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Mayor Adams recently appointed Kathleen Corradi as the city’s first-ever citywide director of rodent mitigation, also known as the “rat czar.” In this newly created role, Corradi will coordinate across city government agencies, community organizations, and the private sector to reduce the rat population in New York City.

Mayor Eric Adams recently announced the appointment of Nestor Davidson as the new chair of the New York City Rent Guidelines Board. The nine-member Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) is responsible for adjusting rents for the one million New York City apartments subject to the city’s rent stabilization law.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently ruled against landlords in a lawsuit challenging New York’s rent stabilization law and the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA). The court affirmed the New York Eastern District Court’s decision when it dismissed the case in September 2020.

Attorney General Letitia James’ office recently announced that it had recovered more than $422,000 from Fairfield Properties, one of Long Island’s largest apartment owner. The real estate company illegally withheld full or partial security deposits without providing tenants with a written itemized list of deductions, inspected apartments without the tenant present, and did not allow tenants to make repairs before vacating their apartment to avoid penalties.

Mayor Eric Adams recently released details of a plan to facilitate the conversion of underused office space into new housing. The plan’s recommendations were made by the Office Adaptive Reuse Task Force, led by NYC Department of City Planning (DCP) Director Dan Garodnick. The task force was convened by the Adams administration in July 2022 following Local Law 43 of 2022.

A bill from State Senator Robert Jackson and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz that prohibits owners from imposing a surcharge on tenants for the use of a tenant-installed air conditioner has been signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul (S2012A/A992A). The law went into effect on Nov. 21.

HPD recently reached a settlement agreement with an owner to correct over 80 lead-based paint violations across six Brooklyn buildings. The owner will pay $82,500 in civil penalties and will correct the violations in five buildings. The sixth building, sold by the owner during the litigation, must have violations corrected by the new owner.

In October, the city’s Department of Buildings (DOB) released its long-awaited draft rules on how building owners can cut their buildings’ carbon emissions to bring themselves in compliance with Local Law 97. Along with the release of the draft rules, DOB has also published the first Local Law 97 Covered Buildings List, which includes all buildings in the city that will be subject to the 2025 compliance deadline.

The Tenant Harassment Prevention Task Force recently announced a settlement with Greenbrook Holdings LLC. The landlord owns 188 buildings comprising approximately 1,000 units, many of which are rent stabilized, in New York City and State, with the majority in neighborhoods throughout Brooklyn.

New York's state Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program will get $99.4 million in federal funds reallocated by U.S. Treasury officials. This recent payout to New York State is the third time the state has received federal dollars, and this should empty the first tranche of ERA funds available to the state.