December 15, 2022
Co-op and condominium housing, including those in self-managed buildings, face an annual household duty. Boards have until December 31 to comply with two local laws designed to get rid of such unwanted guests as bed bugs, mice, rats, roaches and mold.
“Compliance isn’t easy,” says Robert Ferrara, president of Ferrara Management Group, which manages about 100 co-operatives, condominiums and homeowners’ associations. “This is another administrative task that makes running buildings more and more expensive.”
Here are the specifics of the two local laws:
Local Law 69: Bed Bugs. This law requires all multi-family home owners, including co-operatives and condominium managers, to attempt to obtain a bed bug infestation history from each tenant, shareholder or apartment owner, including whether eradication measures have been taken. Owners must submit an infestation and treatment report to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) by December 1-31 for the previous year, which ran November 2021-October 2022. A report must be submitted even if there is no evidence of bed bugs.
The online portal for the annual submission can be found here.
The report must include the total number of units, the number of units that reported infestation, the number of units that had eradication action taken, and the number of units that had reinfestation following eradication action. HPD makes the reported information available online as required by law.
(Like what you’re reading? Click here to get free Habitat newsletters delivered to your inbox.)
Local Law 55: Rats, Mice, Cockroaches and Mold. This law, the Asthma-Free Housing Act, requires owners of multi-unit residential buildings with three or more units to inspect all units annually for indoor allergen hazards such as mice, roaches, rats and mold. And it requires safely fixing the conditions that are causing these issues.
HPD’s rules provide work practices to be followed by property owners when carrying out work to eliminate indoor allergen hazards. The Rules also provide a sample form that owners can use to notify tenants as required by law, as well as procedures for submitting certification of the correction of such violations and requesting a postponement of the period for correction.
Directors are required to: conduct annual inspections of all units and common areas; Eliminate asthma triggers when homes change hands; Use integrated pest management techniques to identify the source of pest infestations, such as B. moisture, to address and eliminate them. Hire a mold assessor and remediator licensed by the State Department of Labor to troubleshoot mold conditions.
Everything you need to know to avoid fines based on local laws is included in Habitat Group’s 2023 New York City Apartment Management Checklist.
