Per a recent announcement, NYC will now fast track several housing court matters. Here’s what’s changing, and how this could have a huge impact on ongoing HPD enforcement.

Specific Housing Court Matters Now “Fast Tracked”

On August 25th, the Mayor’s Office announced changes to “the most critical” Housing Court cases:

Under a new directive from the Administrative Judge of the New York City Civil Court, Housing Court judges will expedite hearing cases involving vacate orders, immediately hazardous building-wide conditions or elevator outages and Article 7A proceedings in which the City or tenants seek the appointment of third-party building management because of landlord neglect.

The change specifically applies to:

• Housing Part cases with one or more of the following issues:
  • A vacate order impacting one-third or more of the apartments in a building, or the entire building
  • An open, immediately hazardous Class C violation for lack of essential services (heat, hot water, electricity, gas, water) in one-third or more of the apartments in a building, or the entire building; or
  • All elevators in a building or building section being out of service
• Article 7A proceedings in which the City or tenants seek the appointment of a third-party building manager at the buildings with an open, immediately hazardous HPD Class C or DOB Class 1 violation

Per the city:

Housing Court cases in these categories will now be assigned a judge on the same day they are filed, with subsequent filings and appearances held on an expedited timeline. Once service is completed, the parties will have no more than five days to appear in court.

General Housing Court Information

Tenants may also initiate cases in Housing Court directly. HPD provides more details on this process on their page.

Per HPD, “If there is an open judgment on a property, property owners or their attorneys may contact the Housing Litigation Division at 212 863 5954 to discuss satisfying the judgment.”

Open Violations & Increased Enforcement

As a reminder, Housing Court is where HPD’s Housing Litigation Division can seek civil penalties for open violations – here’s the current penalty list.

Additionally, with HPD promising to investigate all heat complaints this season (not just the first), there’s a greater risk of increased violations and enforcement. Make sure your team is prepared for Heat Season beginning October 1st – scroll down to see how SiteCompli can help. 

Where Can I Find This Info In My Account?

Users on SiteCompli and InCheck can see information about several of HPD’s advanced enforcement programs directly in their account:

• Vacate Orders can be found on this page, which includes any available copies and Rescind Orders, if applicable
• HPD programs can be found on the HPD Registration page, by clicking into any individual property. You can also view these details in an export of the page, or by generating a Custom Report
  • This includes AEP, Lead Exemptions, Certifications Watch List, Certification of No Harassment pilot, Underlying Conditions, and more
• Housing Court cases can be found on the Litigation page – here’s where we bring in all available information, including the case type and status
• Emergency Repair Program details can be seen here – we’ll notify you when there are updates to individual charges

As always, teams can access information about HPD Violations in the following ways:

• Via tailored alerts – ongoing and/or weekly based on your preferences
• On your HPD Violations list view page – You can filter open and closed violations, and apply saved filters as a View for easy reference
  • InCheck users can also view HPD violation information directly in their InCheck Mobile App, accessible from anywhere
• Reports – From executive summaries to custom excel reports, set a report to recur and send to whoever you need, automatically
• Dashboard – View HPD violation and complaint metrics directly on your Dashboard, including data for units and properties with the most activity

And there’s much more to come – stay tuned this year for updates on how you can access even more HPD data in your account.

If you need more direct support for HPD action, contact our team at support@sitecompli.com. We’re happy to help you assess your portfolio information and take action.