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Mayor de Blasio recently signed three bills into law designed to protect rent-regulated tenants from pressure to agree to buyouts or cash payments in return for giving up their apartments. Among the laws, which take effect in 90 days, is one that prevents owners from pressuring tenants into accepting buyout offers or making offers within 180 days of a tenant refusing an offer. They also require owners to notify tenants of their right to stay and to hire a lawyer in writing.

New York City is in the midst of a building boom as evidenced by permit filings at the Department of Buildings. Over the last fiscal year, the DOB agreed to the construction of 52,618 residential units. This represents a massive 156 percent increase from the previous fiscal year and a 749 percent increase from the post-recession low of 2010, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data by the New York Building Congress.

A group of Orthodox Jewish tenants are suing the owners of a housing complex in Corona, Queens, alleging religious discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. In 2012, the 20-building complex embarked on a renovation project that added lobby doors that open only with electronic keys, as opposed to traditional metal keys.

A recent study looked at Airbnb home/apartment listings in 20 different Zip codes located throughout the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. It found that those listings which offered to rent entire homes or apartments on Airbnb’s website comprise at least 10 percent of the total rental units in those Zip codes, according to the report by New York Communities for Change. The most popular neighborhood for Airbnb rentals, the East Village, saw 28 percent of rental units converted into illegal hotel rooms.

Developers in line for tax breaks for building low-income housing in or near luxury buildings can no longer install a "poor door" to separate low-income tenants from those who pay market rates. The New York State ban was passed recently as part of legislation that renewed the state's 421-a tax break program and strengthened the state’s rent regulation.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman recently announced a settlement deal with Bank of America and Citigroup in which the banks will provide $75 million to build or rehabilitate 2,300 rental units in the city and 1,500 elsewhere in the state. The money, which would be used to fund low-interest loans, will count as “consumer relief” that the banks pledged to provide under multibillion-dollar national settlements last year.

Since Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s Airbnb report last fall, which found that 72 percent of all Airbnb transactions between 2010 and June 2014 violated state law, City Council members have been intensifying their efforts to stem the illegal use of Airbnb. Recently, Manhattan City Council members Helen Rosenthal and Ydanis Rodriguez have introduced new legislation that would ramp up penalties for people who misuse the site.

Newly released data by the Rent Guidelines Board shows the total number of rent-stabilized apartments in New York City increased in 2014, up 169 units. There were 9,182 apartments added to rent stabilization last year, compared to 9,013 that were removed from the rolls.

New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman recently reached a $1.2 million settlement with developers who illegally converted rent-stabilized apartments to luxury condos. The developers agreed to pay $1.2 million to a city housing fund for the loss of five rent-stabilized apartments. The deal also requires them to provide two years of rent payments to tenants who stayed and to reimburse legal fees.

Recently, the New York City council passed a bill that would require owners to provide tenants at least 24 hours’ notice before launching into any renovations that would “disrupt building services,” ranging from building heat to water and electricity. HPD would assume responsibility for enforcing the potential law.