Landlords File Lawsuit In Desperate Attempt to Defeat Rent Stabilization, Again
KINGSTON, N.Y. — A group of landlords filed a lawsuit in Ulster Supreme Court on March 18 against the City of Kingston in yet another attempt to block rent stabilization, which has kept thousands of tenants housed and was recently re-authorized by the Kingston Common Council. Tenants, grassroots organizations, and legal advocates condemned the lawsuit as legally baseless, part of a familiar strategy by corporate real estate interests to overturn tenant protections after failing to do so democratically. The Court of Appeals upheld Kingston’s adoption of rent stabilization in June 2025 and the City Council voted in January 2026 to continue rent stabilization following another vacancy study.
“Landlords will stop at nothing to maximize their profits and hike our rents. The housing emergency in Kingston has not gone away, and tenants will keep fighting to keep rents stabilized in our community,” said Teresa Greene, a leader of the Stony Run Tenants Union.
“We’re not surprised to see landlords run to the courts yet again. It’s the same tactic from the same playbook they’ve used over and over, in Kingston and in cities across New York. They will lose again in Kingston, but it’s ridiculous this is being re-litigated. The Rent Emergency Stabilization for Tenants (REST) Act would put an end to frivolous lawsuits like these once and for all, giving cities like Kingston the strong and clear authority to stabilize rents and protect tenants without being dragged into court by deep-pocketed property owners. This new legal action underscores why it’s so urgent state lawmakers pass REST as soon as possible this session,” said Xaver Kandler, Political Director at For the Many.
New documents uncovered in November revealed that NYC real estate lobby groups gave Rich Lanzarone and the Hudson Valley Property Owners Association $100,000 to sue cities like Kingston, Poughkeepsie, and Newburgh to block rent stabilization upstate. These lawsuits, which have centered on contested vacancy studies that are required for municipalities to adopt rent stabilization, could largely be avoided if state lawmakers pass the Rent Emergency Stabilization for Tenants (REST) Act.
The REST Act would allow municipalities to declare a housing emergency on the basis of publicly available data, such as homelessness rate and rent burden, in addition to the results of vacancy studies. The law would give local governments across the state more authority to set fair limits on rent increases and determine the number of units covered,and would help avoid legal attacks on tenant protections like the one now being lodged in Kingston.
“It’s barely a surprise that landlords are once again suing the city of Kingston for wanting to protect its residents from exorbitant rent increases, and it’s not surprising either that a vacancy study is at the center of this lawsuit. The state needs to act now and pass our bill, the REST Act, which would bring an end to these unnecessary burdens that are being put on our localities for simply protecting tenants. The bill would: allow localities to declare a housing emergency using publicly available data such as eviction rates and homelessness rates instead of having to conduct and legally defend a vacancy study; decide how big the buildings should be in order to be eligible for rent stabilization protections; and exempt only buildings built or substantially renovated in the last 15 years on a rolling basis instead of exempting everything built after 1974. We cannot have a stable community and public safety if people aren’t able to stay housed, and this lawsuit just shows how much more urgent it is to pass the REST Act,” said Assembly Member Sarahana Shrestha, lead sponsor of the REST Act.
“Landlords will do anything, including bankrupting our towns and cities with frivolous lawsuits, to protect their profits. They’ve used money from the NYC real estate lobby to ensure tenants don’t have basic stability. They lost before, and they will lose again. Kingston has a housing emergency, and everyone knows it. Tenants will keep fighting to protect rent stabilization—and winning,” said Sumathy Kumar, Director of Housing Justice for All.
“The Common Council kept rent stabilization in place because of clear evidence demonstrating the ongoing housing emergency in Kingston. Landlords thought they could get rid of rent stabilization in Kingston by manipulating the vacancy study via warehousing and outright dishonesty, but tenants bravely pointed out their landlord’s lies to correct the record and keep their protections. This lawsuit is entirely unsurprising: landlords will do anything they can to price gouge tenants in Kingston. We will fight them every step of the way,” said June Nemon, tenant organizer.
Following Kingston’s declaration of a housing emergency in 2022, the Hudson Valley Property Owners Association, recently re-branded as Housing Providers of New York State, sued the City seeking to overturn rent stabilization and the historic 15% rent reduction. Kingston’s declaration of a housing emergency was upheld by the state Supreme Court and the Appellate Division, Third Department, and, in June, the New York Court of Appeals also upheld the negative rent adjustment and fair market rent guideline in the Matter of Hudson Valley Property Owners Association Inc. v. City of Kingston.
The Emergency Tenant Protection Act expressly gives the Council—not the Mayor—the authority to declare a housing emergency based on its own independent assessment and public testimony. The Council examined the survey’s underlying data, heard extensive public testimony, and arrived at well‑supported, distinct conclusions. The Kingston Common Council voted unanimously on December 17th to re-issue an emergency declaration based on the citywide vacancy rate and preserve rent stabilization for the more than 1,000 units that are currently eligible under the state Emergency Tenant Protection Act. On January 6, 2026, the Common Council voted to override Mayor Steve Noble’s veto, following another series of packed public hearings where tenants underscored the housing emergency and flaws in the landlord self-reporting of vacancies.
This new round of litigation underscores the need for the state legislature to pass the Rent Emergency Stabilization for Tenants (REST) Act and update the nearly 50 year old Emergency Tenant Protection Act to empower municipalities like Kingston to protect their tenants without the threat of being tied up in court for years.