Written notice will only be required for tenants in close proximity to the infestation
NY to Require Landlords to Notify Tenants of Bedbugs within 72 Hours
Landlords across New York state will soon be required to notify tenants when bedbugs have infested their building.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill on Friday that requires building owners and lessors to provide written notice soon after they’re informed of an infestation.
But the Democratic governor signed the bill only after striking a deal with lawmakers to give landlords more time to provide notice. Now, notice has to go out within 72 hours — up from the original 24 hours.
Written notice will only be required for tenants that are in close proximity to the infestation or who are otherwise at risk, according to the governor. Other tenants in the building can be notified by a publicly posted notice if the infestation reaches a common area.
That’s another change from the original bill, which required written notice to all tenants.
“I have reached an agreement with the Legislature to enact these changes in the upcoming legislative session,” Hochul wrote in her approval message. “On the basis of this agreement, I am pleased to sign this bill into law.”
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A pair of Democrats from the Bronx — state Assemblymember Chantel Jackson and state Sen. Luis Sepulveda — sponsored the bill, which lawmakers passed earlier this year.
When the state Assembly approved the measure in May, Jackson pointed back to the mass bedbug infestation that hit New York City in 2010.
“We were wrapping everything back in plastic,” she said on the Assembly floor. “We shut down our movie theaters. We had to buy covers for our beds and our pillows to protect us at night.”
Jackson continued: ”The only thing this bill is asking us to do is to be good neighbors, good landlords and alert the people around us.”
Some Republicans pushed back, including Assemblymember Andy Goodell of western New York, who felt the notification was too stringent and didn’t do enough to require tenants to cooperate with landlords to eradicate bedbugs by washing their linens and clothes.
“If the tenant’s not willing to cooperate, the landlord is just putting up notices: Welcome to my building, Apartment 1A has a bedbug infestation,” Goodell said.
The new law will add to reporting requirements that are already in effect in New York City.
When a tenant rents an apartment in the five boroughs, the landlord is already required to provide a history of any bedbug infestations within the building over the prior year at the time the lease is signed, according to local law.
The new state law technically takes effect Dec. 22, though lawmakers will have to approve the changes negotiated with the governor after they return to Albany in January.
Source: Gothamist
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