The Manhattan law firm of Himmelstein Gribben & Joseph has long been a New York City mainstay for its proven advocacy of broad-based tenants challenged by unfair – and often unlawful – landlord actions.

We duly note on our website that our practiced legal team diligently represents those individuals and entities across a universe of concerns. Our tenants’-rights work spans matters that encompass “eviction, rent increases, maintenance issues and other infringements.”

As to that above-cited “broad-based” tenant reference, it includes both residential and commercial parties. Today’s blog post spotlights a recent legal development that centrally affects the latter group.

Namely, that is pro-tenant legislation passed last fall by the New York City Council, and enacted into law, that shores up and strengthens safeguards for city business owners against bad-faith landlord conduct.

The new law was broadly endorsed by lawmakers. A media report discussing its specifics notes that, among things, the enactment most principally “broadens the definition of commercial tenant harassment and [increases] the fines against landlords.”

In fact, the exactions against harassing behavior will be materially spiked going forward.

To wit: The present ceiling amount of $10,000 that can be imposed against a landlord harassing a commercial tenant will jump to a five-fold increase of $50,000.

The law enumerates a number of types of actions that qualify as commercial tenant harassment. Those include construction work that purposefully seeks to interfere with a tenant’s business and landlords’ threats against a lessee.