S 2306: Removes provisions that prohibit cities of one million or more from strengthening rent regulation laws to provide more comprehensive coverage than state laws.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2306 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE January 16, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. KRUEGER, ADDABBO, BAILEY, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, JACKSON, LIU, PARKER, SERRANO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development AN ACT to amend the local emergency housing rent control act, in relation to rent regulation laws The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 5 of section 1 of chapter 21 of the laws of 2 1962, constituting the local emergency housing rent control act, as 3 amended by chapter 82 of the laws of 2003 and the closing paragraph as 4 amended by chapter 422 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as 5 follows: 6 5. Authority for local rent control legislation. Each city having a 7 population of one million or more, acting through its local legislative 8 body, may adopt and amend local laws or ordinances in respect of the 9 establishment or designation of a city housing rent agency. When it 10 deems such action to be desirable or necessitated by local conditions in 11 order to carry out the purposes of this section, such city, except as 12 hereinafter provided, acting through its local legislative body and not 13 otherwise, may adopt and amend local laws or ordinances in respect of 14 the regulation and control of residential rents, including but not 15 limited to provision for the establishment and adjustment of maximum 16 rents, the classification of housing accommodations, the regulation of 17 evictions, and the enforcement of such local laws or ordinances. The 18 validity of any such local laws or ordinances, and the rules or regu- 19 lations promulgated in accordance therewith, shall not be affected by 20 and need not be consistent with the state emergency housing rent control 21 law or with rules and regulations of the state division of housing and 22 community renewal. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD04622-01-5 
 S. 2306 2 1 Notwithstanding any local law or ordinance, housing accommodations 2 which became vacant on or after July first, nineteen hundred seventy-one 3 or which hereafter become vacant shall be subject to the provisions of 4 the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, provided, 5 however, that this provision shall not apply or become effective with 6 respect to housing accommodations which, by local law or ordinance, are 7 made directly subject to regulation and control by a city housing rent 8 agency and such agency determines or finds that the housing accommo- 9 dations became vacant because the landlord or any person acting on [his] 10 such landlord's behalf, with intent to cause the tenant to vacate, 11 engaged in any course of conduct (including but not limited to, inter- 12 ruption or discontinuance of essential services) which interfered with 13 or disturbed or was intended to interfere with or disturb the comfort, 14 repose, peace or quiet of the tenant in [his] such tenant's use or occu- 15 pancy of the housing accommodations. The removal of any housing accommo- 16 dation from regulation and control of rents pursuant to the vacancy 17 exemption provided for in this paragraph shall not constitute or operate 18 as a ground for the subjection to more stringent regulation and control 19 of any housing accommodation in such property or in any other property 20 owned by the same landlord, notwithstanding any prior agreement to the 21 contrary by the landlord. The vacancy exemption provided for in this 22 paragraph shall not arise with respect to any rented plot or parcel of 23 land otherwise subject to the provisions of this act, by reason of a 24 transfer of title and possession occurring on or after July first, nine- 25 teen hundred seventy-one of a dwelling located on such plot or parcel 26 and owned by the tenant where such transfer of title and possession is 27 made to a member of the tenant's immediate family provided that the 28 member of the tenant's immediate family occupies the dwelling with the 29 tenant prior to the transfer of title and possession for a continuous 30 period of two years. 31 The term "immediate family" shall include a husband, wife, son, daugh- 32 ter, stepson, stepdaughter, father, mother, father-in-law or mother-in- 33 law. 34 [Notwithstanding the foregoing, no local law or ordinance shall here- 35 after provide for the regulation and control of residential rents and 36 eviction in respect of any housing accommodations which are (1) present- 37 ly exempt from such regulation and control or (2) hereafter decontrolled 38 either by operation of law or by a city housing rent agency, by order or 39 otherwise. No housing accommodations presently subject to regulation and 40 control pursuant to local laws or ordinances adopted or amended under 41 authority of this subdivision shall hereafter be by local law or ordi- 42 nance or by rule or regulation which has not been theretofore approved 43 by the state commissioner of housing and community renewal subjected to 44 more stringent or restrictive provisions of regulation and control than 45 those presently in effect. 46 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, on and after the effective 47 date of this paragraph, a city having a population of one million or 48 more shall not, either through its local legislative body or otherwise, 49 adopt or amend local laws or ordinances with respect to the regulation 50 and control of residential rents and eviction, including but not limited 51 to provision for the establishment and adjustment of rents, the classi- 52 fication of housing accommodations, the regulation of evictions, and the 53 enforcement of such local laws or ordinances, or otherwise adopt laws or 54 ordinances pursuant to the provisions of this act, the emergency tenant 55 protection act of nineteen seventy-four, the New York city rent and 56 rehabilitation law or the New York city rent stabilization law, except 
 S. 2306 3 1 to the extent that such city for the purpose of reviewing the continued 2 need for the existing regulation and control of residential rents or to 3 remove a classification of housing accommodation from such regulation 4 and control adopts or amends local laws or ordinances pursuant to subdi- 5 vision three of section one of this act, section three of the emergency 6 tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, section 26-415 of the 7 New York city rent and rehabilitation law, and sections 26-502 and 8 26-520 of the New York city rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred 9 sixty-nine.] 10 Notwithstanding the foregoing, no local law or ordinance shall subject 11 to such regulation and control any housing accommodation which is not 12 occupied by the tenant in possession as [his or her] their primary resi- 13 dence; provided, however, that such housing accommodation not occupied 14 by the tenant in possession as [his or her] their primary residence 15 shall continue to be subject to regulation and control as provided for 16 herein unless the city housing rent agency issues an order decontrolling 17 such accommodation, which the agency shall do upon application by the 18 landlord whenever it is established by any facts and circumstances 19 which, in the judgment of the agency, may have a bearing upon the ques- 20 tion of residence, that the tenant maintains [his or her] their primary 21 residence at some place other than at such housing accommodation. For 22 the purposes of determining primary residency, a tenant who is a victim 23 of domestic violence, as defined in section four hundred fifty-nine-a of 24 the social services law, who has left the unit because of such violence, 25 and who asserts an intent to return to the housing accommodation shall 26 be deemed to be occupying the unit as [his or her] their primary resi- 27 dence. 28 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that 29 the amendments to subdivision 5 of section 1 of chapter 21 of the laws 30 of 1962 made by section one of this act shall remain in full force and 31 effect only so long as the public emergency requiring the regulation and 32 control of residential rents and evictions continues, as provided in 33 subdivision 3 of section 1 of the local emergency housing rent control 34 act.