Deeply hidden within the new budget, under provision “FF” on page 96, signed by the Governor, includes certain changes to Individual Apartment Increases (“IAIs”) for rent stabilized apartments. The changes are a win-win for landlords.

In simple terms, the new law in New York City that was signed on April 20, 2024, by Governor Hochul states that landlords must have a valid reason, called "Good Cause," to evict a tenant from their apartment.

As we all continue to try to best navigate the post HSTPA and post Covid world, we are confronted with a new issue being created by the Courts and Legal Service Providers. As I am sure you are all aware, the Cares Act temporarily put a moratorium on evictions during Covid.

This legislation seeks to close several loopholes that housing advocates have pointed out since HSTPA has been passed in 2019. Most notably, it would prevent the landlord from removing the new apartment from stabilization even if one of the previous units was not stabilized. 

The City of New York has just signed into law a new regulation targeting commercial properties where tenants are involved in the unauthorized sale of cannabis. The law requires property owners to take specific actions in response to such illegal activities, under the penalty of fines and potential legal repercussions.

A new bill has brought about a consensus between restaurant proprietors and local residents, finding common ground and reaching a compromise. The law will ease the overly stringent pre-pandemic requirements for obtaining licenses for sidewalk cafes.

With the passage of Local Law 126 of 2021 and RCNY §103-13, effective January 1,2022, New York City requires garage owners of certain parking structures to retain a specially designated professional engineer to conduct an assessment and file a report at least once every six years. This is crucial for ensuring the safety of occupants especially in high-rise buildings. The inspections help identify potential hazards and ensure necessary measures are taken to mitigate them.

To sum up the 33-page decision, the Court granted the plaintiff summary judgment and held that: “The City has proven unable to provide record evidence to answer the “five serious concerns about [the Guaranty Law] being a reasonable and appropriate means to pursue the professed public purpose,” as the Second Circuit instructed.” The Court therefore “concludes that the Law violates the Contracts Clause by rendering the guaranty clauses in Plaintiffs’ commercial leases unenforceable for unpaid rent during the covered period, March 7, 2020 and June 30, 2021.”

The Housing of Urban Development (HUD) has circulated a Memorandum that provides “best practices and tips” to avoid liability over criminal background policies. Essentially, it is recommended that landlords should not consider using criminal history to screen tenants for housing, however, if the housing provider chooses to use criminal background screening policies, they should consider the following steps:

A bill has been proposed, A10676, before the New York Assembly to ensure that debt and bad credit scores resulting from certain specific situations do not hinder a person’s ability to rent a residential unit in New York.

The firm of SDK Heiberger, LLP defeated a succession claim by a deceased tenant’s great-grandson, living in a Project-Based Section 8 building.

This week the Appellate Division found that the late fee provision in a commercial tenant’s lease, which enabled the landlord to assess a monthly 5% charge on all outstanding arrears, was unenforceable as being excessive.

At this point it is well settled law that although the pandemic has been disruptive for many businesses, performance was not rendered impossible during such time, even with reduced revenues, and commercial tenants have therefore not been found to be excused from paying rent.

Landlords and tenants alike will now have the luxury of receiving and entering rent stabilized lease agreements from the comfort of their homes and/or office by email.

Electronic Notarization, which has been permissible during Covid-19 as a temporary emergency measure has now been approved to be a permanently acceptable means to having a signature on a document legally acknowledged.

Just signed into law on March 18, 2022, requiring compliance by April 20, 2022, every real estate broker, operating within the State of New York, MUST have on each publicly available website and mobile device application they maintain, a list of standardized operating procedures, to evaluate prospective residential homebuyers, prior to receiving any services.

Employment protections for New York City employees as of March 12, 2022, now apply to all “domestic workers,” which includes nannies, homecare workers, housecleaners, companions, childcare, etc., regardless of the number of workers employed by the employer. They will be protected from discrimination, harassment and retaliation.   

As this firm previously promised, we have been carefully tracking proposals to the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act ("HSTPA") voiced by advocates for Cooperatives. A Bill was signed into legislation by Governor Hochel on December 22, 2021. This Bill corrects the unintended effects that the HSTPA had on Cooperatives.      

We are pleased to know that the COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2020 and COVID-19 Emergency Protect Our Small Business Act of 2020 expired on January 15, 2022 and were not extended.

For almost 2 years property Owners have had little to no recourse against non-paying or holdover Tenants. Now as we near what is supposed to be the end of the eviction moratorium, Property Owners may face a new challenge, “GOOD CAUSE EVICTIONS”.