Republican Reps. Elise Stefanik and Nicole Malliotakis are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to veto two bills they claim would force landlords to lower rents approved years ago and destabilize the housing market.
“While this matter may seem narrow in scope, making this policy retroactive will have a wide-ranging and immediate impact on the residential real estate industry, housing stock, the regional banking sector and the broader economy while ‘benefitting’ mostly affluent tenants predominantly in core Manhattan neighborhoods,” Stefanik (R-Plattsburgh) and Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) said in a joint letter sent to Hochul.
“This legislation would enable class action lawyers and professional activists to challenge the rent levels of regulated apartments that have already undergone years of litigation and administrative orders, including periods of deregulation when tenants agreed to higher rent levels.”
The bills address two conflicting court rulings regarding rent-regulated and deregulated apartments and the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, which restricted landlords’ ability to jack up rents.
Hochul’s office had no immediate comment.
The two bills Assembly 4047/Senate 2943B and Assembly 6216B/Senate 2980C have yet to be sent to the governor for action.
But Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz (D-Bronx), a sponsor of the first bill, accused the GOP House members of doing the bidding of landlords.
“They’re using scare tactics. They’re making a mountain of a molehill. They’re being mouthpieces for landlords,” he said.
Dinowitz said all his bill does, under limited circumstances, is allow tenants who moved into vacated apartments to challenge rents that were fraudulently or mistakenly raised by landlords beyond what the law allowed.
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