[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village
of Walden as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
[Adopted 10-4-2016 by L.L. No. 8-2016]
A.
A special summary proceeding to evict a tenant from leased premises
may be maintained upon the grounds that the premises, or any part
thereof, have been used or occupied for the purpose of using or possessing
drugs deemed by New York State Penal Law to be illegal by their nature,
quantity, possession, or use (hereinafter "illegal drugs").
B.
For the purposes of this article, the term "tenant," in addition
to its ordinary meaning, shall include an occupant of one or more
rooms in a rooming house or a resident, not including a transient
occupant, of one or more rooms in a hotel who has been in possession
for 30 consecutive days or longer.
The procedures applicable to summary proceedings to recover
possession of real property under New York State law shall be applicable
to any proceeding brought under this article.
A.
The following persons, corporations or agencies may serve personally
upon the owner or landlord, or upon his agent, of demised real property
used or occupied in whole or in part for the use or possession of
illegal drugs a written notice requiring the owner or landlord to
make an application for the removal of the person(s) so using or occupying
the premises:
(1)
Any domestic corporation organized for the suppression of vice, subject
to or which submits to visitation by the State Department of Social
Services and possesses a certificate of such fact of conformity with
the regulations of the State Department of Social Services.
(2)
Any duly authorized enforcement agency or person of the state or
of a subdivision thereof, under a duty to enforce the provisions of
the Penal Law or of any state or local law, ordinance, code, rule
or regulation relating to buildings.
B.
If the owner or landlord or his agent does not make such application
for removal within 15 days after the date of the mailing of the notice,
or having made it, does not in good faith diligently prosecute it,
the person, corporation or enforcement agency giving the notice may
bring a proceeding under this article for such removal as though the
petitioner were the owner or landlord of the premises, and shall have
precedence over any similar proceeding thereafter brought by such
owner or landlord or to one theretofore brought by him and not prosecuted
diligently and in good faith.
C.
Proof of the existence, use or sale of illegal drugs on the premises
shall constitute presumptive evidence of the unlawful use of the demised
premises required to be stated in the petition for removal. Both the
person(s) in possession of the property and the owner or landlord
shall be made respondents in the proceedings.
Two or more convictions of any person or persons, within a period
of one year, for any of the offenses defined in Articles 220 and 221
of the Penal Law arising out of conduct engaged in at the same real
property consisting of a dwelling as that term is defined in § 4,
Subdivision 4, of the Multiple Dwellings Law shall be presumptive
evidence of conduct constituting use and occupancy of the premises
for the purpose of using and possessing illegal drugs and of the tenant's
knowledge thereof.
A court granting a petition pursuant to this article may, in
addition to any other order provided by law, make an order imposing
and requiring the payment by the respondent of a civil penalty not
exceeding $5,000 to the municipality in which the subject premises
is located and the payment of reasonable attorneys' fees and
the costs of the proceeding to the petitioner. In any such case, multiple
respondents shall be jointly and severally liable for any payment
so ordered, and the amounts of such payments shall constitute a lien
upon the subject realty.
