Assembly BillPassed first house
A 2611: Requires landlords to mitigate damages when commercial tenants vacate premises in violation of the terms of the lease.
What A 2611 does, verified May 22, 2026
The bill aims to amend the Real Property Law to require landlords to mitigate damages when commercial tenants vacate premises in violation of their lease terms. Landlords must rent the premises at a fair market value or the agreed-upon rate during the tenancy, whichever is lower. If the landlord rents the premises at a fair market value or the agreed-upon rate, the new tenant's lease will terminate the previous tenant's lease, mitigating damages that could be recovered against the previous tenant. The burden of proof lies with the party seeking to recover damages. Any provisions in a lease that exempt a landlord's duty to mitigate damages under this section are deemed void as contrary to public policy. The bill takes effect immediately.
Bill journey
✓IntroducedComplete
✓In CommitteeComplete
✓First Chamber FloorComplete
4Second ChamberCurrent
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: amended on third reading 2611a (2026-05-21)Alert me
Author and sponsors
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| May. 21, 2026 | amended on third reading 2611a |
| Jan. 07, 2026 | ordered to third reading cal.95 |
| Jan. 07, 2026 | RETURNED TO ASSEMBLY |
| Jan. 07, 2026 | DIED IN SENATE |
| Jun. 10, 2025 | REFERRED TO RULES |
Latest bill textIntroduced version, January 21, 2025 · 358 words
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2611 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 21, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. OTIS, SEAWRIGHT, SIMON, STIRPE, SAYEGH -- read once and referred to the Committee on Judiciary AN ACT to amend the real property law, in relation to requiring land- lords to mitigate damages when commercial tenants vacate premises in violation of the terms of the lease The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 227-e of the real property law, as added by section 2 4 of part M of chapter 36 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as 3 follows: 4 § 227-e. Landlord duty to mitigate damages. In any lease or rental 5 agreement, excluding any real estate purchase contract defined in para- 6 graphs (a), (c) and (d) of subdivision four of section four hundred 7 sixty-one of this chapter, [covering premises occupied for dwelling8purposes,] if a tenant vacates a premises in violation of the terms of 9 the lease, the landlord shall, in good faith and according to the land- 10 lord's resources and abilities, take reasonable and customary actions to 11 rent the premises at fair market value or at the rate agreed to during 12 the term of the tenancy, whichever is lower. If the landlord rents the 13 premises at fair market value or at the rate agreed to during the term 14 of the tenancy, the new tenant's lease shall, once in effect, terminate 15 the previous tenant's lease and mitigate damages otherwise recoverable 16 against the previous tenant because of such tenant's vacating the prem- 17 ises. The burden of proof shall be on the party seeking to recover 18 damages. Any provision in a lease that exempts a landlord's duty to 19 mitigate damages under this section shall be void as contrary to public 20 policy. 21 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01676-01-5
Text of A 2611 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions