. 3. the full name of the person you are suing · WHEREFORE: where your property is currently located, if you do not know where it is located, then where it was taken from · Dated: the date you fill the form out · Plaintiff: your signiture · Bar Number: the bar number of your attorney if you are being represented by one, if not then leave blank What Is A Summons? You must notify the defendant that you are filing a court complaint. You must give this notice at least 7 days before a court hearing. You do this with a Summons. First call the court clerk for the District Court where you will be filing your case. Tell the clerk that you will be filing a Complaint for Summary Proceeding to Recover Personal Property and need a court hearing date. Pick a time that will give the sheriff enough time to locate and serve the person who has your property. It is a good idea to pick a hearing date that will be at least 14 days after you give the papers to the sheriff's office for service. Write down the time and date the clerk gives you. Also ask the clerk for the street address of the court. You will need this information to fill out the Summons. You can pick up the Summons at the courthouse; there is a $5 fee. What Do I Do With My Completed Forms? Next, you need to “file” and “serve” the papers. First make one copy of each form (for you to keep) and one more copy of the Complaint and Summons (for the Defendant). You will give the originals to the court clerk. You can either “serve” the papers first, or “file” the papers first. If you are asking for a fee waiver (read more about fee waivers), then you will need to file first (read more on how to file). If you are going to pay the court fees and service costs yourself, then it is easier to “serve,” then “file.” Follow the steps outlined below. How Do I Notify The Other Person About The Court Hearing? Once your paperwork is ready, you will need to ask the sheriff’s office to make “personal service” of the papers on the Defendant. These are the papers you will give to the sheriff: · One copy of the Complaint, including any attached papers. You keep the original Complaint. You'll file it later with the Court Clerk. · The original and one copy of the Summons. Call the sheriff's office in the county where the defendant is living, working, or can be easily located. If the defendant is out of state, ask your local county sheriff to give you the address of the sheriff's department in the county where the defendant lives. Then hand-deliver or mail your court papers to the sheriff. Explain what you need to have done. Explain where and when the defendant might be served most easily. Also, remember to explain that the papers must be served at least 7 days before the date of your hearing. A deputy hand-delivers copies of the Complaint and Summons to the defendant. The deputy will fill out the bottom part of the original Summons to show that service has been made. The original Summons will be returned to you. You’ll file this original Summons with the Court Clerk later. Do I Have To Pay For This Service? Yes. There is no standard fee. You should expect to pay about $20 to $40. Do I Still Have To Pay If The Judge Has Waived my Court Fees? No. If the Court approved your "Application to Proceed Without Payment of Fees,” you can send the sheriff's bill directly to the District Court for payment. Ask the clerk for an "attested" copy of the judge's order waiving your fees. Give it to the sheriff when you deliver the papers for service. How Do I File the Forms? Your next step is to file the original of your Complaint with the District Court. The clerk will need your completed Summary Sheet, as well. You must pay the court’s filing fee at this time (unless the judge grants your fee waiver request). Remind the clerk that your Complaint asks for a recorded hearing. You will need this record if you decide later to appeal the judge's decision. Once you have received the original Summons back from the sheriff's office, file it with the Court Clerk also. (If you aren’t asking for a fee waiver, you can file all of your court papers at the same time, after you get the Summons back from the sheriff.) Keep copies of all your court papers to refer to at your hearing. NOTE: If you are "filing" your papers with the court before "serving" copies on the Defendant, go back to information on "serving" the papers after you have completed this step. What Should I Expect On The Day Of The Hearing? At your hearing, you will appear before a judge. Be prepared to prove that you own your property. To do this, you should bring every paper, sales receipt or bill that relates to the property. You can also bring any people who have first-hand knowledge that you own the property. For example, if a relative gave you an item as a present, it would be helpful to ask that relative to come to court and testify about giving you the gift. Remind the judge that you asked for a recorded hearing. What Happens If The Defendant Does Not Show Up At The Hearing? If the Defendant was served with the Summons and Complaint and is not in court, the judge will probably issue a default judgment. This means that you have won the case. What Should I Expect If The Defendant Does Show Up? If the defendant does show up, the judge will first ask you to tell him what the case is about. You should explain clearly that you own certain property and that the defendant has it and will not give it back. If you have receipts or other papers showing that you own the property, show them to the judge. If you have brought witnesses who can testify that they have first-hand knowledge that you own the property, ask the judge to allow them to testify. You can then ask your witnesses to tell the judge how they know that you own the property. The Defendant can ask you or your witnesses questions. The Defendant may also testify and bring in his own witnesses. You can question the Defendant and his witnesses. What Happens After The Hearing? If the judge agrees that you own the property, he or she will issue an Order saying that. Seven days after the judge's decision, you can ask the Court Clerk to give you a Writ of Possession, ordownload an interactive form to request the Writ. The clerk needs to issue an "attested" copy of the Writ. Then take the Writ to the sheriff or police department nearest to your property, and ask for an officer to go with you to get your property. What Should I Do If I Disagree With The Judge's Decision? Either side may appeal the judge's decision. The appeal must be filed within 21 days of the judge's decision. An appeal must be based on a legal issue. If you just disagree with the trial judge’s reasonable findings of fact, an appeal probably won’t do you any good. If you want to file an appeal, talk to a lawyer right away. Get an interactive Notice of Appeal form here. Updated October 2013 PTLA #69

GET INVOLVED!!

We will be adding plenty of additional information in the next few weeks. One of the features we'd like to add are video interviews that can be added to this blog - tenants talking about issues of particular importance to them, in their own words. If you'd like to be involved with this, please either email us at kenmorehalltenantsassociation@gmail.com, post a comment to this post below, or phone 347-850-2283 and leave a message pitching your idea. We'll be checking the voice mail every few days and will get back to you within a week (or less). If you have written or graphic material you'd like to post, feel free to email it to us.

Keep checking back as we develop more resources and interesting posts for you! Questions and suggestions are welcome. Call or comment...

GET RID OF MOLD!

N.Y. PBH. LAW § 1384 : NY Code - Section 1384: New York state toxic mold task force

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1. The New York state toxic mold task force is hereby established. The task force shall: (a) assess, based on scientific evidence, the nature, scope and magnitude of the adverse environmental and health impacts caused by toxic mold in the state; (b) measure, based on scientific evidence, the adverse health effects of exposure to molds on the general population, including specific effects on subgroups identifiable as being at greater risk of adverse health effects when exposed to molds; (c) identify actions taken by state, and local governments, and other entities; (d) assess the latest scientific data on exposure limits to mold in indoor environments; (e) determine methods for the control of mold in a cost-effective and environmentally sound manner and identify measures to mitigate mold; and (f) prepare a report to the governor and the legislature that assesses the current body of knowledge on toxic mold, provides the status of toxic mold in the state, and assesses the feasibility of any further actions to be taken by the legislature or state agencies as recommended by the task force. 2. For purpose of this title, the term "mold" shall mean any form of multicellular fungi that live on plant or animal matter and in indoor environments. Types of mold shall include, but not be limited to, cladosporium, alternaria, aspergillus, trichoderma, memnoniella, mucor, and stachybotrys chartarum, often found in water damaged building materials. 3. The task force shall issue its findings, in the form of a report, no later than November thirtieth, two thousand six. 4. The task force shall consist of a total of fourteen members and shall include the commissioner and the secretary of state or their designees. The commissioner and the secretary of state shall select the task force's twelve at-large members from each of the following: SUNY college of environmental science and forestry, New York Indoor Environmental Quality Center, Inc., New York city department of health and mental hygiene, NY STAR Center for Environmental Quality Systems, public health officer, environmental health officer, certified public health engineer, pediatric environmental health specialist, a person with an expertise in toxicology, a person with an expertise in mycology, a person with expertise in mold abatement from a labor organization that represents workers performing mold abatement and a person with expertise in real estate management, including building repair, renovation or rehabilitation of multi-family and single family residences. 5. The commissioner and the secretary of state or their designees shall serve as joint chairs of the task force. 6. The task force may consult with any organization, educational institution, governmental agency, or person including, but not limited to, the United States department of health and human services, the United States environmental protection agency, and the occupational safety and health administration. 7. The commissioner and the secretary of state may reconvene the task force, with the same or different members, after issuance of the report, to address any toxic mold issues. 8. The members of the task force shall serve without compensation, except that at-large members shall be allowed their necessary and actual expenses incurred in the performance of their duties under this title.

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- See more at: http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/nycode/PBH/13/11-A/1384#sthash.NW0u5L4d.dpuf

ABOUT REPAIRS - from the HPD website

My landlord refuses to make repairs to my apartment. What can I do?
If you are a tenant in a privately-owned building, there are several things you can do to get their landlord to make repairs; however, you may want to take the following steps in order to establish a record:

Contact the building superintendent regarding the repairs.
If the superintendent or management company does not respond, write a letter to the owner of the building that describes the problems in your apartment and asks for the repairs to be made by a certain date. You should send the letter to the owner and management company by certified mail and keep a copy for your records.
If you do not receive a response to the letter, you should try to contact the owner in person or by phone. Let him or her know that if the repairs are not completed, that the tenant will have to file a complaint. Keep a record of all of your attempts to get the landlord to make repairs, as this will be useful in court.

If the owner still does not respond or fails to provide essential services, you may report the condition to the City's Citizen Service Center at 311 (311 may be accessed outside New York City by dialing (212) NEW YORK). For the hearing impaired, the TTY number is (212) 504-4115. The Center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

You can also bring a case against the landlord in Housing Court to get an order to correct the conditions. This case is called an HP Action. HP actions are lawsuits brought by tenants or groups of tenants against landlords to force them to make repairs and provide essential services, like heat and hot water. A landlord's failure to make a repair or provide an important service may be a violation of the New York City Housing Maintenance Code or the Multiple Dwelling Law. In an HP action, a judge can order the landlord to correct the violations. If you want to start an HP proceeding against your landlord, go to the Clerk's Office at the Housing Court. You do not need a lawyer to start an HP case.

Tenants living in an HPD-owned building who have complaints about the maintenance of their apartment should call 212-491-4229 or 311.

Tenants in rent controlled or rent stabilized apartments may contact the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) Office of Rent Administration. Call 311 for information. DHCR may impose penalties on building owners in the form of rent reductions if a tenant's problems are valid.

Tenants with maintenance complaints about apartments in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) buildings should go to their management office and fill out a work ticket.

How to Report an Apartment Maintenance Problem

If your building owner fails to maintain your apartment and provide essential services, you may report the condition to the City's Customer Service Center at 311 (311 can be accessed outside of New York City by dialing (212) NEW YORK). For the hearing impaired, the TTY number is (212) 504-4115. The Center is open 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

Owners of privately-owned buildings are required by law to maintain apartments in habitable condition and provide tenants with heat during the winter heat season (October 1 through May 31) and hot water 365 days a year. These standards are enforced by HPD's Division of Code Enforcement.

You can check for open complaints, violations and registration information on a specific building by using HPDONLINE If the complaint is an emergency, a uniformed Code Enforcement inspector will be sent to inspect your apartment. Each time an inspector responds to a complaint, the tenant is provided the following information: a summary of issued violations; a complaint number; the date of inspection; and, the inspector's badge number. After the inspection, tenants receive two brochures outlining their rights and responsibilities and the most common health and safety violations. These brochures help tenants understand their rights and responsibilities. The building owner is also notified of the complaint.

If violation conditions are verified by the Inspector, a Notice of Violation will be sent to the owner instructing him/her to repair the condition. If the owner fails to correct immediately hazardous conditions, HPD's Emergency Repair Program may repair the condition and bill the owner for the cost of the repairs. Tenants can ask about the status of emergency repair work in their apartments by calling (212) 863-5510. NOTE: This number is for status requests only for ongoing HPD-sponsored emergency repair work that is already in progress. If your building owner fails to maintain your apartment and provide essential services, you need to report the condition to the City's Customer Service Center at 311.

If the building owner does not correct violation conditions, tenants may initiate legal action against the landlord in Housing Court. The Court has the authority to order the landlord to correct violations and can assess serious penalties for failure to comply. There is a $45 fee to file the action, which the court may waive if tenants are unable to pay.

For more information on the complaint and violation process in general, see the Guide to HPD Enforcement Service.

Legal Resources for Tenants

LEGAL (AND OTHER) RESOURCES FOR LOW-INCOME TENANTS

Metropolitan Council on Housing

339 Lafayette Street

NYC NY 10012

Phone: 212-979-0611

• Legal advice on landlord/tenant issues; help in organizing tenants’ associations.

The Westside S.R.O. Law Project

51 West 109th Street

NYC NY 10025

Phone: 212-799-9638

• Drop-in intake: Thursdays 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

MFY Legal Services

299 Broadway, 4th Floor

NYC NY 10007

Phone: 212-417-3700

Fax: 212-417-3890

www.mfy.org

• Independent legal services agency providing advice, counsel and representation on housing, public benefits, disability rights, employment, consumer and family law matters. Provides training and technical assistance to tenants, seniors, people with disabilities and community-based organizations on a wide range of legal topics.

New York City Commission on Human Rights

212-306-7450

www.nyc.gov/html/ochr/home.html

New York State Division of Human Rights

888-392-3644

http://www.dhr.state.ny.us

• You can download a complaint form from this site and send it to your regional office, also listed on the website.

Community Access

(Building homes, hopes and futures)

666 Broadway, 3rd Floor

New York NY 10012

Phone: 212-780-1400

Fax: 212-780-1412

www.communityaccess.org

• Provides innovative housing, on-site support services, employment opportunities, and advocacy for adults with chronic and persistent mental illness, many of whom had been previously homeless.

Lawhelp: www.lawhelp.org

• Referrals to other providers of free legal resources

New York City Council

www.council.nyc.gov

• You can find out who your Council Member is at the website or by calling 311

U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development

800-669-9777

http://www.hud.gov/complaints/housediscrim.cfm

Office of the Attorney General

New York City: 120 Broadway, NYC NY 10271-0332; 212-416-8000

H.S.I. has no right to intimidate tenants who want to organize

New York State REAL PROPERTY LAW (RPL) Laws 1909 Chap. 52 §230. Right of tenants to form, join or participate in tenants’ groups. 1. No landlord shall interfere with the right of a tenant to form, join or participate in the lawful activities of any group, committee or other organization formed to protect the rights of tenants nor shall any landlord harass, punish, penalize, diminish, or withhold any right, benefit or privilege of a tenant under his tenancy for exercising such right. 2. Tenants’ groups, committees or other tenants’ organizations shall have the right to meet in any location on the premises which is devoted to the common use of all tenants in a peaceful manner, at reasonable hours and without obstructing access to the premises or facilities. No landlord shall deny such right.

Kenmore Hall Tenants Association

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