Establishes a private right of action for deed theft

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Jabari Brisport says this is needed

"Deed theft" is the tactic of using fraudulent or misleading tactics to take the title, or deed, to another person's home without the homeown- er's knowledge or approval. As real estate capital has flooded into rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods of New York, this tactic has been increasingly used to separate elderly homeowners and homeowners of color-especially Black and Brown homeowners-from their homes. However, under existing law, the complexity of these types of cases (often involving intricate fraudulent schemes), and the fact that most impacted persons are elderly or low-income, has led to a problem where the deed thieves can typically outmaneuver their victims in court. This legis- lation seeks to level the playing field, and give New Yorkers the abili- ty to fight back against deed theft in court. On October 27, 2022, the New York State Senate held a public hearing to explore the problem of deed theft. At this hearing, the imbalance between deed thieves and their victims was repeatedly highlighted by the witnesses as a major obstacle to achieving just results in court. Witnesses at that hearing testified that deed theft victims are typical- ly "cash poor and they don't have the ability to hire an attorney and fight for their rights." On the other hand, "the people that steal these deeds generally tend to be very wealthy and employ some of the best attorneys to frustrate" their victims. Accordingly, this legislation seeks to level the playing field by directing courts to consider the relative sophistication of the parties, to award attorneys' fees to deed theft victims who prevail, and to also provide for treble damages in appropriate circumstances to compensate victims and allow them to pursue these types of cases in court. At the October 2022 hearing, the Attorney General's office recommended that the legislature should consider "strengthening protections against unfair and deceptive business practices." Likewise, witnesses testified that "much of the predatory activity is not clearly criminal or is too difficult to prove" under current legal standards. Accordingly, this legislation also explicitly provides a private right of action in cases where there have been "unfair and deceptive" business practices by deed thieves.

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.