Matter of West Pierre Assoc. LLC v. Harvey, 2025 NY Slip Op 04611 (2025)

The amendments to the Rent Stabilization Law and Code under the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 ([HSTPA] L 2019, ch 36) apply to this proceeding (see Matter of Regina Metro. Co., LLC v New York State Div. of Hous. & Community Renewal, 35 NY3d 332, 363 [2020]). Accordingly, there is no cause for us to engage in a constitutional retroactivity analysis in the application of the HSTPA in this 2022 nonpayment proceeding, as the tenant's first lease commenced December 1, 2020, after the HSTPA's enactment, and no pre-HSTPA overcharge is alleged (see Landgraf v Usi Film Prod., 511 US 244, 269 [1994]). Thus, "no potentially problematic retroactive effect" is implicated here (Matter of 4040 BA LLC v New York State Div. of Hous. & Community Renewal, 221 AD3d 440, 441 [1st Dept 2023], lv denied 41 NY3d 907 [2024]). Additionally, assuming application of the HSTPA to the present overcharge claims has some retroactive impact, such retroactivity is supported by a rational legislative purpose (see American Economy Ins. Co. v State of New York, 30 NY3d 136, 157-158 [2017], cert denied 584 US 1013 [2018]; see also Matter of Regina, 35 NY3d at 383 ["[p]rospective application of part F could be understood to address [the acute housing shortage] by deterring future overcharges"]).