The introduction of New York’s Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (“HSTPA”)-Part B

Yen-Yi Anderson, Managing Partner of Anderson & Associates, founded the law firm in January 2014. Yen-Yi Anderson focuses her practice on excellence in business immigration, commercial law, and civil litigation.

Philipp Kirschbaum is a Law Clerk at Anderson & Associates and a contributing author for the Anderson & Associates blog.

Part B. Problems with your landlord? Recent New York legislation enhances your rights.

Lease Renewals

If a tenant has been living in a unit for less than one year, and the landlord plans to not offer a lease renewal or plans to increase the rent by more than 5%, the landlord must give the tenant at least 30 days advance notice. If the tenancy was for 1-2 years, the landlord must provide at least 60 days’ notice. If the tenancy was for 2 years or more, the landlord must provide at least 90 days’ notice.

Early Lease Termination

If a tenant decides to vacate his/her unit prior to the lease end date, the landlord now has a duty to mitigate the damages. This means that the landlord must make “reasonable and customary steps” to relet the unit for the current lease value or market value, whichever is lower. The effect is that whereas formerly, a tenant who abandoned his lease would almost certainly still be on the hook for the remainder of his/her lease payments, with new legislation, the landlord must try to find a new tenant to lease the unit and if successful may not charge the former tenant for those months of rent.