More than four years ago, after lawmakers in Albany approved sweeping tenant-friendly changes to the state’s rent laws, landlord groups took the issue to court — challenging not just the reforms but the entire rent-regulation regime. The strategy all along has been to reach the Supreme Court. Now, the nation’s highest court, with its conservative majority, will decide as early as Tuesday whether to hear the case. The lawsuit, filed in July 2019 by the Rent Stabilization Association, the Community Housing Improvement Program and individual landlords, alleged New York’s reformed rent law amounted to an illegal taking of private property. An appeals court wasn’t convinced in a ruling this past February — in which it agreed with a federal district judge’s earlier decision to dismiss the case. A three-judge panel cited “the state’s longstanding authority to regulate†the relationship between landlords and tenants, and said the case law is “exceptionally clear that legislatures enjoy broad authority to regulate land use.†The plaintiffs have framed those losses as expected, and they have argued that legal developments in recent years bolster their case and underscore the need for the issue to be revisited. “In addition to property owners, we have national organizations representing the whole rental housing ecosystem, builders, owners, realtors, mortgage bankers and others explaining how there really is a tidal wave of onerous rental housing regulation across the nation either being enacted or being considered and really underlining the need for guidance from the Supreme Court,†Andrew Pincus, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said at an event with the conservative Federalist Society in August. Tenant advocates have held that rent-regulation is settled law. “This is the type of frivolous challenge that only organizations with a lot of money to waste would move forward in,†Ellen Davidson, an attorney at the Legal Aid Society, said after a lower court dismissed the case in 2020. The highest court ruling in favor of the plaintiffs would have massive implications for rent restrictions in New York and elsewhere. Pincus noted in August it’s “pretty unlikely that there will not be a substitute law enacted in New York†in that scenario, but said he hopes such a decision would “explain to the New York Legislature that there are lines beyond which they cannot cross.†Welcome to POLITICO New York Real Estate and Infrastructure. Please send tips, ideas, releases and corrections to [email protected].
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