HPD Rules Relating to Right of Return for Basement or Cellar Residences

Comment by date: December 12, 2025

Rule Full Text
HPD-Proposed-Rules-re-Right-of-Return-for-Basement-or-Cellar-Residences.pdf

Local Law 126 of 2024, which is codified as article 507 of chapter 5 of title 28 of the administrative code, authorizes the Department of Buildings (“DOB”) to establish a program to legalize occupancy of existing basement and cellar residences in certain community districts. Owners who are enrolled in the program in accordance with DOB rules may continue to rent illegal basement or cellar residences for up to 10 years if they complete established benchmarks for legalization during such 10 year period and complete all necessary work by the end of such 10 year period, and a certificate of occupancy or temporary certificate of occupancy has been issued for such basement or cellar residence. LL 126 also provides that a tenant who occupied such a basement or cellar residence on April 20, 2024 and who must vacate such basement or cellar residence in order for the necessary work to be performed safely has the right of first return to such basement or cellar residence after the alteration work is completed. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (“HPD”) is proposing rules to establish standards and procedures to effectuate this right of first return. The proposed rules would require that an owner who is unable to safely complete necessary alteration of a basement or cellar residence with a tenant in residence provide notice to the tenant explaining the authorization for temporary residence, the date the work is expected to commence, the scope of the proposed work, and the tenant’s right of first return to the basement or cellar residence following completion of the proposed alteration. The proposed rules also include obligations that the tenant must fulfill in order to preserve their right of first return to the basement or cellar residence, including a requirement that the tenant vacate the basement or cellar residence at the required time and advise the owner at the time that they vacate of their intent to return to the basement or cellar residence.

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• Email: [email protected]
• Fax: 1 (212) 863-7010
• Mail: Department of Housing Preservation & Development, 100 Gold Street Room/Floor: 6-01 ; New York, New York 10038

Public Hearings

Attendees who need reasonable accommodation for a disability such as a sign language translation should contact the agency by calling 1 (212) 863-8340 or emailing [email protected] by December 3, 2025