BY BEN BRACHFELD
Long-suffering loft tenants
are fi nally set to get relief under
a new bill, signed into law last
week by Gov. Kathy Hochul,
allowing them to sue neglectful
landlords in housing court
— just like any other tenant already
can.
Because lofts are constructed
from former commercial
or industrial spaces,
there had been a long standing
ambiguity in the legal system,
and as a result, tenants were
previously unable to sue their
landlords in housing court to
force basic repairs and maintenance
of their living spaces.
Now, the law, which took effect
on Dec. 1, will provide tenants
of lofts (technically called
“interim multiple dwellings”
or IMDs) with much-needed
recourse to combat porous
buildings owners.
“Residents who live in loft
buildings and tenants in livework
spaces, they’re unfortunately
used to living in limbo,
in many cases,” said northern
Brooklyn State Sen. Julia
Salazar, who sponsored the
bill in Albany, at a press conference
COURIER LIFE, D 12 ECEMBER 10-16, 2021
on Tuesday. “They’re
used to having to fi ght for
their rights as tenants to be
recognized, and to have the
same protections that other
tenants already have. Loft tenants
deserve to be protected,
they deserve to have recourse
when their landlord fails to
maintain basic standards of
safety and habitability in their
apartments.”
For some tenants, like
those living at 400 South Second
St. in Williamsburg, the
unequal status of their apartment
has meant years without
heat in the winter.
“My unit hasn’t had heat
for…three years? It’s been sporadic,
some winters on, some
winters off,” said Nora Lardner,
who has lived in the building
for nine years. “We have space
heaters, which just jacks up our
electric bill unfortunately. The
fi rst winter it didn’t turn on, it
got really cold that Thanksgiving.
And I had guests staying
with me from out of town, and
everybody was in 15 sweaters
and blankets.”
Lardner and her partner Jordan
Christensen said they generally
don’t get any responses
from their landlord, which is
registered under a limited partnership.
In one instance, an
electrical fi re broke out in the
apartment — but the landlord
took three days to respond to
their requests for repairs.
The glass front door to the
building features a noticeable
crack, which Lardner says has
been there for about six months
with no action by the landlord.
Aruna Naimji, who lives at
8-10 Grand Ave., said she hasn’t
had gas in the apartment for
three years.
“We’ve all been experiencing
a kind of diffi culty when
our landlord decides they’re
not going to take action and
restore essential services like
gas, electric, heat, hot water,”
Naimji said. “I can tell you, it’s
very diffi cult to try to convince
State Sen. Julia Salazar, the bill’s sponsor, talks about the new loft law in
Williamsburg on Dec. 7. Photo by Ben Brachfeld
your child to take a bath when
it’s freezing in the house.”
Loft buildings tend to lack
a residential certifi cate of occupancy,
meaning anyone living
in them previously could
not adjudicate their claims in
housing court, like most every
other tenant in New York City.
Instead, they had to bring any
claims of wrongdoing to the
Loft Board, a city commission
created by the original 1982
Loft Law, whose main purpose
for existing is to facilitate the
legal conversion of lofts into
safe, rent-stabilized residences,
not to protect residents from neglectful
landlords.
“I don’t want to fault the Loft
Board too much because the
Loft Board is pretty under-resourced,”
Salazar told Brooklyn
Paper. “And that’s something
the city should take responsibility
for, but regardless, I
think that hopefully, this will
help ease some of the burden
on the Loft Board and certainly
some of the burden on tenants,
that they’ll be able to take these
cases to housing court.”
Lofty new law!
Tenants of lofts can now sue in housing court
ASK YOUR DOCTOR
TO TEST YOUR CHILD
FOR LEAD
Lead in peeling paint
poisons children.
• Tell your landlord to fix peeling paint. It’s the law.
• Wash floors, windowsills, hands, and toys often.
GET YOUR CHILD TESTED AT AGES 1 AND 2.
CALL 311 TO LEARN MORE OR VISIT NYC.GOV/LEADFREE.
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