N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 19 § 1203.5

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 45, November 2, 2024

Section 1203.5 - Compliance with an order to remedy

(a) Introduction and purpose. Section 381 of the Executive Law provides for the administration and enforcement of the Codes and authorizes the Secretary of State to promulgate regulations establishing minimum standards for such administration and enforcement. In addition, subdivision 2 of section 382 of the Executive Law provides, in part, that any person, having been served, either personally or by registered or certified mail, with an order to remedy any condition found to exist in, on, or about any building in violation of the Uniform Code, who shall fail to comply with such order within the time fixed by the regulations promulgated by the Secretary of State pursuant to subdivision 1 of section 381 of the Executive Law, such time period to be stated in the order, shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 per day of violation, or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both. The purpose of this section is to fix, for the purposes of subdivision 2 of section 382 of the Executive Law, the time within which a person or entity served with an order to remedy is required to comply with such order to remedy.

(b) Definitions. In this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(1) Order to remedy. An order to remedy any condition found to exist in, on, or about any building in violation of the Uniform Code.

(2) Comply with an order to remedy. To remedy completely each violation described in the order to remedy.

(c) Time for compliance with order to remedy. For the purposes of subdivision 2 of section 382 of the Executive Law, the time within which a person or entity served with an order to remedy is required to comply with such order to remedy is hereby fixed at 30 days following the date of such order to remedy.

(d) Statement to be included in order to remedy. For the purpose of complying with that part of subdivision 2 of section 382 of the Executive Law that provides "such time period to be stated in the order," an order to remedy shall include a statement substantially similar to the following: "The person or entity served with this Order to Remedy must completely remedy each violation described in this Order to Remedy by _____, which is thirty (30) days after the date of this Order to Remedy."

(e) Service. An order to remedy shall be served personally or by certified or registered mail within five days of the date of the order. For the purposes of this section:

(1) if an order to remedy is served personally by any authorized means that requires more than one action by the person effecting service (such as service by "delivery and mail" similar to that authorized by CPLR 308), the order to remedy shall be deemed to be served on the date on which the last required action is taken; and

(2) an order to remedy served by certified or registered mail shall be deemed to be served on the date it is mailed.

(f) Requiring immediate commencement of corrective action. Nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting any authority having jurisdiction that issues an order to remedy from including in such order to remedy provisions ordering the person or entity served with such order to remedy:

(1) to begin to remedy the violations described in the order to remedy immediately, or within some other specified period of time which may be less than 30 days; to continue diligently to remedy such violations until each such violation is fully remedied; and, in any event, to complete the remedying of all such violations within 30 days of the date of such order to remedy; and/or

(2) to take such other protective actions (such as vacating the building or barricading the area where the violations exist) which are authorized by the code enforcement program of the authority having jurisdiction or by any other applicable statute, regulation, rule, local law or ordinance, and which the authority having jurisdiction may deem appropriate, during the period while such violations are being remedied.

(g) Other means of enforcing the Uniform Code. Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring an authority having jurisdiction to issue an order to remedy in a given situation where violations of the Uniform Code are found to exist if, in the judgment of the authority having jurisdiction, such violations can be addressed adequately by the use of other enforcement tools or by other means. Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting the authority of an authority having jurisdiction to employ any other means of enforcing either or both of the Codes, including, but not limited to:

(1) issuing notices of violation;

(2) issuing appearance tickets;

(3) commencing and prosecuting an appropriate action or proceeding pursuant to that part of subdivision 2 of section 382 of the Executive Law that provides that any owner, builder, architect, tenant, contractor, subcontractor, construction superintendent or their agents or any other person taking part or assisting in the "construction" (as defined in subdivision 4 of section 372 of the Executive Law) of any building who shall knowingly violate any of the applicable provisions of the Uniform Code or any lawful order of a city, village, town, county, state agency or the Secretary of State made thereunder regarding standards for construction, maintenance, or fire protection equipment and systems, shall be subject to a fine of not more than $1,000 per day of violation, or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both for the first 180 days, and for the following 180 days shall be punishable by a fine of no less than $25 and not more than $1,000 per day of violation or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both and thereafter shall be punishable by a fine of no less than $50 and not more than $1,000 per day of violation or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both;

(4) commencing and prosecuting an appropriate action or proceeding pursuant to subdivision 3 of section 382 of the Executive Law which seeks, in a case where the construction or use of a building is in violation of any provision of the Uniform Code or any lawful order obtained thereunder, an order from a Justice of the Supreme Court, New York City civil court, a city court, district court, or county court directing the removal of the building or an abatement of the condition in violation of such provisions;

(5) commencing and prosecuting an appropriate action or proceeding pursuant to subdivision 4 of section 382 of the Executive Law that provides that where a building has been altered in violation of any provision of the uniform code or any lawful order obtained thereunder, and such alteration impedes a person's egress from such building during a fire or other emergency evacuation, the owner of such building who has knowledge of such alteration or should have had knowledge of such alteration shall be subject to a civil penalty of up to $7,500;

(6) issuing stop work orders;

(7) revoking or suspending building permits, operating permits, and/or certificates of occupancy pursuant to the procedures established in the code enforcement program of the authority having jurisdiction or pursuant to any other applicable statute, regulation, rule, local law or ordinance;

(8) commencing and prosecuting an appropriate action or proceeding to impose such criminal and/or civil sanctions as may be provided in any applicable statute, regulation, rule, local law or ordinance;

(9) condemning and/or placarding a building in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Uniform Code;

(10) taking any action authorized by the procedures for identifying and addressing unsafe structures and equipment as established in the code enforcement program of the authority having jurisdiction or by any other applicable statute, regulation, rule, local law or ordinance; or

(11) issuing orders to remedy violations of the Energy Code pursuant to subdivision (1) of section 11108 of the Energy Law.

(h) Office of Fire Prevention and Control. For the purposes of this section, the term order to remedy shall not include any order issued by the Office of Fire Prevention and Control pursuant to section 156-e of the Executive Law (or pursuant to any regulation promulgated thereunder) requiring the remedying of any condition found to exist in, on or about any building under the jurisdiction of a public college or independent college (as these terms are defined in section 807-b of the Education Law) which violates the Uniform Code. Nothing in this section shall be construed as fixing the time within which a public college or independent college shall have to comply with any such order, or as requiring any such order to include the statement prescribed in section 1203.5(d).

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 19 § 1203.5

Adopted New York State Register December 2, 2015/Volume XXXVII, Issue 48, eff. 12/2/2015

Adopted New York State Register December 29, 2021/Volume XLIII, Issue 52, eff. 12/30/2021