[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees
of the Village of Alexandria Bay 8-13-1991 as L.L. No. 5-1991. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
For the purpose of providing and ensuring fair
housing opportunities for all within the Village of Alexandria Bay,
the Village Board of the Village of Alexandria Bay, in the County
of Jefferson, State of New York, under the authority of the General
Municipal and Village Laws, hereby obtains, enacts and publishes this
chapter.
A.
For the purpose of this chapter, certain words or
phrases herein shall be interpreted as follows, except where the context
clearly indicates the contrary: words used in the singular include
the plural, words used in the present tense include the future tense,
the word "person" includes a corporation as well as an individual
and the word "shall" is always mandatory.
B.
DISCRIMINATORY HOUSING PRACTICE
DWELLING
FAMILY
PERSON
TO RENT
For the purpose of this chapter, certain terms or
words herein shall be interpreted as follows:
Any building, structure or portion thereof which is occupied
as, or designed or intended for occupancy as, a residence by one or
more families and any vacant land which is offered for sale or lease
for the construction or location thereon of any such building, structure
or portion thereof.
Includes a single individual.
Includes one or more individuals, corporations, partnerships,
associations, labor organizations, legal representatives, mutual companies,
joint-stock companies, trusts, unincorporated organizations, trustees,
trustees in bankruptcy, receivers and fiduciaries.
Includes to lease, to sublease, to let and otherwise to grant
for a consideration the right to occupy premises not owned by the
occupant.
Except as exempted by § 73-6 or 73-7, it shall be unlawful within the Village of Alexandria Bay, New York:
A.
To refuse to sell or rent after the making of a bona
fide offer or to refuse to negotiate for the sale or rental of or
otherwise make unavailable or deny a dwelling to any person because
of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national
origin.
B.
To discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions
or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling or in the provision
of services or facilities in connection therewith because of race,
color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.
C.
To make, print or publish or cause to be made, printed
or published any notice, statement or advertisement with respect to
the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation
or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial
status or national origin or an intention to make any such preference,
limitation or discrimination.
D.
To represent to any person, because of race, color,
religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, that
any dwelling is not available for inspection, sale or rental when
such dwelling is in fact so available.
E.
For profit, to induce or attempt to induce any person
to sell or rent any dwelling by representations regarding the entry
or prospective entry into the neighborhood of a person or persons
of a particular race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status
or national origin.
It shall be unlawful within the Village of Alexandria Bay, New York, for any bank, building and loan association, insurance company or other corporation, association, firm or enterprise whose business consists, in whole or in part, in the making of commercial real estate loans to deny a loan or other financial assistance to a person applying therefor for the purpose of purchasing, constructing, improving, repairing or maintaining a dwelling or to discriminate against him in the fixing of the amount, interest rate, duration or other terms or conditions of such loan or other financial assistance because of the race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin of such person or of any person associated with him in connection with such loan or other financial assistance or the purposes of such loan or other financial assistance or of the present or prospective owners, lessees, tenants or occupants of the dwelling or dwellings in relation to which such loan or other financial assistance is to be made or given, provided that nothing contained in this section shall impair the scope or effectiveness of the exception in § 73-6 or 73-7.
It shall be unlawful within the Village of Alexandria
Bay, New York, to deny any person access to or membership or participation
in any multiple listing service, real estate broker's organization
or other service, organization or facility relating to the business
of selling or renting dwellings or to discriminate against him in
the terms or conditions of such access, membership or participation
on account of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status
or national origin.
A.
(1)
Any single-family house sold or rented by an owner, provided that such private individual owner does not own more than three such single-family houses at any one time; provided, further, that in the case of the sale of any such single-family house by a private individual owner not residing in such house at the time of such sale or who was not the recent resident of such house prior to such sale, the exception granted by this subsection shall apply only with respect to one such sale within any twenty-four-month period; provided, further, that such bona fide private individual owner does not own any interest in, nor is there owned or reserved on his behalf under any express or voluntary agreement, title to any right to all or a portion of the proceeds from the sale or rental of more than three such single-family houses at one time; provided, further, that the sale or rental of any such single-family house shall be excepted from the application of this chapter only if such house is sold or rented without the use in any manner of the sales or rental facilities or the sales or rental services of any real estate broker, agent or salesman or of such facilities or services of any person in the business of selling or renting dwellings or of any employee or agent of any such broker, agent, salesman or person and without the publication, posting or mailing, after notice, of any advertisement or written notice in violation of § 73-3, but nothing in this proviso shall prohibit the use of attorneys, escrow agents, abstractors, title companies and other such professional assistance as may be necessary to perfect or transfer the title; or
(2)
Rooms or units in dwellings containing living quarters
occupied or intended to be occupied by no more than four families
living independently of each other, if the owner actually maintains
and occupies one of such living quarters as his residence.
B.
For the purpose of this exemption, a person shall
be deemed to be in the business of selling or renting dwellings if:
(1)
He has, within the preceding 12 months, participated
as principal in three or more transactions involving the sale or rental
of any dwelling or any interest therein;
(2)
He has, within the preceding 12 months, participated
as agent, other than in the sale of his own personal residence, in
providing sales or rental facilities or sales or rental services in
two or more transactions involving the sale or rental of any dwelling
or any interest therein; or
(3)
He is the owner of any dwelling designed or intended
for occupancy by or occupied by five or more families.
Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit a religious
organization, association or society or any nonprofit institution
or organization operated, supervised or controlled by or in conjunction
with a religious organization, association or society from limiting
the sale, rental or occupancy of dwellings which it owns or operates
for other than a commercial purpose to persons of the same religion
or from giving preference to such persons, unless membership in such
religion is restricted on account of race, color, sex, handicap, familial
status or national origin. Nor shall anything in this chapter prohibit
a private club, not in fact open to the public, which, as an incident
to its primary purpose or purposes, provides lodgings which it owns
or operates for other than a commercial purpose from limiting the
rental of occupancy of such lodgings to its members or from giving
preference to its members.
The authority and responsibility for publicizing,
administering and enforcing this chapter shall be the Village Fair
Housing Officer, to be designated by the Mayor of the Village of Alexandria
Bay, New York.
A.
Violations of this chapter shall be reported in person
or in writing to the Village Attorney or the Village Fair Housing
Officer within one year of the alleged discriminatory housing practice.
B.
Where sufficient cause exists to believe that the
terms of this chapter have been violated, the Fair Housing Officer
shall institute a suit in Village Court against the alleged violator
within 120 days following the issuance of the charge.
Where a person or organization has been found,
after a trial on the merits, in violation of this chapter, a fine
shall be imposed on such person or organization not to exceed $1,000
for a first offense, $2,500 for a second offense and $5,000 for a
third offense. The minimum fine for violations of this chapter shall
be $100 for a first offense and $250 for each additional offense.
Each and every separate violation of this chapter shall be deemed
an offense for the purpose of imposing the appropriate fine.
The Village Board may, on its own initiative
or on petition, amend, supplement or repeal the provisions of this
chapter in conformity with applicable law after public notice and
hearing.
In their interpretation and application, the
provisions of this chapter shall be held to be minimum requirements
adopted for the promotion of the public health, morals, safety or
the general welfare. Whenever the requirements of this chapter are
at variance with the requirements of any other lawfully adopted rules,
regulations or ordinances, the most restrictive, or that imposing
the highest standards, shall govern.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited
as the "Village of Alexandria Bay Fair Housing Law."
