New Tenant Harassment Law Can't Be Applied Retroactively

Tenants sued landlord, claiming harassment. Landlord asked the court to dismiss the case because tenants were complaining about actions that occurred before Local Law 7 of 2008 was enacted. The court ruled against landlord, and landlord appealed. The appeals court ruled for landlord in part. Local Law 7 created a new cause of action for harassment to address a perceived effort by landlords to harass tenants into giving up their rights by, for example, commencing repeated frivolous court proceedings. New laws generally aren’t applied retroactively unless either they state an intention to do so or they are remedial in nature. Local Law 7 stated only that it was to take effect “immediately,” meaning it applied to acts occurring on or after March 13, 2008. And even though Local Law 7 was intended to remedy a problem, it created a new cause of action and therefore couldn’t be applied retroactively. The case was sent back for the lower court to determine if any of tenants’ claims concerned actions taken by the landlord after the effective date of the law.

Aguaiza v. Vantage Properties, LLC: 2010 WL 26543 (1/7/10) (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Andrias, JP, Sweeny, Nardelli, Catterson, DeGrasse, JJ)