Allows prospective tenants of rent controlled or rent stabilized housing accommodations to request the complete rent history of such housing accommodations.
Summary
S03569 would require the state housing agency to adopt rules allowing a prospective tenant who has made a good-faith deposit and intends to sign a lease for a rent-controlled or rent-stabilized apartment to request and receive the complete rent history for that unit. The bill applies to housing covered by New York’s major rent regulation laws, including the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, the Emergency Housing Rent Control Law, the Local Emergency Housing Rent Control Act, and the New York City rent regulation provisions.
The rent history provided would have to go back at least to 1974. In practical terms, the measure is designed to give applicants more information before committing to a regulated apartment, especially information that may help identify prior rent levels, increases, or possible irregularities in the unit’s rental record.
Impact
The bill would amend the Public Housing Law by adding a new subdivision directing the responsible agency to promulgate regulations, rules, and policies for tenant access to rent histories. It would create a new disclosure right for prospective tenants in regulated housing, while also imposing a corresponding administrative obligation on the state agency and landlords or housing providers who maintain the relevant records. The bill does not itself change rent-setting rules, but it would expand transparency in the rent-regulated housing market and could affect tenant screening, lease negotiations, and potential rent overcharge disputes.
Sentiment
The available voting history suggests the bill had meaningful but not unanimous support. It passed the Senate Housing, Construction and Community Development Committee by 9-2 in 2025 and 7-3 in 2026, and it also cleared the Senate floor in both instances, though with notable opposition. That pattern indicates broad support for tenant transparency, alongside a substantial minority concerned about the measure’s effects or implementation.
Contention
The main point of contention is likely the balance between tenant transparency and the burdens on property owners and administrators. Supporters would view the bill as a consumer-protection and anti-overcharge tool that helps prospective tenants make informed decisions in a tightly regulated market. Opponents may argue that requiring disclosure of complete rent histories could create administrative burdens, raise privacy or recordkeeping concerns, or encourage litigation over historical rent practices. The split committee and floor votes indicate that these concerns were significant enough to draw organized opposition, even though the bill retained majority support.
Allows prospective tenants of rent controlled or rent stabilized housing accommodations to request the complete rent history of such housing accommodations.
Prohibits the mayor from residing in a rent stabilized apartment; authorizes a landlord of a rent stabilized accommodation to bring a special proceeding to evict the mayor.
Establishes the crime of aggravated harassment of a rent regulated tenant which occurs when an owner intentionally engages in a systematic ongoing course of conduct to induce three or more rent regulated tenants occupying different housing accommodations in two or more residential buildings to vacate such housing accommodations or if such owner commits the crime of harassment of a rent regulated tenant and was previously convicted of the same crime in the past five years.
Establishes the crime of aggravated harassment of a rent regulated tenant which occurs when an owner intentionally engages in a systematic ongoing course of conduct to induce three or more rent regulated tenants occupying different housing accommodations in two or more residential buildings to vacate such housing accommodations or if such owner commits the crime of harassment of a rent regulated tenant and was previously convicted of the same crime in the past five years.
Establishes income eligibility requirements that a tenant shall have income not to exceed one hundred twenty-five percent of the area median income to be eligible to occupy certain rent-regulated housing accommodations.
Prohibits surcharges on self-installed dishwashers in housing accommodations subject to rent control when the tenant pays for electric utility service.
Requires the state division of housing and community renewal to establish a publicly accessible database of the complete rental histories of rent stabilized accommodations in cities with a population of one million or more no later than December 31, 2024.