Landlord Organizations File Federal Lawsuit Challenging New Rent Laws

July 22nd, 2019

This week, the Rent Stabilization Association and the Community Housing Improvement Program, along with seven individual landlords, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York. The lawsuit alleges that the rent law approved last month violates the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, which includes a clause that bars taking of private property without “just compensation,” and the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause. The complaint argues that changes to the rent law deprive “property owners of their core rights to exclude others from their property and to possess, use, and dispose of their property,” because — among other things — owners can’t refuse to renew leases “except in very narrow circumstances.” The 125-page complaint names the city, the city’s Rent Guidelines Board, the board’s members and the state Homes and Community Renewal Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas as defendants. The suit seeks to prohibit the enforcement and application of the rent law.