The Wall Street Journal is reporting that evictions are down significantly since the state enacted the new rent laws. The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection act of 2019 was enacted in June of 2019 and has already seen a tremendous effect in filings.
The Wall Street Journal analyzed data from the period after June 14, 2019 which is the date that the law was enacted. What it found was that in non-payment proceedings filings were down forty six percent (46%) from the same period in 2018. Evictions in non-payments were down sixty one percent (61%) in July and sixty eight percent (68%) in August. The analysis also showed that filings in proceedings other than non-payment filings were down twelve percent (12%). The majority of these filings are considered “holdover” proceedings or when the tenant does not have an existing lease but remains at the premises as month to month tenants.
Judge Jean T. Schneider who is New York City’s supervising judge for housing courts believes that the decline in nonpayment cases to new rules that give tenants more time to respond to notices of lateness before a lawsuit is filed. The period for non-payment proceedings to be initiated in Court has now been extended to 14 days from either normal 3 or 5 days as was prescribed in leases. The ability of tenants to now obtain counsel and being able to look back six years on rent disputes are now deterrents as well. Prior to the enactment of the law tenant eviction were also going down. Evictions overall fell thirty seven percent (37%) since 2013.
Many landlords are considering it to much of a hassle to begin legal action unless there is an urgent need to do so. Landlords and developers criticized the new rent laws stating that it would discourage capital investment and cause the city’s housing stock to crumble. Appeals of the laws have been filed as we have previously reported.
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