NEW YORK, NY – On Wednesday, September 30, 2020, Judge Eric Komitee in the New York Eastern District Court dismissed landlord groups’ legal challenge to New York’s Rent Stabilization Laws in two cases, upholding the government’s power to regulate rents in New York.
The landlord groups, the Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP) and the Rent Stabilization Association (RSA), challenged the laws after the New York State Legislature amended the rent stabilization laws last year to limit rent increases, the deregulation of units, and the eviction of tenants in breach of lease agreements among other things. In their lawsuit, the groups allege the New York's rent stabilization laws are unconstitutional.
Judge Komitee dismissed the landlord groups’ claims, noting, “No precedent binding on this Court has ever found any provision of a rent-stabilization statute to violate the Constitution, and even if the 2019 amendments go beyond prior regulations, it is not for a lower court to reverse this tide." Legal Services NYC, Legal Aid Society and Selendy & Gay PLLC are attorneys for the interveners in case, including Tenants and Neighbors, Community Voices Heard, and Coalition for the Homeless.
“This decision is a big victory for New York tenants and clear message to landlords that their arguments challenging the constitutionality of New York’s rent stabilization laws have no basis,” said Edward Josephson, Director of Litigation at Legal Services NYC, the nation’s largest provider of free civil legal services. “The courts have long upheld the legitimacy of New York’s rent laws which were put in place to protect New York City families from being pushed out of their apartments by unscrupulous landlords looking to make a quick buck. Now more than ever amid Covid-19 and high unemployment, New York’s rent laws will protect struggling tenants and help them stay in their homes. Although the judge allowed a few narrow claims to proceed, we are confident the courts will also dismiss the landlord groups’ other legal challenges to New York's rent laws.”
Read the court decision here.