Buttenschon, Griffo want to protect tenants from 'careless' out-of-state landlords

Assemblywoman Marianne Buttenschon, D-Marcy, and state Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-Rome, want to make sure that tenants don’t have to leave their homes because of irresponsible absentee landlords.

That’s what almost happened earlier this month.

Millenia, owner of the Mary D. Buck Memorial Apartments in Whitesboro, owed $37,000 in overdue payments to the Mohawk Valley Water Authority. The firm faced a March 15 deadline to pay before the authority would have begun the process to shut off water to the apartments.

Residents would have been forced to leave. But the bill was paid just in time.

“What occurred at the Buck Apartments is completely unacceptable and cannot be allowed to happen again,” Buttenschon said in a statement. “In response to the mismanagement of the apartments, I am announcing legislation to hold out-of-state owners of residential housing units that receive public funding accountable.

“This legislation would require out-of-state owners of multi-unit residential housing that accepts public funding to put down 50% of the utility cost and tax obligation into an escrow account to ensure that the bills are paid."

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There have been other cases in which out-of-state businesses leave large residential properties in disrepair or fail to pay utility bills for them, leaving residents in unsafe conditions, Griffo said in the statement.

“The owners of these properties need to know that this practice of buying up these buildings and neglecting them and those who live in them is not acceptable,” he said. “This legislation will protect tenants and prevent them from potentially being displaced due to careless property owners who are not based in New York.”

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Buttenschon, Griffo propose escrow for absentee landlords