If you own a mixed-use building with retail tenants, you may be interested to know about a recent federal decision from the Southern District of New York. In July, two commercial landlords sued the city over laws passed to protect retail tenants during the pandemic. The federal lawsuit challenged a package of laws passed by the City Council and signed by the mayor to protect small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mayor Bill de Blasio recently signed into law Intro. 1339-A, which requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to provide information to CityFHEPS rental assistance applicants about income discrimination at the time an applicant receives a “shopping letter” from DSS. CityFHEPS is a rental assistance supplement to help individuals and families find and keep housing.

New York Attorney General Letitia James recently announced agreements in four cases involving developers failing to comply with rent stabilization requirements. The 421-a program provides partial property tax exemptions to real estate developers that build qualifying new housing in New York City.

The DOB launched an online Service Levels Tracker, a new tool that allows New Yorkers to see average wait times for DOB services. While this information has been available to the public in different forms over the years, DOB’s new tracker puts it all in one location, with clear explanations of the different DOB metrics. The dashboard can be found here.

New York State’s Division of Homes and Community Renewal recently issued a report on the status of the state’s COVID-19 rent relief program. Nearly $40 million will be distributed to more than 15,000 households through the program. This includes $23.2 million already distributed and about $16.8 million in currently pending payments.

On Oct. 1, 2020, HPD announced the start of the 2020 – 2021 heat season, in which all residential building owners are required to maintain specific indoor temperatures. From Oct. 1, 2020, through May 31, 2021, building owners must maintain indoor temperatures at 68 degrees when outdoor temperatures are below 55 degrees during the daytime and a minimum of 62 degrees indoors overnight regardless of the outdoor temperature. Hot water must be provided at 120 degrees y...

On Sept. 28, 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed Local Law 98. Sponsored by Council Member Carlina Rivera, this law amends Local Law 55 of 2020, which temporarily prevents the enforcement of personal liability provisions in commercial lease or rental agreements involving tenants impacted by COVID-19.              

On Oct. 5, Gov. Andrew Cuomo extended the ban on the city’s tax lien sale for another month. This is the fourth postponement since the start of the pandemic. The governor signed an executive order delaying lien sales statewide through Nov. 3. Without the order, the city’s lien sale on overdue property taxes and water and sewer bills could have resumed in early October.

The DOB recently announced that it has extended the Facade Amnesty Program for Cycle 8 filings through Oct. 31, 2020. The amnesty program is open only to non-compliant Cycle 8 owners and won’t be extended again according to the DOB service notice.

For owners who are required to submit a Cycle 8 Facade Report and didn’t submit one, the amnesty period allows f...

If your building includes commercial tenants, be aware that New York’s moratorium on COVID-related commercial foreclosures and evictions will be in place until at least Oct. 20. The moratorium was set to expire Sept. 30, but Governor Cuomo recently signed a new executive order extending the ban for another month. This measure extends protections already in place for commercial tenants and mortgagors in recognition of the financial toll the pandemic has taken on bu...