On January 4, 2024, the Chapter Amendment to the bill passed by the NYS Legislature last June (A6216B/S2980C (the “Original Bill”) was introduced in the State Assembly. The amended bill (A08506 (the “Amended Bill”) remains troublesome.
The Amended Bill sets forth a definition of fraud that only applies to rent stabilized property owners, which creates a substantially lower threshold for defining fraud, than is applicable to everyone else.
There is some good news among the changes made to the Original Bill. The Amended Bill provides that the fraud be made knowingly, rather than through mere mistake or error. The Original Bill, as originally drafted, would have created liability for the latter.
However, the bill is made applicable to pending proceedings. This is legally suspect– particularly in light of the Court of Appeals’ voiding the retroactive application of certain aspects of the HSTPA because it would deprive owners of due process.
In more good news, the Amended Bill mandates that an order from DHCR finding a building exempt from Rent Stabilization by reason of substantial rehabilitation only applies where the work commenced on or after 1/1/2024. The Original Bill would have created a 50 year look back requirement which would have created chaos.
You can read more about the Original Bill and the enacted version of the Original Bill in past news items from BBG updates.
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