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The council of the city of New York finds that public nuisances exist in the city in flagrant violation of the building code, zoning resolution, health laws, multiple dwelling law, penal laws regulating prostitution and related conduct, licensing laws, laws relating to the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages, laws relating to gambling, controlled substances and dangerous drugs and penal laws relating to the possession of stolen property, all of which interfere with the quality of life, property values and the public health, safety, and welfare; the council further finds that the continued occurrence of such activities and violations is detrimental to the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the city and of the businesses thereof and visitors thereto. It is the purpose of the council to create one standardized procedure for securing legal and equitable remedies relating to the subject matter encompassed by this law, without prejudice to the use of procedures available under existing and subsequently enacted laws, and to strengthen existing laws on the subject.
(Am. L.L. 2017/041, 3/18/2017, eff. 5/17/2017)
The following are declared to be public nuisances:
(a) Any building, erection or place, including one- or two-family dwellings, used for the purpose of prostitution as defined in section 230.00 of the penal law. Two or more criminal convictions of persons for acts of prostitution in the building, erection or place, including one- or two-family dwellings, within the one-year period preceding the commencement of an action under this chapter, shall be presumptive evidence that the building, erection or place, including one- or two-family dwellings, is a public nuisance. In any action under this subdivision, evidence of the common fame and general reputation of the building, erection or place, including one- or two-family dwellings, of the inmates or occupants thereof, or of those resorting thereto, shall be competent evidence to prove the existence of the public nuisance. If evidence of the general reputation of the building, erection or place, including one- or two-family dwellings, or of the inmates or occupants thereof, is sufficient to establish the existence of the public nuisance, it shall be prima facie evidence of knowledge thereof and acquiescence and participation therein and responsibility for the nuisance, on the part of the owners, lessors, lessees and all those in possession of or having charge of, as agent or otherwise, or having any interest in any form in the property, real or personal, used in conducting or maintaining the public nuisance;
(b) [Reserved.]
(c) [Reserved.]
(d) Any building, erection or place, other than a one- or two-family dwelling classified in occupancy group J-3 pursuant to section 27-237 of the code or in occupancy group R-3 pursuant to section 310.1.3 of the New York city building code, which is in violation of any of the following provisions of the code: article four of subchapter one of chapter one of title 27; article 102, 105, 108, or 118 of chapter 1 of title 28; article 210 of chapter 2 of title 28; article 301 or 302 of chapter 3 of title 28; or section 28-207.2. A conviction, as defined in subdivision thirteen of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law, of persons for offenses, as defined in subdivision one of section 10.00 of the penal law, in violation of the aforesaid provisions of this code in the building, erection or place within the period of one-year preceding the commencement of an action under this chapter, shall be presumptive evidence that the building, erection or place is a public nuisance;
(e) Any building, erection or place, other than a one- or two-family dwelling classified in occupancy group J-3 pursuant to section 27-237 of this code, which is a nuisance as defined in section 17-142 of this code or which is an infected and uninhabitable house as defined in section 17-159 of this code or which is in violation of subdivision two of section 16-118 of this code;
(f) Any building, erection or place, including one- or two-family dwellings, used for the purpose of a business, activity or enterprise which is not licensed as required by law;
(g) Any building, erection or place, including one- or two-family dwellings, wherein, within the period of one year prior to the commencement of an action under this chapter, there have occurred three or more violations of one or any combination of the provisions of penal law article 220, except for section 220.03; article 221, except for sections 221.05, 221.10, 221.15, 221.35, and 221.40; or article 225; or section 10-203 of this code; provided that at least one such violation was personally witnessed by a police or peace officer;
(h) Any building, erection or place, including one- or two-family dwellings, wherein, within the period of one year prior to the commencement of an action brought under this chapter, there have occurred at least four instances of the unlawful activities described in section 123 of the alcoholic beverage control law, where a reasonable person would or should have been aware that such unlawful activity was occurring. The physical absence of a person from such building, erection or place shall not alone establish that such person would or should not have been aware that such unlawful activity was occurring. Notwithstanding the foregoing, only one instance of such unlawful activity shall be required if the building, erection or place was not licensed as required by the alcohol beverage control law;
(i) [Reserved.]
(j) [Reserved.]
(k) Any building, erection or place, including one- or two-family dwellings, wherein there exists or is occurring a violation of the zoning resolution;
(l) Any building, erection or place, including one- or two-family dwellings, wherein there is occurring a criminal nuisance as defined in section 240.45 of the penal law;
(m) Any building, erection or place, including one- or two-family dwellings, wherein, within the period of one year prior to the commencement of an action under this chapter, there have occurred two or more violations on the part of the lessees, owners, operators, or occupants, of one or any combination of the following provisions: sections 165.40, 165.45, 165.50, 170.65, 170.70 or 175.10 of the penal law or section four hundred fifteen-a of the vehicle and traffic law;
(n) Any building, erection or place, including one- or two-family dwellings, in which a security guard, as defined in subdivision six of section eighty nine-f of the general business law, is employed in violation of one or more of the following provisions: the alcoholic beverage control law or sections 27-525.1, 10-177 or 28-117.4 of this code;
(o) [Reserved.]
(p) [Reserved.]
(q) [Reserved.]
(r) Any building, erection or place, including one- or two-family dwellings, used for the creation, production, storage or sale of a false identification document, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 1028(d), a forged instrument, as defined in subdivision seven of section 170.00 of the penal law, or a forgery device, as that term is used in section 170.40 of the penal law. It shall be presumptive evidence that the building, erection or place, including one- or two-family dwellings, is a public nuisance if there have occurred, within the one-year period preceding the commencement of an action under this chapter, two or more violations constituting separate occurrences on the part of the lessees, owners, operators or occupants of one or any combination of the following provisions: paragraph one, five or eight of 18 U.S.C. 1028(a), section 170.05, 170.10, 170.15 or 170.40 of the penal law or, under circumstances evincing an intent to sell or distribute a forged instrument, section 170.20, 170.25 or 170.30 of the penal law.
(Am. L.L. 2015/096, 10/20/2015, eff. 12/19/2015; Am. L.L. 2017/034, 3/18/2017, eff. 5/17/2017; Am. L.L. 2017/037, 3/18/2017, eff. 5/17/2017; Am. L.L. 2017/041, 3/18/2017, eff. 5/17/2017; Am. L.L. 2017/044, 3/18/2017, eff. 5/17/2017; Am. L.L. 2017/214, 11/27/2017, eff. 3/27/2018)
(a) The corporation counsel shall bring and maintain a civil proceeding in the name of the city in the supreme court of the county in which the building, erection or place is located to permanently enjoin the public nuisances, defined in subdivisions (a), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (k), (l), (m), (n), and (r) of section 7-703, in the manner provided in subchapter two of this chapter.
(b) The corporation counsel shall bring and maintain a civil proceeding in the name of the city, in the supreme court of the county in which the building, erection or place is located to recover a civil penalty in relation to the public nuisances defined in subdivisions (b) and (c) of section 7-703 of this chapter, in the manner provided in subchapter three of this chapter.
(Am. L.L. 2017/041, 3/18/2017, eff. 5/17/2017)
Subchapter 2: [Remedies for Public Nuisances Generally; Permanent Injunction]
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