City Council Passes Bills Supporting Tenants Displaced by Fire

On Sept. 12, the City Council passed two bills aimed at assisting residents displaced by fire. Intro. No. 6-A deals with tenant education and outreach on residential vacate orders due to damage caused by fires, and Intro. No. 89-A calls for notifying councilmembers of serious fires in their districts. These laws aim to address the growing concern of residents who find themselves in emergency shelters following fires, often with little understanding of their rights or what steps they should take next.

Vacate Orders

When a serious fire occurs, HPD issues the apartment or building an Order to Repair/Vacate Order because there’s a serious risk to residents’ health and safety. The owner must then make all of the necessary repairs that led to the Order to Repair/Vacate Order so residents are allowed back in the building.

The owner may need to wait for insurance funding and be required to hire a licensed engineer or architect to file the necessary applications with the Department of Buildings (DOB); depending on the extent of the damage, this may be a lengthy process. After the condition is corrected, the owner must request the HPD’s Order to Repair/Vacate Order be lifted. HPD will then inspect the work that was done and, if appropriate, rescind the Order to Repair/Vacate Order. The owner then has a responsibility to contact tenants when they receive a rescission of the vacate order from HPD. And if other city agencies, such as the DOB, also issued a Vacate Order, that order must be dismissed as well before residents can reoccupy.

Rent-regulated tenants. A rent-stabilized or rent-controlled tenant can file to legally reduce monthly rent to $1 per month to protect his or her tenancy rights. They would file “Application For A Rent Reduction Based Upon Decreased Service(s) – Individual Apartment (Form RA- 81)” with the DHCR. And if an order is issued reducing the rent to $1 per month for the period that the tenant is unable to occupy the apartment, the payment is made to the owner and not the DHCR.

Relocation expenses. Those occupants who are required to leave a unit because of an Order to Repair/Vacate Order may be eligible for relocation services, including, temporary emergency housing through HPD. HPD’s Emergency Housing Services (EHS) unit provides emergency relocation services and rehousing assistance to households who have been displaced from their units as a result of fires or city-issued vacate orders. Displaced households are placed in family centers and single-room-occupancy hotels in Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens.

HPD is authorized to seek reimbursement for relocation expenses incurred by HPD from the owner of the vacated building pursuant to Admin. Code §26-305. Relocation charges accrue on an ongoing basis so long as HPD is paying for relocation services and relocation expenses. The charges accrue over time until HPD is no longer providing any services to vacated households.

Billing. In accordance with Admin. Code §26-305(d), relocation expenses incurred by HPD for vacate orders issued on or after Sept. 14, 2021, for which HPD is authorized to seek reimbursement are billed by the NYC Department of Finance (DOF). Relocation charges billed by DOF that are past due and unpaid for constitute tax liens against the property that accrue interest and may be sold or foreclosed upon. An owner may seek to challenge relocation charges billed by DOF arising from vacate orders in accordance with Admin. Code §26-305(d)(4).

Increasing Tenant Awareness

To increase support for displaced tenants after fires, the City Council passed Intro. No. 6-A, which requires the HPD to provide tenants displaced by fires with detailed information about their rights, the vacate order process, what may constitute harassment, owners’ legal responsibilities, and the process for rescinding vacate orders. The bill seeks to fill the gap between tenants’ limited knowledge and owners’ obligations, particularly after a building is vacated due to fire damage.

HPD will be required to distribute handouts, available in the top 10 languages spoken in the city, explaining tenants’ rights and the steps they can take to reenter their homes. This law is set to take effect 120 days after it becomes law.

Fire Incident Notification to Councilmembers

The second bill, Intro. No. 89-A, establishes a process requiring city officials to notify councilmembers within three hours of a serious fire, referred to as an “all hands fire,” in their district. This type of fire is defined as any operation conducted by the Fire Department where the severity of conditions, as determined by the Fire Department, requires the deployment of at least 12 units and 60 employees to the scene of a fire. This notification will include the fire’s date, time, address, and details of the Fire Department’s emergency response.

The goal is to create a redundancy system to ensure that displaced families don’t fall through the cracks. With prompt notification, councilmembers can act quickly to secure resources for tenants affected by fires, ensuring timely support for those in need. This local law takes effect 540 days after it becomes law.