What's happening
This bill allows landlords to reclaim rent-controlled units for personal or family use, removing protections for tenants with 20+ years residency.
Why it matters
Removes long-term tenancy protection. The bill eliminates the specific protection that previously prevented landlords from reclaiming rent-controlled apartments from tenants who have lived in their unit for 20 years or more, potentially increasing housing instability for long-term residents.
Expands landlord rights over rent-controlled units. By loosening restrictions, the bill makes it easier for landlords to regain possession of rent-controlled properties for their own or their immediate family’s use, which could accelerate the loss of affordable housing stock.
Maintains some tenant protections. While the 20-year residency safeguard is removed, tenants who are 62 or older or have permanent disabilities (excluding addiction-related issues) still retain some protection from eviction for owner occupancy, possibly mitigating the impact on the most vulnerable.
Signals a shift in policy priorities. The amendment reflects a legislative move toward balancing owners' rights and tenant protections differently, possibly signaling future changes in rent regulation or broader housing policy debates in New York City.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Let Owners Evict for Use
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 45
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to housing, construction and community development
- Referred to housing, construction and community development
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
3560
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 24, 2017
Introduced by Sen. LITTLE -- 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 administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to possession of a housing accommodation subject to the city rent and rehabilitation law by an owner for personal use and occupancy
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Paragraph 1 of subdivision b of section 26-408 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended to read as follows:
(1) The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession of a housing accommodation [because of immediate and compelling necessity] for his or her own personal use and occupancy or for the use and occupancy of his or her immediate family provided, however, that this subdivision shall not apply where a member of the household lawfully occupying the housing accommodation is sixty-two years of age or older[, has been a tenant in a housing accommodation in that building for twenty years or more,] or has an impairment which results from anatomical, physiological or psychological conditions, other than addiction to alcohol, gambling, or any controlled substance, which are demonstrable by medically acceptable clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques, and which are expected to be permanent and which prevent the tenant from engaging in any substantial gainful employment; or
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amendments to section 26-408 of the city rent and rehabilitation law made by section one of this act shall remain in full force and effect only as long as the public emergency requiring the regulation and control of residential rents and evictions continues, as provided in subdivision 3 of section 1 of the local emergency housing rent control act.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07647-01-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to possession of a housing accommodation subject to the city rent and rehabilitation law by an owner for personal use and occupancy
Purpose
This bill amends the rent control laws to address the situation where property owners seek to obtain possession of apartments occupied by rent controlled tenants. The bill deletes the requirement that an owner prove an "immediate and compelling necessity" prior to taking occupancy of an apartment occupied by a rent-controlled tenant. The bill also deletes the provision of existing law that prohibits an owner from taking occupancy of a rent-controlled apartment where the tenant was residing in the apartment form more than twenty years.
Summary of provisions
This bill makes the owner occupancy provisions of the rent control law more similar to the requirements that are contained in the rent stabilization law. Under both the rent control and rent stabilization laws, an owner is authorized to take occupancy of an apartment occupied by a rent-regulated tenant where the owner intends to use the apartment for themselves or for their immediate family. Unlike the rent stabilization law, however, the rent control law imposes additional, burdensome requirements. First, the owner must establish an "immediate and compelling necessity," for taking possession of the apartment, a virtually insurmountable standard and one that is far more difficult to meet than the standard that exists under rent stabilization. The rent-controlled standard imposes an unreasonable obstacle to an owner's ability to use their own property for their own purposes.
Read the full memo (602 words)
Justification
This bill makes the owner occupancy provisions of the rent control law more similar to the requirements that are contained in the rent stabilization law. Under both the rent control and rent stabilization laws, an owner is authorized to take occupancy of an apartment occupied by a rent-regulated tenant where the owner intends to use the apartment for themselves or for their immediate family. Unlike the rent stabilization law, however, the rent control law imposes additional, burdensome requirements. First, the owner must establish an "immediate and compelling necessity," for taking possession of the apartment, a virtually insurmountable standard and one that is far more difficult to meet than the standard that exists under rent stabilization. The rent-controlled standard imposes an unreasonable obstacle to an owner's ability to use their own property for their own purposes.
Second, also unlike the rent stabilization law, an owner is prohibited from taking occupancy of a rent-controlled apartment where the tenant has been in occupancy for twenty or more years. Rent controlled tenants who are 62 years of age or older or who suffer from any one of a number of'dibabilities have been and would continue to be protected under the rent control law. However, there is no sound public policy justification for protecting other rent-controlled tenants merely because they happen to live in their apartments for a particular length of time.
This bill is consistent with the requirements contained in the rent stabilization law, removes unreasonable obstacles for property owners who seek to use their own property for themselves or their immediate
family, and continues the protections afforded under existing law to tenants who are 62 years of age or older or who are disabled.
Legislative history
2015-16: S.2283 Referred to Housing, Construction and Community Development Committee 2013-14: S.4033 Referred to Housing, Construction and Community Development Committee 2013: S.5152 Referred to Housing, Construction and Community Development Committee 2012: S.5152 Passed Senate
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.