The City Council plans on Wednesday to approve legislation that would stiffen penalties for landlords who violate city heat laws, aiming to curtail any economic incentive for building owners to withhold heat and hot water from tenants.
The legislation was sponsored by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, the city’s chief government watchdog; it will be the first he’s introduced since taking office in 2010 to pass the council. Mayor Michael Bloomberg plans to sign the bill into law, an aide confirmed Monday.
Between Oct. 1 and Sunday, the city received 172,062 heat complaints and issued 9,042 violations, according to records from the Department of Housing Preservation & Development. That’s up from the same period the year before, when the city received 169,144 complaints and issued 8,642 violations.
Currently, the law allows for a maximum fine of $500 per unit, per day for a first violation and a maximum fine of $1,000 per unit, per day for subsequent violations within the same calendar year.
The new legislation aims to extend the period during which subsequent violations are subject to the higher fine to two years, rather than one year stipulated in current law.
The bill targets roughly 950 buildings that are considered repeat offenders.
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