S 5445: Creates a private right of action by a tenant against a landlord in a city having a population of one million or more persons over sidewalk sheds.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5445 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE February 21, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. HOYLMAN-SIGAL -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary AN ACT to amend the real property law, in relation to a private right of action concerning sidewalk sheds The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The real property law is amended by adding a new section 2 235-k to read as follows: 3 § 235-k. Sidewalk sheds. 1. Any property owner in a city having a 4 population of one million or more persons who: 5 (a) maintains a sidewalk shed without an active permit (including, 6 without limitation, by maintaining a sidewalk shed following expiration 7 of a permit) in accordance with the requirements of chapter one of title 8 twenty-eight of the administrative code of the city of New York; 9 (b) maintains such sidewalk shed for more than thirty consecutive days 10 without actively undertaking work on covered repairs necessitating such 11 sidewalk shed; 12 (c) maintains a sidewalk shed perilous to life or property by reason 13 of the nature or condition of its contents, its use, defects in its 14 construction, or by reason of any condition of such sidewalk shed; or 15 (d) maintains a sidewalk shed and the maintenance of such sidewalk 16 shed is the basis of a violation of section 28-201.2.2 of the adminis- 17 trative code of the city of New York, may be sued by a residential or 18 commercial tenant of the property the sidewalk shed is attached to in 19 the supreme court in the county in which the property is located, for 20 temporary and permanent injunctive relief and for damages, if any, and 21 the costs of the action, including reasonable attorney's fees. 22 2. A plaintiff shall not be required to allege or prove that actual 23 damages have been suffered in order to obtain injunctive relief. 24 3. Before bringing a civil action pursuant to this subdivision, a 25 tenant must give the property owner written notice of the alleged EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD08840-02-5 
 S. 5445 2 1 violation. A tenant may not bring a civil action until thirty days after 2 giving the property owner notice of the alleged violation, except where 3 a tenant alleges with particularity that the property owner has demon- 4 strated an unwillingness to cure a violation in bad faith, and may not 5 bring a civil action if the property owner corrects the alleged 6 violation. A tenant must bring a civil action pursuant to this subdivi- 7 sion within six months from the date the tenant had knowledge of the 8 violation alleged in such civil action. 9 4. For the purposes of this section: 10 (a) "covered repairs" shall mean repairs to the exterior walls of a 11 building that are either (i) required pursuant to section 28-302.5 of 12 the administrative code of the city of New York and its amendments upon 13 notification to the New York city department of buildings of an unsafe 14 condition, or (ii) made in order to prevent the occurrence of an unsafe 15 condition and which, in either case, because of the building's height 16 and the nature of repairs, require the installation of a sidewalk shed 17 in accordance with section 3307.6.3 of the New York city building code. 18 (b) "sidewalk shed" shall have the same meaning as defined in section 19 27-232 of the administrative code of the city of New York. 20 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 21 have become a law.