Several hundred tenants, activists, and city officials gathered on the steps of City Hall on March 13 to celebrate the enactment of a new law that gives tenants the right to take their landlord to court for harassment.

The scene downtown was animated. Tenants at the rally wielded dozens of colorful signs. One placard read “My landlord sued me, why can’t I sue him?” Another: “End landlord terror.”

Sponsors of the Tenant Protection Act, or Local Law No. 7, joked and patted each other on the back as the crowd behind them began cheering excitedly. As Council Speaker Christine Quinn took the podium, Mayor Bloomberg appeared beside her and the crowd erupted. Quinn thanked the mayor, who waved to the crowd and departed moments after arriving.

The bill was passed by the City Council 46-0. Initially, it was up against a rival bill (Intro. 638), sponsored by two local Bronx Council members, Maria Baez and Joel Rivera. Tenant advocates labeled their bill “pro-landlord,” claiming it narrowed the definition of harassment, making it harder to hold negligent landlords responsible for their actions. Intro. 638 also would have allowed landlords to sue tenants for harassment.

Last November, tenant advocates held a protest outside Baez’s Grand Concourse office. In the end, both Baez and Rivera backed down. Both ultimately voted for the pro-tenant act.

“After more than a year of hard work, I am proud to say that starting today, the Tenant Protection Act is the law of the land,” Quinn said. “We hope landlords hear the message. The days where they can harass tenants freely, those days are over.”

 Under the old legal setting, tenants were afforded little protection from landlord harassment. They could take their landlords to court only when they were deprived of essential services or the physical condition of their apartment was not up to code. The old laws did not recognize a pattern of harassing behavior by landlords.

Tenant rights advocates, including many groups from the northwest Bronx, claim landlords frequently abused this loophole to push out rent-controlled tenants and deregulate their apartments. “There was recognition by City Council that harassment was reaching a crisis level,” said Jackie Del Valle, the lead organizer for Bronx-based New Settlement Apartments. “It had always been going on, but there was a dramatic increase with the soaring housing market.”

Local Law No. 7 defines harassment as a series of actions intended to cause tenants to vacate their apartment or give up their rights. If a Housing Court judge finds a landlord guilty of harassment, he can be fined up to $5,000 and slapped with a class “C” violation, the most serious kind.

“Starting today, we will be able to assist in the preservation of existing affordable housing and ensure that tenants have new standing in housing court,” said Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito.