New York, NY —

It has been about a year since the passage of a law giving tenants the right to sue landlords for harassment. Building owners fought to repeal it because of concerns the courts would be overwhelmed with frivolous lawsuits. As of mid-February 350 claims have been filed. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez has more.

REPORTER: The harassment claims are a small fraction of the 8,500 tenant actions filed each year, that's according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

The agency supported passage of the law and says so far 33 claims went in favor of tenants and 113 in favor of owners, and most were decided not on the merits but instead on technicalities, or by one side not showing up for court.

Tenant advocates had pushed for the law saying it was needed to protect tenants whose landlords were withholding services or filing frivolous court actions in order to push them out of rent-stabilized buildings.

While a handful of those cases are pending, housing officials say most claims have been based on personal disputes involving verbal threats and unpleasant exchanges between tenants and landlords. For WNYC, I'm Cindy Rodriguez.

REPORTER: The agency says so far the claims are coming from all over the city: rich neighborhoods and poor ones, and no particular landlord has been the focus of the claims.