S 6739: Standardizes the language across the relevant court acts to allow tenants statewide to sue in the county where the real property at issue is located in matters relating to a tenancy or lease; requires the Office of Court Administration to develop necessary forms, procedures and deliver a report.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6739 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE March 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 uniform city court act and the uniform justice court act, in relation to obtaining jurisdiction over certain defendants The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision (a) of section 1803 of the uniform city court 2 act, as amended by chapter 485 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read 3 as follows: 4 (a) Small claims shall be commenced upon the payment by the claimant 5 of a filing fee of fifteen dollars for claims in the amount of one thou- 6 sand dollars or less and twenty dollars for claims in the amount of more 7 than one thousand dollars, without the service of a summons and, except 8 by special order of the court, without the service of any pleading other 9 than a statement of [his] the cause of action by the claimant or someone 10 [in his] on the claimant's behalf to the clerk, who shall reduce the 11 same to a concise, written form and record it in a docket kept especial- 12 ly for such purpose. Such procedure shall provide for the sending of 13 notice of such claim by ordinary first class mail and certified mail 14 with return receipt requested to the party complained against (1) at 15 [his] their residence, if [he] such person resides within the county, 16 and [his] their residence is known to the claimant, or (2) at [his] 17 their office or place of regular employment within the county if [he] 18 such person does not reside therein or [his] their residence within the 19 county is not known to the claimant, or (3) where the claimant is or was 20 a tenant or lessee of real property owned by the defendant and the claim 21 relates to such tenancy or lease and the notice of claim cannot be sent 22 under paragraph one or two of this subdivision, at any place in the 23 [county or an adjoining county] state where claimant may mail or other- 24 wise deliver rent. If, after the expiration of twenty-one days, such 25 ordinary first class mailing has not been returned as undeliverable, the EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD01403-01-5 
 S. 6739 2 1 party complained against shall be presumed to have received notice of 2 such claim. Such notice shall include a clear description of the proce- 3 dure for filing a counterclaim, pursuant to subdivision (c) of this 4 section. 5 Such procedure shall further provide for an early hearing upon and 6 determination of such claim. No filing fee, however, shall be demanded 7 or received on small claims of employees who shall comply with [§ 1912] 8 section nineteen hundred twelve of this act which is hereby made appli- 9 cable, except that necessary mailing costs shall be paid. 10 § 2. Subdivision (a) of section 1803 of the uniform justice court act, 11 as amended by chapter 485 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read as 12 follows: 13 (a) Small claims shall be commenced upon the payment by the claimant 14 of a filing fee of ten dollars for claims in the amount of one thousand 15 dollars or less and fifteen dollars for claims in the amount of more 16 than one thousand dollars, without the service of a summons and, except 17 by special order of the court, without the service of any pleading other 18 than a statement of [his] the cause of action by the claimant or someone 19 [in his] on the claimant's behalf to the clerk, who shall reduce the 20 same to a concise, written form and record it in a filing system main- 21 tained especially for such purpose. Such procedure shall provide for the 22 sending of notice of such claim by ordinary first class mail and certi- 23 fied mail with return receipt requested to the party complained against 24 (1) at [his] their residence, if [he] such person resides within the 25 county and [his] their residence is known to the claimant, (2) at [his] 26 such person's office or place of regular employment within the munici- 27 pality if [he] such person does not reside within the county or [his] 28 their residence within the county is not known to the claimant, or (3) 29 where claimant is or was a tenant or lessee of real property owned by 30 the defendant and the claim relates to such tenancy or lease and the 31 notice of claim cannot be sent under paragraph one or two of this subdi- 32 vision, at any place in the [county or an adjoining county] state where 33 claimant may mail or otherwise deliver rent. If, after the expiration of 34 twenty-one days, such ordinary first class mailing has not been returned 35 as undeliverable, the party complained against shall be presumed to have 36 received notice of such claim. Such notice shall include a clear 37 description of the procedure for filing a counterclaim, pursuant to 38 subdivision (c) of this section. 39 Such procedure shall further provide for an early hearing upon and 40 determination of such claim. No filing fee, however, shall be demanded 41 or received on small claims of employees who shall comply with section 42 nineteen hundred twelve of this act which is hereby made applicable, 43 except that necessary mailing costs shall be paid. 44 § 3. The office of court administration shall develop necessary forms, 45 procedures, court personnel guidance and public information materials to 46 implement the provisions of this act on or before its effective date and 47 shall provide a report to the chairs of the senate judiciary committee 48 and the assembly judiciary committee detailing the measures implemented. 49 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 50 have become a law.