Bill Text: NY A02220 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Suspends all rent payments for certain residential tenants and small business commercial tenants if such tenant has lost employment or was forced to close their place of business and certain mortgage payments for landlords of such tenants in the state for ninety days following the effective date of this act in response to the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 20-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to judiciary [A02220 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A02220-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          2220

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 14, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of A. NIOU, EPSTEIN, TAYLOR, GLICK, HEVESI, FRONTUS,
          L. ROSENTHAL, BARNWELL, DE LA ROSA, CARROLL, PERRY,  CRUZ,  SEAWRIGHT,
          FALL,  RICHARDSON,  REYES, GOTTFRIED, SIMON, JOYNER, OTIS -- read once
          and referred to the Committee on Judiciary

        AN ACT to suspend rent payments  for  certain  residential  tenants  and
          small  business  commercial  tenants  and  to suspend certain mortgage
          payments for ninety days in response to the outbreak of coronavirus

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  (a)  Notwithstanding  any other provision of law, rule or
     2  regulation to the contrary, any residential  tenant  or  small  business
     3  commercial  tenant  in the state that has lost income or has been forced
     4  to close their place of business  as  a  result  of  government  ordered
     5  restrictions  in  response  to  the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019
     6  (COVID-19), shall have all  rent  payments  suspended  for  ninety  days
     7  following  the  effective  date  of this act. Such residential tenant or
     8  small business commercial tenant shall not and shall never  be  required
     9  to  pay  any  rent  waived  during such time period.   Every residential
    10  tenant or small business commercial tenant whose  lease  expires  during
    11  this  time  period shall be subject to an automatic renewal lease at the
    12  current rent charged. Late  fees  shall  not  be  collectable  for  rent
    13  accrued during this time period.
    14    (b)  (i)  Any  person  or  entity  who faces a financial hardship as a
    15  result of being deprived rent payments for  property  pursuant  to  this
    16  section  shall  receive  forgiveness  on  any mortgage payments for such
    17  property for ninety days, in an amount determined by the following frac-
    18  tion multiplied by such mortgage payment, up to the total dollar  amount
    19  of lost rent:
    20    (A) The numerator shall be the total amount of rent payments suspended
    21  for  his  or  her  tenants  over  the ninety day period laid out in this
    22  section; and

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03235-01-1
        A. 2220                             2

     1    (B) The denominator shall be the total amount of rent  payments  typi-
     2  cally  owed for such entire property over the ninety day period laid out
     3  in this section.
     4    (ii)  Any person or entity qualifying for mortgage payment forgiveness
     5  under this subdivision shall not and shall never be required to pay  any
     6  mortgage waived during such time period.
     7    §  2. For the purposes of this act, the following terms shall have the
     8  following meanings:
     9    (a) "Residential tenant" shall have the same meaning as paragraph  (a)
    10  of  subdivision  1  of section 235-f of the real property law, those who
    11  otherwise pay for the use and occupancy of a  residential  dwelling,  or
    12  occupants  as defined by paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 235-f
    13  of the real property law.
    14    (b) "Commercial tenant" shall mean a person or entity lawfully occupy-
    15  ing a covered property pursuant to a lease or other rental agreement.
    16    (c) "Covered property" shall mean any building or portion of a  build-
    17  ing:
    18    i.  that  is  lawfully used for buying, selling or otherwise providing
    19  goods or services, or for other lawful business, commercial  or  profes-
    20  sional services, or manufacturing activities; and
    21    ii.  for  which a certificate of occupancy authorizing residential use
    22  of such building or such portion of a building has not been issued.
    23    (d) "Small business" shall have the same meaning as section 131 of the
    24  economic development law.
    25    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.