Residential Tenant Harassment

It is illegal for your landlord to force you to leave your apartment or give up your rights as a tenant. Such conduct may be considered unlawful harassment, which can include the following:

• Refusing to offer you a lease or a lease renewal for rent-regulated tenants;
• Locking you out illegally;
• Sending you eviction notices when you are not in default under your lease;
• Threats or intimidation, such as late-night telephone calls;
• Overcharging you for a rent-regulated apartment;
• Failing to provide you with necessary repairs or utilities, such as heat and hot water; or
• Causing construction-related problems, such as blocking entrances, failing to remove debris and construction dust or working after hours.

In addition, if you are a rent-regulated tenant, it is also considered harassment if your landlord:

• Repeatedly offers to buy you out of your lease;
• Threatens or intimidates you in connection with a buyout;
• Contacts you at work about a buyout without your permission;
• Provides you with false information in connection with a buyout offer; or
• Contacts you about a buyout within 180 days of receiving written notice that you do not want to be contacted about it.

If a court finds that your landlord has harassed you, it may issue a restraining order against the landlord to prevent further harassment. The court may also impose a penalty of $1,000 to $10,000 against the landlord. The fines can increase if a previous finding of harassment was made against the same landlord within the past five years after March 29, 2015.

Legal Editor: Darryl M. Vernon, October 2016 (updated February 2018)