Landlord & Tenant Law

In landlords' action for a declaration that the city's local law prohibiting no-cause evictions is pre-empted by state law, the city appealed from Supreme Court's grant of landlords' summary judgment motion. The Appellate Division modified, holding that the statute's good cause requirement is inconsistent with the Real Property Law, but upholding another section of the local law that required landlord to provide a residential occupancy permit in any eviction proceeding.

The City of Albany enacted a local law adding a number of sections to the city code. One section requires landlord to present the most recent residential occupancy permit during an eviction proceeding. Other sections require landlord to provide a good cause, beyond termination of a lease, before evicting a tenant. Landlords brought this proceeding contending that the local law was pre-empted by state law, and also constituted a taking and a violation of the contract clause. Supreme Court granted landlords' summary judgment motion.