For Immediate release

Press Release
May 2015
Contact: Joseph Yanis 1-718-596-0100

** Press Release**
Thursday, May 21st, 2015

Assembly renews and strengthens Rent

Regulations laws
Assemblyman Walter T Mosley announced that the Assembly passed a bill on Tuesday to
strengthen New Yorks rent-regulation laws and improve New Yorkers access to affordable
housing (A.7526). The bill extends current law while enhancing protections for tenants in rentregulated units until June 15, 2019.
New York is experiencing an affordable housing crisis, and too many families are struggling to
pay ever-rising rents, said Assemblyman Mosley. By strengthening rent-regulation laws, we
can maintain affordable housing options and make it possible for more families to stay in their
homes.
New Yorkers today expend too much of their hard-earned income on housing; in some cases at
least half of a households income is spent on rent.1 Thats why rent-regulated housing is an
important source of housing for middle- and low-income families, with New York City having
approximately one million rent-regulated households. Its not just the wealthy who live in New
York City, but rather a mix of middle-class and working New Yorkers. These communities
enrich our neighborhoods, support local small businesses and send their children to local schools
to say nothing of those who have lived here for generations, Assemblyman Mosley noted.
Stronger rent regulations are also needed to ensure that families and older adults are not priced
out of their homes or their neighborhoods. Under current law, landlords can easily increase
affordable rents to levels which overburden our families. Right now, landlords can remove a
vacant apartment from rent stabilization when its rent exceeds $2,500. Incentives abound for
landlords to oust tenants and focus their efforts on deregulating units. This bill works to ensure
that affordability not manipulation for profit is the order of the day.
New York Citys neighborhoods were built by working families and todays senior citizens.
However, skyrocketing rents are threatening to price these families out of their homes, said
Assemblyman Mosley. We need to strengthen and enhance our rent laws so New York City
remains a place that all families can call home not just the wealthiest 1 percent.
Protecting tenants
One of the legislations most important provisions will keep rents at an affordable level even if
a current tenant moves. The bill would prevent apartments with monthly rents upward of $2,500
from becoming decontrolled upon vacancy, a threshold that has caused instances where a
landlord has harassed a tenant or withheld services to force a tenant to vacate, noted
Assemblyman Mosley.
1

osc.state.ny.us/reports/housing/affordable_housing_ny_2014.pdf

Also, a landlord who harasses a tenant in order to get them to vacate a rent-regulated unit will
face harsher punishments. The legislation adds a Class A misdemeanor crime of second-degree
harassment of a rent-regulated tenant when a landlord intentionally impairs a units habitability
or creates a dangerous environment, and expands civil penalties for tenant harassment.
The Assembly bill also:

prospectively brings into rent regulation Mitchell-Lama buildings that voluntarily

dissolve, regardless of its date of initial occupation;
prospectively extends rent and eviction protections to tenants living in former
federal Section 8 projects and multiple dwellings that are covered by the New
York City Rent Stabilization Law;
limits a landlords ability to recover multiple units for his or her own or their
familys primary residence by permitting recovery of only one unit and
restricting that ability if a tenant has occupied an apartment for 15 or more years;
expands from 3 years to 6 years, the length of time a landlord must own a rental
property before he or she is eligible for an alternative hardship rent adjustment;
allows units currently being illegally occupied to be brought into compliance
with building and fire code under the provisions of the loft law; and
makes permanent provisions of the loft law that allow smaller units to be
covered, reduces rent increases for making a unit comply with building and fire
code, and allows review of buildings that may contain incompatible uses.

For too long, powerful landlords have had the upper hand in New Yorks rental market, and that
has to change, Assemblyman Mosley said. Its essential that we pass stronger and more
effective protections for tenants.
Keeping rents affordable
In an effort to keep rents from skyrocketing, the Assemblys legislation caps how much a
landlord can increase rents on apartments that become vacant at 7.5 percent, down from 20
percent.
Moreover, when rent-regulated units become vacant, landlords will often make improvements,
such as installing new appliances. After an improvement is made, the landlord is permitted to
add a percentage of the total cost of the work to a tenants rent. However, in many cases, tenants
have been forced to continue paying for these improvements long after the costs have been
recovered. Further, under current law, a landlord can simply claim that they made an
improvement without ever having to prove the fact. The Assemblys bill puts an end to this
practice.
Affordable housing is essential to the economic prosperity of our communities, said
Assemblyman Mosley. This legislation focuses on protecting New Yorkers to ensure they have
access to safe, affordable housing.
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