New Housing Court fast track aims to speed relief for tenants facing dangerous conditions
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the change Tuesday, saying tenants should not have to wait months—or even years—for action when their health or safety is at risk.
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A new fast track in New York City Housing Court is designed to move urgent cases involving dangerous building conditions before a judge more quickly.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the change Tuesday, saying tenants should not have to wait months—or even years—for action when their health or safety is at risk.
The new process will prioritize qualifying cases involving major vacate orders, widespread loss of essential services, building-wide elevator outages and serious neglect that may require new building management.
For Flatbush tenant Lois Green, the announcement hits close to home. Green has lived in her apartment since 1994. She said she has dealt with old plumbing, leaks, peeling walls and repairs that can take months to complete.
“The heat is terrible. My apartment is like I’m living outside,” Green said.
Green said she is worried about spending another winter in the apartment. While it has not been established that her individual repair complaints would qualify for the fast track, she welcomed the city’s focus on severe housing problems.
“I think it’s good,” Green said. “It’s about time these mayors, higher-ups, look into our problems.”
How does the fast track work?
Under the new court directive, a qualifying case will be assigned to a judge on the same day it is filed.
Once service is completed - meaning the other side has formally received the court papers - the parties must appear in court within five days.
That does not mean the judge must decide the case within five days. It means the case should get onto the court calendar and begin moving sooner.
“We’re talking about cases where a third of the building is facing some kind of a serious violation, cases where we have elevators broken down,” Mamdani said. “And when it comes to the law, everyone has to follow it.”
The fast track applies to Housing Court cases involving at least one of the following conditions:
A vacate order affecting at least one-third of a building’s apartments or the entire building.
An open, immediately hazardous HPD Class C violation involving the loss of heat, hot water, electricity, gas or water in at least one-third of the apartments or the entire building.
All elevators in a building or one section of a building being out of service.
Property-owner group pushes back
The New York Apartment Association argues that the new system gives urgent repair cases priority while nonpayment cases continue to face long delays.
The group wants a similar fast track for property owners trying to recover unpaid rent when a tenant is at least one year behind.
“You can’t starve a building of rent for a year and then call the elevator an emergency,” association CEO Kenny Burgos wrote in a statement.
The association also said some repairs are delayed by factors outside an owner’s control, including city permits, inspections, unavailable parts and a lack of money for major work. It is asking the city to publish data showing who files fast-track cases, how quickly they move and how they are resolved.
The new process does not guarantee that tenants will win their cases or that repairs will happen immediately. Landlords will still have the opportunity to respond and present their side.
For Green, the larger issue is what tenants should receive in return for holding up their end of the rental agreement.
“So while we living here and doing the things we’re supposed to do, then y’all should make things better,” she said.
