Daily dirt digs into excess rent bills

Is it or isn’t it?

That’s the question — specifically regarding three bills landlords don’t want Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign.

I’m talking, of course, about the pair of bills that change the rules regarding over-rent situations. There is also a procedure that requires the names of the owners behind LLCs to be added to a public database.

Tenant advocates have called on the governor to sign all three. Reinvent Albany, Housing Justice for All, the New York County Council of Carpenters and other groups sent a letter to the governor this week urging her to sign the LLC bill.

“Critics appear to come from exactly one place: New York City’s luxury condominium real estate market, a market historically rife with money laundering facilitated by anonymous shell companies, which is exactly the type of illicit activity this legislation aims to curb.” Message countries.

These invoices have not yet been delivered to the governor’s office. Maybe you can take this as a sign that the governor isn’t keen on these measures… or that she simply didn’t ask for them. As of last week, according to City & State, there were more than 400 bills that needed to be sent to the governor’s office.

There are other, less controversial, real estate-related bills awaiting signature as well.

This includes a J-51 replacement program and a measure to expand the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s loan authority. Another bill would increase protections against bond theft. The governor is expected to sign these bills, and it would make sense for her to group them together, given their pro-housing nature. It remains to be seen whether these bills will join the other three.

Speaking of waiting for consequential decisions, the US Supreme Court is expected to announce whether it will consider landlord groups’ appeal of New York’s rental law. So I stayed alert!

What we think: Mayor Eric Adams last week revealed details about amending the zoning text for housing opportunities. What are the biggest questions you have about the plan? Send a note to kathryn@therealdeal.com.

Something we learned: Billionaire Ken Griffin last year paid for 10,000 Citadel employees and their families to go to Disney World for three days, according to Reuters. Griffin has reportedly withdrawn his support from Governor Ron DeSantis, who is vying for the Republican nomination for president, due to an ongoing feud between the Florida governor and Disney.

Elsewhere in New York…

– Mayor Eric Adams has appointed Elijah Hutchinson to serve as Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice. Hutchinson previously served as vice president of waterfronts for the city’s Economic Development Corporation.

-The mayor became a Freemason over the weekend. Although it did not appear on his public schedule, Adams, along with NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban and NYPD Chief Jeffrey Madry, were “initiated” as Master Masons during a ceremony at Gracie Mansion, Gothamist reports.
– City & State took a look at where the eight members of the defunct Independent Democratic Conference have stood. None of the members currently hold public office, although former Sen. Tony Avila is vying for a seat on the Queens City Council.