What's happening
This bill requires landlords to make reasonable efforts to re-rent apartments and mitigate damages if a tenant breaks their lease.
Why it matters
Shifts the financial risk. This bill stops landlords from simply letting an apartment sit empty and charging the departed tenant for the full remaining lease; instead, landlords must actively try to find a new tenant, potentially saving those who break a lease from paying months of rent for an unused unit.
Standardizes tenant protections. By making lease clauses that waive a landlord's duty to mitigate damages void (unenforceable), the bill ensures all residential tenants have these protections, regardless of what their lease says.
Clarifies burden of proof. If a landlord seeks damages from a tenant who broke the lease, the landlord must prove they made genuine efforts to re-rent at fair market value, which may make it harder for landlords to successfully sue for lost rent.
Encourages fairer outcomes. If a new tenant signs a lease, the original tenant’s financial responsibility ends at that point, reducing prolonged legal and financial uncertainty for both parties.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Make Landlords Limit Tenant Fees
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Referred to judiciary
- Committed to rules
- Amended on third reading 2949a
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.187
- Referred to judiciary
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2949--A Cal. No. 187
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 31, 2019
Introduced by Sens. STAVISKY, SALAZAR, BIAGGI, HOYLMAN, KRUEGER, LIU, MONTGOMERY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary -- reported favorably from said committee, ordered to first and second report, ordered to a third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third reading
AN ACT to amend the real property law, in relation to requiring landlords to mitigate damages if a tenant vacates a premises in violation of the terms of the lease
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The real property law is amended by adding a new section 227-e to read as follows:
§ 227-e. Landlord duty to mitigate damages. In any lease or rental agreement, excluding any real estate purchase contract defined in paragraphs (a), (c) and (d) of subdivision four of section four hundred sixty-one of this chapter, covering premises occupied for dwelling purposes, if a tenant vacates a premises in violation of the terms of the lease, the landlord shall, in good faith, take reasonable and customary actions to rent the premises at fair market value. If the landlord rents the premises at fair market value, the new tenant's lease shall, once in effect, terminate the previous tenant's lease and mitigate damages otherwise recoverable against the previous tenant because of such tenant's vacating the premises. The burden of proof shall be on the party seeking to recover damages. Any provision in a lease that exempts a landlord's duty to mitigate damages under this section shall be void as contrary to public policy.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06169-07-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the real property law, in relation to requiring landlords to mitigate damages if a tenant vacates a premises in violation of the terms of the lease
Purpose or general idea of bill
This bill would require residential landlords to mitigate damages to a tenant in cases where the tenant vacated the premises.
Summary of provisions
Section one of the bill adds a new section 227-e of the real property law as it relates to imposing a duty on landlords to mitigate damages to tenants. The landlord must, in good faith, take reasonable actions to re-rent the premises at a fair market value. Any new tenant lease that is executed shall terminate the previous tenant's lease and any damages from that point forward.
Section two of the bill relates to the effective date.
Justification
This bill will ensure that only actual damages are recoverable in situ- ations where a tenant vacates a property in violation of the lease. Currently, New York State law does not explicitly provide for the duty to mitigate damages on landlords. There was a court decision that applied an earlier ruling related to commercial leases on residential leases; stating that the landlord has no obligation to mitigate damages on a tenant (Rios v Carrillo, 2008). This decision states that if a tenant vacates the property in violation of the lease, the landlord can choose not to move forward in re-renting the premises and allow the tenant to be responsible for damages equal to the entirety of the lease.
This bill would explicitly state that the landlord must take reasonable steps to re-rent the premise. The tenant could still be liable for damages if the premises cannot be re-rented or due to market consider- ations had to be rented at a lower rent. Some judges already apply this generally accepted standard as a matter of equity, however, others do not. This will provide the courts with guidance in determining damages in landlord-tenant cases.
Prior legislative history
Revised 4/29/2019
New bill.
Fiscal implications for state and local governments
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.