LEGISLATIVE ALERT
ATTENTION NYC RESIDENTS
NYC PETS IN HOUSING /INTRO. NO. 380

Knowing of your concern for animals, we are hoping you will take a few
moments to contact the legislators listed below to urge them to
support Intro. No. 380 to expand the rights of people to keep their
companion animals in multiple dwelling apartments in New York City.

Existing NYC law provides that if a tenant has kept a pet openly for 3
months or more with the knowledge of the landlord or landlord's agent,
and within this 3 month period the landlord does not commence a legal
action to enforce the no-pet clause, the no-pet clause is deemed
waived. Until the last few years, this meant that once the no-pet
clause was waived, it was waived forever for that tenant. More
recently, courts have given landlords the 3 month opportunity to
enforce the no-pet clause for each animal the tenant obtains. Thus, if
an animal dies and the tenant gets another animal, the landlord has an
additional 3 month period to enforce the no-pet clause.

Intro. No. 380, introduced by NYC Councilwoman Melinda Katz, states
that once a landlord waives the no-pet clause in a tenant's lease, it
is waived for the duration of the tenant's occupancy in the apartment,
not simply for the lifetime of any particular animal. Intro. No. 380
also states that persons 62 years of age or older cannot be denied
occupancy in or be subject to eviction from a multiple dwelling
apartment on the sole ground that they keep companion animals. (They
would not need to prove that they had the animal for 3 months.)

All too often, people are put in the untenable position of having to
give up their apartments or their pets, not because their pets are
creating a nuisance but simply because their landlords have suddenly
decided not to allow pets (or the landlords decided to use no-pet
clauses as an excuse to get long term tenants who are paying low rents
to move). I'm sure you can imagine the heartbreak for these people and
their companion animals. For example, Larry Ostrow, a senior citizen,
was ordered by court to remove his beloved 10 pound dog, Waldo, from
his apartment, not because of any nuisance but simply because of a
violation of a no-pet lease clause. Mr. Ostrow moved into the
apartment with a dog and had kept a dog in the same apartment for the
more than 20 years he lived there. Yet, since the landlord brought the
proceeding against Mr. Ostrow within 3 months of him bringing Waldo
into the apartment, the landlord won!

In your letters you may wish to mention that:

   * Tenants with well-behaved pets should not be placed in the
position of having to choose between their apartments or their pets;
   * Tenants in public housing are already allowed to have pets
pursuant to federal law;
   * Numerous studies point to the health benefits, both physical and
emotional, that people derive from having companion animals;
   * Approximately 40,000 animals are killed at NYC shelters each
year. Intro. No. 380 will save the lives of animals who might
otherwise be abandoned or brought to already overburdened shelters.
Why should beloved pets be killed? No-pet policies promote this end
result by adding to the numbers of animals brought to shelters and by
reducing adoptions of homeless animals;
   * Many senior citizens who want to move from their apartments
because they live in substandard housing or to be closer to relatives
are reluctant to do so for fear that they will be evicted if they take
their beloved pets along.

CONTACT INFORMATION

   * Councilman Gifford Miller: Phone: 212-788-7210; Fax:
212-788-7207;
     E-Mail: miller@council.nyc.ny.us (Councilman Miller is Speaker
of the Council and is in a key position to move this bill.)
   * Councilwoman Madeline Provenzano: Phone: 212-788-7375; Fax:
718-518-8443; E-Mail: provenzano@council.nyc.ny.us (Councilwoman
Provenzano is chair of the Housing Committee.)
   * Councilwoman Melinda Katz: (Tell her to make this bill a
priority and thank her for her sponsorship): Phone: 212-788-6982; Fax:
212-788-7052; E-Mail: katz@council.nyc.ny.us
   * Your own councilmember: (If you do not know the name of your
councilmember or need contact information, go to www.council.nyc.ny.us
* You may write to all councilmembers at City Hall, New York, NY 10007

Phil