Update on Reasonable Accommodations Disclosure
Last week, we issued an advisory regarding a recent amendment to NYS Human Rights Law §296 that requires housing providers to “disclose to all tenants and prospective tenants of their right to request reasonable modifications and accommodations if they have a disability. . . ” (the Disclosure). In our advisory, we advised that the Disclosure had to be delivered to all tenants and prospective tenants (a) by April 2, 2021, or (b) within 30 days of the beginning of a tenancy.
Subsequently, that amendment was repealed and replaced with a similar law. The new law requires the New York State Division of Human Rights (DHR) to promulgate regulations that would set forth requirements for compliance.
Since DHR has not yet published these regulations, it will not be enforcing the deadline for distribution of the Disclosure. If you have already circulated the Disclosure, there is no need to do anything further at this time. If you have not yet distributed it, we recommend holding off.
Once the new regulations have been adopted, we will provide further guidance regarding the new requirements and compliance.