The housing crisis It is increasingly affecting more New Yorkers like Jonás Castaño, who after losing his job in mid-2023, started to “hang” with payments of the rent of the apartment in Corona, Queens, where he lives with his two children and his wife of 7 years. But in the midst of his “bad streak,” There is news that relieves him a little.
Tired of not receiving the full $1,850 monthly rent since last September, the owner of the Colombian’s apartment threatened him with “take things out to the street” and “change the locks” If he doesn’t leave “the right way”, he doesn’t have the money to pay, but at the beginning of January, the father of the family understood information that he didn’t know. Although he admits that the moment he is going through is “very uncomfortable and distressing,” he knew that According to the laws of the Big Apple, your landlord cannot just evict you.
“I never had problems with paying my rent: I didn’t even fall behind during the pandemic, but since the rust hit, I haven’t been able to get up and the owner of the apartment keeps threatening me with evict me and that he is going to take us out by force, but we found out that doing something like that here is illegal,” says the former cleaning worker, who is receiving advice from a community organization.
Castaño refers to information that Tenant Support Unit together with the Public Participation Unit of the Municipal Administration have been promoting widely, right in the middle of the cold season, and after it was known that last year some 12,000 evictions were reported in the Big Apple, 4,000 of them in the Bronxordered by courts, and hundreds of illegal actions by landlords who did not follow the law and resolved the matter without processes ordered by law, leaving entire families in the street.
These agencies are advancing educational campaigns in several languages, including Spanishwarning both tenants and landlords that each tenant has the legal right to remain in their residence unless it is officially evicted through a court-ordered process and not by order or request of an owner.
“It is essential to understand that in New York City Any eviction must be preceded by a court order, signed by a judge and executed by a sheriff or marshal. “Tenants should keep in mind that verbal evictions, letters or notices from landlords do not constitute legal eviction orders,” warn municipal authorities, insisting that the rights are the same for all New Yorkers whether or not there are contracts involved. . “Furthermore, it is illegal for landlords to shut off essential services such as heat, hot water or electricity as a means of evicting or punishing tenants. It is important to highlight that “These protections apply to all tenants, regardless of their immigration status or whether they have a signed lease.”.
And what to do if a landlord is threatening to carry out evictions without the order from a judge, the Tenant Support Unit asks tenants who believe they have been illegally excluded from their homes or are being illegally evicted to call 911 immediately to report the situation to police. They also urge you to educate yourself more about available options and support services, by calling 311 and asking for the tenant help linewhere a specialist will guide those affected through the process.
According to New York law, landlords who want to evict tenants for nonpayment of rent, illegal occupancy or violations of the lease must go to the Housing Court, and file a case there to be able to fight for an eviction order. Any other way of removing someone from your rental apartment is illegal.
In the midst of the outreach efforts so that tenants affected by possible evictions know their rights, together with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD)the Tenant Protection Unit has distributed information in 37 ZIP Codes at High Risk for Evictions illegal evictions, among them the neighborhood of East New York, in Brooklyn, considered between 2020 and 2023 one of the 5 places with the highest number of judicial filings of illegal evictions. Until mid-2022 in the Big Apple, more than 600 arbitrary actions to remove tenants from their apartments.
“It is important for tenants to know: regardless of their immigration status, regardless of their first language, regardless of the status of their lease, when they are here, they are New Yorkers and they have rights,” he said. Adrienne Lever, executive director of the Mayor’s Public Participation Unit. “It is illegal for your landlord to lock you out of your apartment, harass you, or cut off your utilities to try to force you out of your apartment. If you have questions about your rights, call 311 and request the Public Participation Unit’s Tenant Helpline to speak with one of our tenant specialists. If you are currently locked out of your home, call 911 immediately to report an illegal lockout. We are here for you. More information is also available at nyc.gov/IllegalLockouts.”
Adolph Carrion Jr.HPD commissioner, warned that it is important for tenants to know their housing rights to put a stop to illegal evictions, which he noted are not only a violation of space but also a violation of legal rights.
“In New York City, every tenant has the right and privilege to remain in their home until due process is followed and a judge orders an eviction,” the Housing official said. “Familiarize yourself with the resources available to you before you need them. Call 311 for the Tenant Helpline, contact your district’s housing court, contact HPD through 311 to report utility outages, or call 911 in the event of an emergency. Let the law be your shield, ensuring that your home remains just that, your home!”
The Executive Director of Housing, Leila Bozorgjoined the call for tenants to assert their rights and not allow illegal evictions, and assured that protecting them is an absolute necessity in the current real estate environment.
They warn tenants not to allow their landlords to evict them without a court order. Photo: Edwin Martínez
“Expanding and coordinating this type of campaign on the ground to educate tenants about their legal rights is part of the vision of the Tenant Protection Cabinet, and I applaud the Mayor’s Public Participation Unit (PEU) and HPD for these recent efforts to keep tenants in their homes,” the official said.
In addition to the more than 615 cases of illegal residential evictions reported last year In the first months, before the Housing Court, the city’s sheriffs completed approximately 12,000 evictions, a figure that is feared to increase in 2024. In Brooklyn there were 3,516 evictions, 2,224 in Manhattan, 1,722 in Queens and 511 in Staten Island, although the number of eviction requests by landlords since 2019 exceeds 550,000 cases, according to state court records. Since 2017, More than 77,000 tenants have been evicted from their homes in the Big Apple.
Top 5 ZIP Codes at Highest Risk for Current Illegal Evictions in NYC
- 10458: Belmont, in the Bronx
- 10457: in the Bronx
- 10453: Morris Heights, The Bronx
- 11208: East New York, en Brooklyn
- 11233: Ocean Hill, not Brooklyn
Data to take into account
- For complete information, visit this link and select the Spanish language: nyc.gov/IllegalLockouts.
- Know that all tenants have the legal right to remain in your home even if they owe rent, and can only be evicted by a New York City sheriff with an order signed by a judge
- It is illegal for anyone to pressure or force you to leave your home.
- If you receive a notice or documentation and are not sure if it is an Eviction Order, call 311 and ask for the Tenant Help Line for more information
- Your landlord cannot evict you verbally or through letters or notices, only a judge
- A notice to appear in court does not mean you have to leave your home, you can fight your case
- You have the right to heat, hot water and electricity and it is illegal for your landlord to cut off your utilities to try to get you to leave or as punishment
- Illegal evictions can be reported regardless of your immigration status
- You are protected from illegal eviction if you have lived in the same place for at least 30 days, even if you did not sign a lease
- If you signed a lease you will be protected from illegal eviction as soon as you move out.
- Call 911 immediately if you are subject to an illegal eviction
- Evictions without a judge’s order are criminal conduct and a misdemeanor under the “unlawful eviction law.”
- The role of the NYPD is to protect the rights of a person who is being or has been unlawfully evicted
- The NYPD can take action against someone who tries to remove a tenant if they have probable cause to believe it is an illegal eviction
- The NYPD can keep the peace at the scene while you take steps to return home
- Call 311 and ask for the Tenant Helpline for a referral to a free legal services provider
- Go to your county housing court to file an Order to Show Cause to have possession restored (allowed to re-enter) or emergency relief, if you were illegally evicted
- Call 311 and ask HPD to report utility outages. HPD would inspect and, when warranted, write a violation.
2024-02-01 11:00:00
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