Sponsor · State Senator, District 37 · Democratic/Working Families
Senate bill · S10229 (2025-26)
Establishes a process for when a tenant dies and leaves an apartment unoccupied
Summary
Establishes a process for when a tenant dies and leaves an apartment unoccupied, no representative or person has taken possession of the premises, no administrator or executor has been appointed, and more than sixty days have elapsed since the date of death, a summary proceeding under this article may be commenced against the public administrator seeking a possessory judgment.
Your position on this bill
Not chosen yet
Where it stands
Assigned to a committee for review.
- Introduced
- In committee
- Up for a vote
- Passed one chamber
- Passed
- Enacted
New York State Senate
Amends the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law.
Committee
Housing, Construction And Community Development · New York State Senate
Purpose, from the sponsor's memo
Section 1 amends section 711 of the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law to allow a landlord to bring a special proceeding to regain possession of property where the tenant has died, the apartment is unoccupied, no representative or person has taken possession of the premises, no administrator or executor has been appointed, and more than sixty days have elapsed since the date of death. Section 2 establishes the effective date.
Filed with the bill. Read it on nysenate.gov (opens in a new tab)
The sponsor's argument
Why Shelley Mayer says this is needed
Prior to passage of the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) (S6458/A8281) in 2019, if a tenant died and "no representative or person ha D taken possession of the premises and no administrator or executor ha D been appointed ," the landlord was allowed to bring a special proceeding to regain possession after three months from the date of death of the tenant to regain possession. Since the HSTPA eliminated this provision, landlords currently have no mechanism by which to bring a special proceeding after the death of a tenant when the apartment is unoccupied and no estate representative has been appointed. Some residences remain vacant for long periods as a result of the demise of a tenant without family, for as long as it takes to obtain the appointment of the public administrator which may take up to two years or more. Meanwhile the residence, which could house a family in need of housing, remains vacant. This bill would allow the landlord in this situation to bring a special proceeding against the public administrator to recover possession.
This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.
Full history
- May 7, 2026
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO HOUSING, CONSTRUCTION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
NY Senate
About this record
- Summary
The summary comes from NY Open Legislation, the New York State Senate's public record. For more, see How we handle summaries.
- Source
From NY Open Legislation, the NY Senate and Assembly, and official rosters. This record was last updated Oct 21, 2026. About our data
Read the record
- Read on NY Senate (opens in a new tab) The official record on nysenate.gov.