[HISTORY: Adopted by the Common Council of the City of Ithaca 4-1-1998
by Ord. No. 98-3. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The Common Council finds that:
A.
The Common Council of the City of Ithaca is concerned
about the use of rental properties located within the city for the purposes
of illegal drug use, possession and sale;
B.
These illegal acts have a deleterious effect upon the
neighborhoods in which the properties are located; and
C.
The remedies provided in § 715 of the New York
State Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law do not adequately address
the problems resulting from the aforementioned illegal acts; and the District
Attorney of Tompkins County is willing to proceed with evictions pursuant
to the attached Ordinance for Eviction for Illegal Drug Use and Possession.
A special proceeding to evict a tenant from leased premises may be maintained
upon the ground that the premises, or any part thereof, have been used or
occupied for the purpose of using or possessing illegal drugs. For purposes
of this section, 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 state law shall be applicable to any proceeding brought
under this chapter.
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 from such Department of such
fact and of conformity with regulations of the Department.
(2)
Any duly authorized enforcement agency 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 within five days thereafter; 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 chapter 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. Proof of the ill repute of the demised premises or of the
occupants thereof or of those resorting thereto 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 proceeding.
Two or more convictions of any person or persons had, within a period
of one year, for any of the offenses defined in Articles 220 or 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 Subdivision 4 of Section 4 of the
Multiple Dwelling 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 knowledge thereof.
A court granting a petition pursuant to this section 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.
