§ 2-02 Harassment.
RCNY § 2-02
(a)Applicability. These Harassment rules apply to all Harassment Applications filed with the Loft Board, after September 11, 2013. Harassment Applications are subject to the Harassment rule in effect on the date of the initial filing of the Application. All orders of Harassment must be kept in the Loft Board's records and in the office of the City Register in accordance with the provisions of 29 RCNY § 2-02(d)(1)(iii).
(b)Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following definitions apply: Harassment means any course of conduct or single act engaged in by the Owner, Landlord or any other Person acting on such Owner's behalf that interferes with or disturbs the comfort, repose, peace or quiet of an Occupant in the Occupant's use or occupancy of its unit. Such conduct must be intended to cause the Occupant to vacate the Building or unit, or to surrender or waive any rights of such Occupant under the Occupant's written lease or other rental agreement or pursuant to Art. 7-C. Harassment may also include any act or course of conduct by a Prime Lessee or any Person acting on such Prime Lessee's behalf that would constitute Harassment if engaged in by the Owner or Landlord, against any of the Prime Lessee's current or former subtenants who are residential Occupants qualified for protection under Art. 7-C. Harassment includes, but is not limited to, the intentional interruption or discontinuance of or willful failure to provide or to restore services customarily provided in the Building or required by written lease or other rental agreement or, for residential Occupants qualified for the protections of Art. 7-C, by the Loft Board rules regarding minimum housing maintenance standards. Harassment does not include either the lawful termination of a tenancy or lawful refusal to renew or extend a written lease or other rental agreement, or acts performed in good faith and in a reasonable manner for the purposes of operating, maintaining or repairing any Building or part thereof. There is no requirement that the Landlord's actions or inactions be illegal to constitute Harassment. The Loft Board may find that a particular act constitutes Harassment whether it was directed toward one Tenant or multiple Tenants. Ongoing Course of Conduct means actions or inactions by or on behalf of the Landlord, Owner or Responsible Party, that when considered together, show a Continuous Pattern of Behavior. Continuous Pattern of Behavior, includes, but is not limited to, acts, at least one of which happened within one hundred and eighty (180) days preceding the filing of the Harassment Application, that show a sequence of events that are similar in nature or a sequence of events that are reasonably related.
(c)Procedures for considering Harassment Applications.
(1)It is unlawful for a Landlord or any other Person acting on its behalf to engage in conduct constituting Harassment against any Occupant of an IMD Building. A Harassment Application may be filed with the Loft Board by Occupant(s) of an IMD Building. The Application must be filed on a form approved by the Loft Board and will be processed in accordance with 29 RCNY § 1-21, and the specific requirements provided below.
(2)(i) The description of the conduct complained of must contain the actual or approximate date(s) on which such conduct occurred, the manner and location of each occurrence, and if the complaint is filed on behalf of more than one Occupant, the Occupants against whom the occurrence was directed. The Application must be filed within one hundred and eighty (180) days of the conduct complained of, or where an Ongoing Course of Conduct is alleged, the Application must be filed within one hundred and eighty (180) days of the last occurrence.
(ii)Reserved.
(iii)If the Loft Board finds that an applicant has filed a Harassment Application in bad faith or in wanton disregard of the truth, the applicant may be subject to a civil penalty as determined by the Loft Board in 29 RCNY § 2-11.1.
(3)The applicant must serve all Affected Parties, as defined in 29 RCNY § 1-21(b), with a copy of the Harassment Application in accordance with the terms and procedures requiring service and proof of service of the Application as described in 29 RCNY §1-21. Where a Harassment Application solely alleges that the Owner's or Responsible Party's challenge of a sale of improvements is frivolous, the applicant must serve only the Owner or Responsible Party as an Affected Party. An answer form must be enclosed with the copy of the Application sent to the Affected Parties. Instructions for filing an answer must advise the Owner or Responsible Party that a finding of Harassment may affect the Owner's or Responsible Party's ability to decontrol or to obtain market rentals for covered IMD units pursuant to MDL §§ 286(6) and 286(12) and the Loft Board's rules. Inclusion of an answer form with the Application at the time of service constitutes compliance with this paragraph.
(4)Parties have fifteen (15) days after the date on which service of the Application was completed, calculated from the mailing date shown on the certificate of mailing filed with the Loft Board, to file an answer with the Loft Board. Copies of the answer with proof of service of the answer on the applicant(s), as described in 29 RCNY § 1-22(c), must be filed at the offices of the Loft Board.
(5)(i) Following the expiration of the deadline for filing an answer, the Loft Board or the Trials Division of OATH will send, by regular mail, a notice of conference to the Affected Parties. The notice of conference will schedule a date and time for an informal conference as soon as possible, but no sooner than fifteen (15) days from the date of mailing the notice of conference. The notice of conference sent to the Owner or Responsible Party will advise the Owner or Responsible Party that a finding of Harassment may affect the Owner's or Responsible Party's ability to decontrol or to obtain market rentals for covered IMD units pursuant to MDL §§ 286(6) and 286(12) and the Loft Board's rules.
(6)Where charges of Harassment remain unresolved following the informal conference, a hearing on the allegations in the Harassment Application will be held in accordance with the procedures of 29 RCNY § 1-27 and the following: (i) The hearing will be limited to the charges contained on the original Application, as modified at the conference, and any additional charges of Harassment arising as a result of conduct occurring after the conference.
(iv)The issuance of a municipal vacate order for hazardous conditions as a consequence of the Owner's or Responsible Party's unlawful failure to comply with the code compliance timetable will result in a rebuttable presumption of Harassment. (See rules on Code Compliance - 29 RCNY § 2-01(c)(6)).
(v)A finding by the Loft Board of unreasonable and willful interference with an Occupant's use of its unit by the Landlord or its Agents may be considered as evidence of Harassment. (See rules on Code Compliance - 29 RCNY § 2-01(h)).
(vi)A finding by the Loft Board of a willful violation of Minimum Housing Maintenance Standards may be considered as evidence of Harassment of residential Tenants. (See rules on Enforcement of Minimum Housing Maintenance Standards - 29 RCNY § 2-04(e)(6)).
(vii)A finding by the Loft Board that the filing of an Application by the Owner or Responsible Party objecting to the sale of improvements was frivolous may be considered as evidence of Harassment of residential Tenants. An objection to the sale may be found to be frivolous on grounds including, but not limited to, the following: (A) That it was filed without a good faith intention to purchase the improvements at fair market value or (B) That the Owner's or Responsible Party's 'valuation of the improvements has no reasonable relationship to the fair market value, as determined by the Loft Board. (See rules on Sales of Improvements - 29 RCNY § 2-07(g)(1)(ii)). At the Occupant's request, the Loft Board will issue its findings on a pending Harassment Application based upon the allegation that the Owner's or Responsible Party's objection to the sale of improvements is frivolous, or any other pending Harassment Application in the Building, concurrently with its determination of the Owner's or Responsible Party's challenge.
(viii)A determination by a civil or criminal court of Landlord Harassment of an Occupant(s) may be considered as evidence of Harassment.
(d)Findings of Harassment.
(e)Harassment by prime lessees.
