Harassment of a rent regulated tenant in the second degree · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 241.02 Harassment of a rent regulated tenant in the second degree.
An owner is guilty of harassment of a rent regulated tenant in the second degree when, with intent to induce a rent regulated tenant to vacate a housing accommodation, such owner intentionally engages in a course of conduct that:
1. impairs the habitability of a housing accommodation; or
2. creates or maintains a condition which endangers the safety or health of the dwelling's tenant; or
3. is reasonably likely to interfere with or disturb, and does interfere with or disturb, the comfort, repose, peace or quiet of such rent regulated tenant in his or her use and occupancy of such housing accommodation including, but not limited to, the interruption or discontinuance of essential services. The good faith commencement and pursuit of a lawful eviction action by an owner against a rent regulated tenant in a court of competent jurisdiction shall not, by itself, constitute a "course of conduct" in violation of this subdivision.
Harassment of a rent regulated tenant in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor.
An owner commits second-degree harassment of a rent regulated tenant when, with intent to induce the tenant to vacate, the owner intentionally engages in a course of conduct that:
The offense is a class A misdemeanor. ★
Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.
This provision appears in Volume 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.