NEW YORK — New York City is forcing tenants of beleaguered buildings that it owns to sign new leases — and the conditions have raised hackles among lawyers and lawmakers.

The city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development is requiring residents of the 115 buildings in the Tenant Interim Lease program to sign new leases by June 30. The program, created in 1978, involves once-dilapidated buildings that the city took over with the goal of turning them into low-income cooperatives. The department says it is trying to ensure those tenants the security that a written lease provides, as most do not have leases or their old ones could not be found. But HPD is only allowing each apartment to have one official tenant, or "tenant of record," while other residents will be listed on a separate form.

Tenant advocates say that provision could make it harder for tenants to keep their apartments in their families through succession rights, which allow relatives to take over their homes after the primary resident dies or moves out. "Because these buildings are languishing now for decades, there's a very high probability, unfortunately, that the original tenant could pass away or for some other reason leave the apartment," said City Councilman Mark Levine, whose upper Manhattan district includes TIL buildings. "And it's important that family members who deserve succession rights don't lose the apartment in that case."

Levine and Councilman Bill Perkins expressed their concerns about the new leases in a May 6 letter to HPD Commissioner Louise Carroll, saying the policy shift would remove tenants of record "without due process." The lawmakers called on the department to pause the lease-signing process so tenants would have more time to arrange their paperwork.

"Tenants should have a right to contest a decision that threatens to evict them from a home they have been in for years, many for decades, waiting for the opportunity to become homeowners," the councilmen said in the letter. Kings County Politics first reported their concerns last week.

HPD started issuing the new leases in April. More than 200 tenants have signed them so far and many have used them to get help paying for rent and utilities, according to the department.

HPD says it will hold five lease-signing sessions in June and make accommodations for tenants who are homebound or cannot make those dates. "Having a lease provides certainty and clarity for tenants, and makes it easier for families to access vital assistance programs that can help them thrive," HPD spokesman Matthew Creegan said in a statement. "HPD is in the process of issuing new leases for properties in the agency's TIL program so the tenants can have the stability and security that they deserve."