S 421: Requires landlords to mitigate damages when commercial tenants vacate premises in violation of the terms of the lease.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 421 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. LIU -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed 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 dwelling 8 purposes,] 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