§ 16-03 Issuance of Notice of Violation; Submission of Property Owner Complaint Form for Multiple Dwellings.
RCNY § 16-03
(a)This section shall apply to multiple dwellings. For the purposes of this section, "unauthorized placement of an unsolicited advertisement at a multiple dwelling" shall mean either of the following: (1) one or more unsolicited advertisements are placed on private property at a multiple dwelling where: (i) at least one unit owner or lessee of each separate dwelling unit within the building or on the property has agreed to prohibit unsolicited advertisements; and (ii) the property-owner has posted or caused to be posted in a conspicuous location a sign which is not less than 5 inches by 7 inches in size and which states in legible letters at least one inch in size: "Do Not Place Unsolicited Advertising Materials On This Property"; or (2) one or more unsolicited advertisements are placed on private property at a multiple dwelling in a location other than that specified on a sign at the multiple dwelling, or the number of unsolicited advertisements exceeds the number specified on the sign, where: (i) the property-owner has posted or caused to be posted in a conspicuous location a sign which is not less than 5 inches by 7 inches in size and which states in legible letters at least one inch in size i) the number of unsolicited advertisements that may be left on the property and/or ii) a particular location or appropriate receptacle where the unsolicited advertisements may be placed; and (ii) if a number of permitted unsolicited advertisements is specified on the sign, the number represents at a minimum every separate dwelling unit in the building where the unit owners or lessees have not consented to prohibit unsolicited advertisements.
(b)The department may issue a notice of violation to any person it determines to be responsible for the unauthorized placement of an unsolicited advertisement at a multiple dwelling based upon the submission of a property owner complaint form to the department by the owner of a multiple dwelling, or the owner's designated agent. The property owner must complete the complaint form and, as set forth in the complaint form, certify that the information is truthful and accurate, and acknowledge that false statements in the complaint form are punishable under section 210.45 of the New York State Penal Law. The property owner must submit the signed and completed complaint form together with the unsolicited advertisement. If one or more advertisements are bundled and tied together by a rubber band, string, or otherwise, or are bundled and placed inside any outer wrapper, all of the materials must be submitted together with the complaint form.
(c)The owner of a multiple dwelling, or his or her designated agent, who has submitted a property owner complaint form resulting in the department's issuance of a notice of violation, may be called upon to furnish to the environmental control board for the city of New York a list of all current occupants of each apartment or unit within the multiple dwelling at the time the violation occurred, indicating whether the occupants residing therein at the time of such alleged violation consented to prohibiting the placement of unsolicited advertisements within such multiple dwelling, and how this information was obtained.
(d)The owner of any multiple dwelling, or his or her designated agent, may obtain a property owner complaint form through the department of sanitation website or by calling the city of New York 3-1-1 action center.
(e)The owner, or his or her designated agent, of any multiple dwelling shall mail his or her signed complaint form together with the unsolicited advertisement to: Director of Enforcement c/o Lawn Litter, New York City Department of Sanitation, 1824 Shore Parkway, Brooklyn, New York 11214.
(f)The owner of a multiple dwelling, or his or her designated agent, who has submitted a property owner complaint form resulting in the department's issuance of a notice of violation, may be called upon to appear at an adjudicatory hearing by the environmental control board for the city of New York for the purpose of testifying in such adjudicatory matter. If the environmental control board determines that the appearance of the property owner or designated agent is necessary, such property owner or designated agent shall be contacted so that a date and time for the property owner or designated agent's appearance can be arranged.
