Click on each bill in blue to see the status.

S3326B/A9230 - Makes rent stabilized any building leaving Mitchell-Lama or Sect. 8 project
Sponsored in the Senate by Stewart-Cousins, Adams, Addabbo, Diaz, Hassell-Thompson, Huntley, Klein, Krueger, Monserrate, Onorato, Perkins, Savino, Schneiderman, Serrano, Squadron, Stavisky.
Sponsored in the Assembly by Rosenthal, co-sponsored by Kavanagh, Pretlow, Rivera N, O'Donnell, Benjamin, Jeffries, Powell, Mayersohn, Benedetto; multisponsored byBing, Brook-Krasny, Glick, Millman, Titone..
Passed the Assembly's Housing Committee on 4/15/2010, referred to the Codes Committee. If it passes the Assembly, there is a chance it will pass the Senate.

This bill would put into rent stabilization all buildings leaving - or that have left - Mitchell-Lama or Section 8 projects

• without regard to when they were built
• without "unique or peculiar circumstances" increases, and
• without regard to when they left or will leave Mitchell-Lama or Section 8. Rents in post-1973 buildings already out of Mitchell-Lama could be rolled back to the lawful rent as of January 1, 2007 (the same as in the vacancy decontrol bill, mentioned below).

A2498/S8431 Similar to S3326D but. . . .
Sponsored in the Assembly by Pretlow, co-sponsored by Spano, Rosenthal, multi-sponsored by Benjamin, Farrell.
In the Senate Rules Committee
This bill would put into rent stabilization all buildings leaving or that have left Mitchell-Lama, and would protect suburban (and possibly other) buildings from "unique or peculiar circumstances." It does not apply to Section 8 projects.
Passed the Assembly April 10, 2010; pending in the Senate Rules Committee July 8, 2010.

A 9854/S 1863-B Barring “Unique or Peculiar” Increases for Pre-1974 Mitchell-Lamas That Enter Rent Stabilization
Sponsored in the Assembly by Rosenthal, Bing, Lopez V, Greene, Millman, Markey, Rosenthal, Benedetto, Wright, Camara, Espaillat, Benjamin, Pheffer, Titone, Jeffries, Maisel, Lancman, O’Donnell, Dinowitz, Kavanagh, Rivera P, Titus, Cymbrowitz, Spano, Powell.
Sponsored in the Senate by Klein, Serrano, Stachowsky.
Passed the Assembly and reported out by the Senate's Committee on Housing, Construction & Community Development on April 14, 2010. It next goes to the Senates Finance Committee.

This bill will protect the thousands of households in pre-1974 buildings that leave the Mitchell-Lama program and enter into the rent stabilization system. A provision of the rent laws allowing landlords to apply for an extraordinary rent increase due to “unique or peculiar circumstances” has been misused as landlords have sought large rent increases. This bill exempts former Mitchell-Lamas from this provision, establishing the last rent charged (including surcharges) under Mitchell-Lama as the initial legal regulated rent.

This bill is not retroactive although it might protect tenants in 24 buildings with pending “unique or peculiar” applications that have not yet been decided by DHCR - including the 16 buildings currently in court on the matter.

A 859/ S 4087 - "May becomes Shall" bill
Sponsored in the Assembly by Bing, and cosponsored by Lopez V, Brodsky, Benedetto, Kavanagh, Millman, O`Donnell, Rosenthal, Reilly, Greene, Camara, Diaz, Rivera J, Boyland, Clark, Brook-Krasny, Titone, Espaillat, Spano, with Brennan, Christensen, Dinowitz, Glick, Gottfried, John, Kellner, Markey, Mayersohn, Pheffer, Towns, Wright.
Sponsored in the Senate by Sampson.
Passed the Assembly and passed by the Senate's Committee on Housing, Construction & Community Development. Referred to the Senate's Finance Committee on May 24, 2010.

The current law gives the supervising agency discretion to act where a housing company is not complying with all Mitchell-Lama laws. This bill gives the agency the obligation to act. (The word "shall" means something is mandatory; the word "may" means something is discretionary So this is called the "May" to "Shall" law.)

A 1687/S.2494 Putting post-1973 buildings leaving Section 8 into rent stabilization without “U or P” increases.
Sponsored in the Assembly by Lopez V, Silver, Bing, O’Donnell, Perry, Ortiz, Spano, Powell, Wright, Kavanagh.
Sponsored in the Senate by Klein.
Passed the Assembly and referred to Senate's Committee on Housing, Construction & Community Development.

This bill allows post-1973 buildings in New York City and the three suburban counties of Nassau, Rockland and Westchester with project-based rental assistance under the federal Section 8 program to become subject to the NYC Rent Stabilization Law or the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974. The bill further bars landlords from applying for rent increases based on unique or peculiar circumstances. The same protections are needed for pre-73 Mitchell-Lama rental buildings.

A 540/S 1658 - Owners must maintain essential services or be denied rent increases.
Sponsored in the Assembly by Dinowitz and Barron and multi-sponsored by Gottfried, Pheffer.
Sponsored in the Senate by Espada/
Passed the Assembly, referred to the Senate's Housing Construction and Community Development Committee on April 14, 2010.

A 2361 / S 5509 - 1-year Buyout Notification to Tenants
Sponsored in the Assembly by Lopez V, cosponsored by Bing, Kavanagh, Brook-Krasny, Wright, Spano, Robinson, and Glick, Gottfried, Millman, Rosenthal, Walker.
Sponsored in the Senate by Klein.
Passed the Assembly, referred to the Senate's Committee on Housing, Construction & Community Development on April 12, 2010.

Under this bill, DHCR must notify tenants in all Mitchell-Lama rentals one year before any buyout, and must provide (within 3 months of the buyout), a clear statement of the number of apartments in the building, broken down by household income and whether the occupants are seniors or disabled. (If the building remains rent regulated after leaving Mitchell-Lama, those tenants might be eligible for other subsidies such as SCRIE or DRIE - depending on their household income and age.)

A 2362 (no companion bill in the Senate) - Changes from 20 to 50 years the length of time before a landlord can leave the Mitchell-Lama program
Sponsored in the Assembly by Lopez V, and cosponsored by Brook-Krasny, Wright, Spano, Robinson, and Glick, Gottfried, Millman, Rosenthal, Walker. Referred to the Assembly's housing committee.

A 2498 (no companion bill) - Allows suburban municipalities to come under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act
Sponsored by Pretlow, with Benjamin
Passed the Assembly, referred to the Senate's Committee on Housing, Construction & Community Development on April 14, 2010.

Under this bill, suburban municipalities could declare a housing emergency, triggering the provisions of the Emergency Tenant Protection Act. This would put pre-1974 buildings leaving Mitchell-Lama into rent stabilization without "unique or peculiar" increases. (If the ETPA is otherwise amended, this could apply to later buildings as well.)

A. 2933 / S.3688 - This is the same as A.795 from last year, and is known as the "Mayor's bill" since it has Mayor Bloomberg's backing.
Sponsored by Vito Lopez, with co-sponsors: Cymbrowitz, Wright, Greene, Ortiz, Robinson, O`Donnell, Perry, Mayersohn, Colton, Brook-Krasny, Schroeder, Rosenthal, Lancman, Maisel, Kavanagh, Rivera P, Jeffries, Titone, Titus, Camara, Spano, and Benjamin, Bing, Diaz, Dinowitz, Farrell, Glick, Gottfried, Heastie, Hevesi, Jacobs, Millman, Pheffer, Towns, Walker.
Sponsored in the Senate by Sampson.
Passed the Assembly; referred to Senate's Committee on Housing, Construction & Community Development on April 12, 2010.

This bill affects buildings leaving Mitchell-Lama after the statute is passed.

• The bill puts all Mitchell-Lama rentals - with supervising agency approval - into the equivalent of rent stabilization while still in the Mitchell-Lama program. So
  • landlords could get more than a 6% return on investment, and
  • tenants would get rent increases according to the Rent Guidelines Board even while they are in Mitchell-Lama.
  • There would be no public hearings and no supervisory agency approval required for rent increases.
  • Since there would be no hearing, the landlords' books (open under Mitchell-Lama) presumably would not be available to tenants.
  • It appears that this would nullify current Mitchell-Lama rules permitting surcharge reductions if a tenant's income drops for 3 months or more.

• The bill puts post-1973 rental buildings leaving Mitchell-Lama into rent stabilization without "unique or peculiar circumstances" increases. But to get the maximum benefit for the landlord, the law requires tenants to apply for enhanced vouchers even if they know they do not qualify. It includes punishment:

  The statute would raise the rent to free market rate for

  • tenants who do not apply for enhanced vouchers even if they know they do not qualify

  • enhanced voucher tenants who fail to submit all necessary documentation to keep their qualification

  • enhanced voucher tenants who violate the enhanced voucher law.

• The bill does not apply where a tenant association and landlord have written agreement that spells out their respective rights and responsibilities after the buyout. This presumes that all tenant associations are strong and can afford to hire lawyers.

A 6706 / A 9969/ S 2171 - Moratorium on Buyouts Without Supervising Agency Consent
Sponsored in the Assembly by Bing Lopez V, Espaillat, Barron, Lancman, O'Donnell, Jaffee, Benjamin, Cook, Castro, Spano, Camara, Titone, Wright, Robinson, Jeffries, Rosenthal; multisponsored by Farrell, Glick, Gottfried, Mayersohn, Meng, Scarborough, Titus.
Sponsored in the Senate by Senators Thomas Duane, Carl Kruger, Pedro Espada, Ruth Hassell-Thompson, Hiram. Monserrate, and José Serrano.Referred to the Assembly's Housing Committee. Never voted on.

This bill bars landlords from taking developments out of Mitchell-Lama before Jan. 1, 2011, unless they have the consent of the DHCR or HPD Commissioner. This is to permit DHCR to study the "unmet need for affordable housing."

A11156 - 4-Year Wait for Co-op Privatization vote after failed vote.
Sponsored by Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, referred to the Assembly's Housing Committee on May 20, 2010.
Not yet sponsored in Senate.

This bill would require a 4-year wait before the next vote to privatize ("dissolve" the Mitchell-Lama company) after each failed dissolution vote by shareholders.

A 11508 / S8131 This would raise the income level in Mitchell-Lamas so that tenants will pay no surcharge if the household income is 8 times the annual rent (9 times if there are 3 or more dependents). Currently the figures are 7 and 8 times the rent.
Sponsored in the Assembly by Lopez, Brook-Krasny, Millman and Rosenthal.
No listed sponsors in the Senate.

A 2005 / S 2237A – Repeal Vacancy Decontrol - Sponsored in the Assembly by Rosenthal, Co-sponsored by: Silver, Brennan, Lopez V, Lentol, Wright, Jeffries, Bing, Latimer, Camara, Brook-Krasny, Peralta, Boyland, Kellner, Lancman, Schimel, Maisel, Kavanagh, Gottfried, Dinowitz, Millman, Mayersohn, Powell, Lavine, Colton, Nolan, O'Donnell, Titus, Farrell, Ortiz, Espaillat, Benedetto, Hooper, Jacobs, Robinson, Rivera N, Zebrowski, Glick, Spano, Benjamin, Towns, Castro
Multisponsored by: Barron, Bradley, Brodsky, Cook, Heastie, Jaffee, Markey, Meng, Peoples-Stokes, Perry, Pheffer, Pretlow, Rivera J, Scarborough,Weisenberg
Sponsored in the Senate by Stewart-Cousins, Krueger, Adams, Addabbo, Aubertine, Breslin Diaz, Sr. Duane, Hassell-Thompson, Huntley, Monserrate, Montgomery, Onorato. Oppenheimer, Padavan, Parker, Perkins, Sampson, Savino, Schneiderman, Serrano, Squadron,Stavisky.
Passed the Assembly, referred to the Senate's Committee on Housing, Construction & Community Developmentm with "Notice of Committee Consideration" requested on May 3, 2010.

This bill repeals vacancy decontrol as it applies to New York City and the suburban counties of Nassau, Westchester and Rockland, for both rent-controlled and rent-stabilized apartments. The bill also re-regulates at least some of the units that have been decontrolled - rolling rents back to the January 1, 2007 level.

This would reverse the loss of dwindling affordable rental housing stock in the downstate metropolitan region. Click here for a memo from the Community Service Society supporting this bill.

S.6881/A.9967 - This bill would renew rent stabilization laws a year before they expire and extend them to 2014.
Sponsored in the Assembly by Kavanagh, cosponsored by Wright, Weisenberg, Miller M, Gottfried, Boyland, Spano, Colto, Brook-Krasny, Hooper, Powell, Jeffries, Rosenthal, Rivera N, Espaillat, O'Donnell; multi-sponsored by Brennan, Cook, Crespo, Glick, Heastie, Latimer, Markey, Perry, Titone.
Sponsored in the Senate by Serrano, and co-sponsored by Adams, Addabbo, Duane, Huntley, Krueger, Montgomery, Padavan, Peralta, Perkins, Savino, Schneiderman, Squadron, Stewart-Cousins.
Not voted on in either the Assembly or the Senate.

Gov. Paterson's proposed legislation - This would

• undo most of the Roberts v. Tishman-Speyer decision by letting owners get tax breaks and deregulate apartments;
• extend rent regulation to 2018;
• increase "high rent" vacancy and high-income deregulation from $2000 to $3000;
• permit a tenant paying preferential rent to challenge the legal regulated rent going back more than 4 years; and
• require owners to notify new tenants why their apartment was deregulated.

A860/S 5432 – High-Income Decontrol Amounts Raised to $2700 Rent and $240,000 Annual Income - Sponsored in the Assembly by Bing, Lopez V, Glick, Peralta, Millman, Rosenthal, Kavanagh, Dinowitz, O’Donnell, Colton, Maisel, Wright, Titus, Ortiz, Powell.
Sponsored in the Senate by Krueger.Passed the Assembly, referred to the Senate's Committee on Housing, Construction & Community Development, where it was amended slightly on January 14, 2010.

Increases the rent and household income level at which occupied apartments can be deregulated (taken out of rent stabilization) to $2700 rent + $240,000 household income for two consecutive years from the current $2000 rent + $175,000 household income.

The Real Rent Reform campaign urges the addition of an income threshold based on household size, and that elderly tenants and tenants with disabilities be exempted as promised by former Governor George Pataki. The R3 campaign also suggest that this provision be repealed outright.

A 05282 / S 5566 Reform the Rent Guidelines Board
Sponsored in the Assembly by Latimer, Gottfried, Rosenthal, Colton, Jaffee, Kellner, and multisponsored by Millman
Sponsored in the Senate by Duane. This bill was referred to the Assembly's Housing Committee but never voted on there or in the Senat'es Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development.

This bill would change the composition of the New York City Rent Guidelines Board to 3 tenant members, 3 landlord members and 3 public members requiring a broader consensus among members. It would also expand qualifications for board members to allow experience with affordable housing, which will reduce the number of bankers and real estate professionals on the boards. The bill also requires local legislative approval of appointments.

The bill would require landlords to file income & expense reports directly with boards increasing the availability of timely data, and bar rent increases for apartments with serious violations.

A 1685 / S 2642-A – Limiting Landlords to Taking 1 Rent Stabilized Apt. for Own Use
Sponsored in the Assembly by Vito Lopez, Glick, Silver, Rosenthal, Gottfried, Kavanagh, O’Donnell, Farrell, Ortiz, Powell, Wright.
Sponsored in the Senate by Squadron, Adams, Dilan, Duane, Hassell-Thompson, Huntley, Krueger, Monserrate, Onorato, Parker, Perkins, Savino, Stavisky, Stewart-Cousins.
Passed the Assembly, referred to the Senate's Committee on Housing, Construction & Community Development on April 27, 2010.

One of the worst loopholes in the New York City Rent Stabilization Law of 1969 is the provision that allows landlords to recover “one or more” apartments for his or her or a family member’s own personal use and occupancy. This provision has been used to empty entire buildings, most recently at 47 East Third Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan where the landlord successfully forced out 15 families to create an 11,600 square foot McMansion complete with library, gym and nanny suite. This bill limits landlord recapture to one apartment and requires the landlord to demonstrate immediate and compelling necessity as in all the other rent laws. There are hundreds of owner use cases now pending. Enactment of this bill is urgently needed.

A9832 Illegal hotels bill
No companion bill in the Senate
Sponsored in the Assembly by Rosenthal, with additional sponsors Gottfried, Glick, Castro, Kellner, Millman, Bing, Brennan, Clark.
This bill prohibits owners from entering or renewing leases where the owner should know the tenant is not living there.

S8055 (no companion bill in Assembly) - making it easier for owners to take apartments for own use in buildings of 12 or fewer units
Sponsored in the Senate by Espada
This bill would reduce the owner's burden of proving "good faith" in taking over units in a building of 12 units or fewer, and would increase the owner's burden to show a "compelling need" in larger buildings. Espada is currently revising this bill.

A 1686 / S 6084– Landlords’ Vacancy Bonus Reduced from 20% to 10% Maximum
Sponsored in the Assembly by Lopez V, Gottfried, Rosenthal, Kavanagh, Wright, O’Donnell, Ortiz, Powell.
Sponsored in the Senate by [to be added shortly]
Passed the Assembly, referred to the Senate's Committee on Housing, Construction & Community Development on April 27, 2010.

This bill reduces the statutory vacancy bonus enacted in 1997 from a maximum of 20 percent for a two-year lease to a maximum of 10 percent, and limits collection of the bonus to once in any calendar year. This is a step in the right direction. The statutory vacancy bonus has been quite destructive.

The bill should be amended to reduce the bonus to 5 percent, and to eliminate the additional rent increase on top of the bonus (six-tenths of one percent per year if it has been eight years or longer since the last vacancy increase).

An alternative would be to repeal the statutory vacancy bonus entirely, and to give the power to impose a vacancy allowance to the New York City and suburban rent boards, as contained in the Rent Board Reform Act of 2008 as introduced by Senator Duane and Assembly Member Latimer. If there is to be a statutory vacancy bonus of any amount, language should then be added to state law to make it clear that the local boards do not have the power to impose additional vacancy allowances on top of the statutory vacancy bonus, as both the Westchester and Nassau County boards have done.

A 465 / S 2251 - Preferential rent means still in stabilization
Sponsored in the Assembly by Jeffries, Mayersohn, Robinson, Farrell, Colton, O'Donnell, Jacobs, Jaffee, Clark, Greene, Ortiz, Lancman, Peralta, Powell, Wright, Spano, and co-sponsored by Kavanagh, Espaillat, Camara, Rosenthal, Kellner.
Sponsored in the Senate by Krueger, Diaz, Huntley, Onorato, Serrano, Stavisky.
Passed the Assembly (originally and after recall from Senate) and referred to hte Senate Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development on April 27, 2010. (See also Governor Paterson's proposal above.)

Comments by Steven DeCastro:
"Once the apartment is rented at a preferential rent, the landlord would be prohibited from canceling the preferential rent in the middle of the tenancy.

"That is a good idea, but it would not go far enough to prevent landlord fraud. The new bill protects tenants from paying the illegal rents. The problem is that the bill does not protect the subsequent tenants. Once the current tenant moves out, the overcharged $2000 rent would still knock the apartment off of rent stabilization forever."

A 1928-A / S745A MCI Surcharges Expire When Cost Paid
Sponsored by O’Donnell, Lopez V, Silver, Glick, Ortiz, Gottfried, Kavanagh, Rosenthal, Farrell, Perry, Pheffer, Spano, Powell, Titus.
Sponsored in the Senate by Krueger, Duane, Perkins, Schneiderman, Serrano, Stavisky.
Passed the Assembly, referred to the Senate's Committee on Housing, Construction & Community Development, where it got a print number on February 23, 2009.

This bill makes rent increases for Major Capital Improvements a temporary surcharge, so that when the tenant has paid off the entire cost of the improvement after seven years, the surcharge expires. This is a long overdue bill, and basic justice.

A 456 / S 2251 - Preferential Rent Correction
Sponsored in the Assembly by Jeffries, co-sponsored by Mayersohn, Robinson, Farrell, Colton, O'Donnell, Jacobs, Jaffee, Clark, Greene, Ortiz, Lancman, Peralta, Powell, Wright, Spano, Kavanagh, Espaillat, Camara, Rosenthal, Kellner, with multisponsors Boyland, Brennan, Castro, Diaz, Glick, Gottfried, Heastie, Hooper, Rivera J, Schimel.
Sponsored in the Senate by Krueger, Diaz, Huntley, Onorato, Serrano, Stavisky.
Passed the Assembly originally and again on recall from Senate; referred to the Senate's Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development on April 27, 2010.

This bill corrects a late-night change that was inserted into the rent laws in June 2003, which allows landlords to disregard a “preferential” rent (a rent charged that is lower than the legal regulated rent) when renewing a lease under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 or the NYC Rent Stabilization Law of 1969.

Prior to this change, landlords were allowed to jump back up to the legal rent upon vacancy, but were required to renew based on the lower preferential rent.

Many tenants have been hit with huge rent increases as a result, forcing them to vacate and thereby allowing the landlord to collect another 20 percent statutory vacancy bonus. Some landlords falsely register a higher rent than the legal rent with the NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal, then wait before jumping back to the legal rent, whereupon the tenant finds herself precluded from challenging an illegal rent because of the four-year rule (this argues for legislation restoring the four-year rule to its pre-1997 status).

According to DHCR, there are currently 150,000 stabilized units with preferential rents.

A 1688 Repealing the Urstadt Law
Sponsored in the Assembly by Lopez V, Silver, Wright, Dinowitz, Latimer, Perry, Kavanagh, Boyland, Kellner, Lancman, Millman, O’Donnell, Pheffer, Titus, Ortiz, Spano, Powell.
Sponsored in the Senate by Krueger, Duane, Monserrate, Onorato, Parker, Perkins, Savino, Schneiderman.
Third reading in the Assembly, referred to the Senate's Committee on Cities on January 15, 2009.

This bill repeals the so-called Urstadt Law of 1971, named for Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s housing commissioner Charles J. Urstadt, and by doing so restores full home rule powers over rent and eviction laws to the New York City Council and Mayor. This bill is long overdue and should be enacted promptly.

A 4134 (no companion bill) Bars Tenant Blacklisting
Sponsored in the Assembly by Bing, Gottfried, Hevesi, Lancman, Dinowitz, Colton, Greene, Maisel, Cymbrowiz, V. Lopez, N. Rivera. Multi-sponsored by Brennan, Meng, Nolan, Pheffer, Reilly, Scarborough, Schimel, Towns, Weisenberg. Referred to Assembly's Housing Committee, never voted on.

Landlords now blacklist tenants who have been defendants in housing court. This bill would bar such blacklisting (based on lists that the court sells) where the tenant or group of tenants has paid whatever is owed.

A 2002 / S 2493 - Raises Penalties for Tenant Harassment
Sponsored in the Assembly by Silver, Lopez V, Jeffries, Jacobs, Kellner, Bing, Rosenthal, O’Donnell, Farrell, Wright, Rivera N.
Sponsored in the Senate by Klein.
Signed into law as Chapter 480 on 10/9/2009.

This bill increases civil penalties for tenant harassment by landlords and for violating an order of the state housing commissioner. Too many bad landlords treat such fines as the cost of doing business.