Governor signs law strengthening rent stabilization
The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act in 2019, for one thing, prevented many regulated units from becoming destabilized. However, some landlords sought ways to still deregulate their units through a loophole called frankensteining. This involved taking two stabilized units or a mix of stabilized and market-rate units and converting this into one unit in order to take it out of stabilization.
New York State Legislation S2980-C/A6216-B strengthens tenant protections by clarifying the standards for determining whether a landlord has engaged in a fraudulent scheme to deregulate a unit, requiring landlords going forward to get approval from Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) prior to deregulating a unit due to a substantial rehabilitation, stiffening penalties for failing to register a unit, codifying methods for calculating rents after units are combined or modified, and reinforcing HCR’s authority to enforce the rent stabilization laws among other measures.
Legislation S2980-C/A6216-B passed the NYS Senate on June 9, 2023 and the NYS Assembly on June 20, 2023. It was delivered to NYS Governor Kathy Hochul on December 12; she signed it on December 22.
“This legislation will help to protect the one million New Yorkers living in rent-stabilized apartments and give our state better, stronger tools to enforce our rent stabilization laws,” Governor Hochul said. “As New York continues to face a costly housing crisis, my administration is committed to addressing the housing shortage, building new supply and making our state more affordable.”
NYS Senator Brian Kavanagh sponsored NYS Senate Bill S2980C, he stated, “When we negotiated and enacted the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act in 2019, we put legal protections for millions of tenants in rent stabilized housing on stronger footing than they’d been in generations. The bill Governor Kathy Hochul [signed] is a critical step to ensure that we live up to the promise of that law: by permanently closing the so-called frankensteining loophole, which property owners have sometimes used to rapidly raise rents while combining previously affordable apartments; by ensuring that property owners are keeping their rent stabilized apartments properly registered with the State; and by giving tenants, the State housing agency, and the courts the tools they need to hold property owners accountable when they willfully overcharge tenants. I thank my fellow housing chair and bill sponsor Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal for championing this bill in the Assembly.”
Rolando Guzman, St. Nicks Alliance deputy director for community preservation, stated, “St Nicks Alliance applauds the NY State legislators for passing this legislation and to NY State Governor Hochul for signing this legislation into law. This legislation will curb unscrupulous landlords de-regulating apartments by combining two rent stabilized into a new apartment that will have a higher rent. In addition, this legislation will deter landlords from warehousing vacant apartments with the hopes to deregulate them.
As we face a housing crisis, every single rent regulated apartment should be available in the market. As North Brooklyn has a high concentration to warehouse vacant apartments St Nicks Alliance continues to work with other local and city wide organizations finding ways to end the practice of warehousing rent stabilized apartments. To tenants that are facing housing issues, our message is loud and clear: You are not alone, we are here to help.”
The Greenline 