The Legal Aid Society applauded White Plains Federal Court Judge Kenneth Karas for dismissing two landlord lawsuits challenging New York State’s comprehensive rent reform laws which were enacted in 2019, as reported by the New York Daily News.

The package of bills expanded rent regulations statewide, closing loopholes that had allowed landlords to force tenants out of their homes, and strengthened protections for renters. Judge Karas wrote that the landlords had failed to prove that the new laws violated their constitutional rights or had caused them substantial impairment.

When these suits were initially filed Legal Aid, together with pro bono partner Selendy & Gay PLLC, were granted a motion to interview on behalf of tenants to ensure their interests were protected.

“Every judge who has reviewed these cases so far has found that both the rent laws in general and the amendments to rent regulation, as a whole, are completely within the power of the state Legislature to govern,” said Judith Goldiner, Attorney-in-Charge of the Civil Law Reform Unit at The Legal Aid Society.

The two suits were the final outstanding attempts to undo the landmark rent reform measures.