ALBANY – Tenants across New York will soon benefit from added protections against evictions and some could see their monthly rent capped as part of a soon-to-pass bill that will revamp the state's rent laws.

New York lawmakers struck a deal late Tuesday to extend and reshape the state's safeguards for renters, bolstering tenants' rights when landlords seek to evict them and making the state's rent laws permanent.

One of the biggest changes: Local governments across the state will soon be able to opt in to New York's rent-stabilization program, which limits annual rent increases in certain apartment buildings, if their housing stock is running low.

The program previously applied only to New York City and its suburbs, including more than 900,000 units in the city, about 26,000 in Westchester County and 2,000 in Rockland County.

New protections for renters statewide

Among the other protections added for renters across the state:

Banning the use of "tenant blacklists," in which screeners sell lists of apartment-seekers who appear in police reports and court documents to landlords

Creating a new misdemeanor charge for landlords who unlawfully evict or lock out their tenants, along with a fine of up to $10,000 per violation

Requiring landlords to provide more notice to their tenants if they plan to increase rent more than 5 percent or not renew a lease

Limiting security deposits to the cost of one month's rent

Giving courts greater ability to hold off an eviction for up to a year if a tenant can't find similar housing

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, announced they had reached a deal on the wide-ranging rent bill Tuesday.

"These reforms give New Yorkers the strongest tenant protections in history," the legislative leaders said in a joint statement. "For too long, power has been tilted in favor of landlords and these measures finally restore equity and extend protections to tenants across the state."

The rent-law overhaul comes amid significant pressure from the New York City real-estate industry, which for decades has pushed back against bolstering the rent-stabilization program and has been a political force at the state Capitol.

Now, landlords across the state could be facing the stabilization program, which allows a Rent Guidelines Board to set the maximum rate for annual rent increases in certain buildings, generally those more than six units built before 1974, when the program was first approved.

In Westchester County, for example, rent increases for stabilized units were limited to 2 percent for one-year leases and 3 percent for two-year leases last year. In Rockland County, stabilized rent was frozen last year.

Certain rent increases beyond the limit are allowed for capital improvements made at the apartments or if more services are offered.

The bill will also bolster protections for tenants who are already part of the rent-stabilization program, ending the practice of "vacancy decontrol," in which units were removed from the program after hitting a certain rent threshold and going vacant.

The rent bill was cheered by advocates for tenants, many of whom had traveled to Albany repeatedly to push for better protections.

Ryan Acuff of the City-Wide Tenant Union of Rochester said the bill is a "tremendous victory for tenants across the state."

He said he hopes Rochester opts in to the rent-stabilization program.

"The expansion of rent stabilization to cities like Rochester can bring vital protections to tenants who are unprotected from massive rent hikes and no fault evictions," Acuff said in a statement.

Landlords have their concerns

Joseph Hanna, owner of Hanna Properties in Rochester, said the Rochester area has a need for low-income housing stock. That's something rent stabilization won't address, he said.

Regardless, Hanna said he doesn't believe Rochester has a vacancy rate of 5 percent or less in a particular housing class — a requirement to opt in to the rent-stabilization program.

"There's no shortage of housing for middle-class or upper-class renters (in the Rochester area)," said Hanna, who is also president of the Southeast Area Landlord Coalition.

"The problem is housing for the poor. Rent stabilization isn't going to create housing for the poor."

The bill was introduced overnight and is scheduled for a vote Friday, when it is expected to pass.

The state's rent-control and stabilization programs were set to expire Saturday.

On Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he would sign the bill once it's passed.

"My point all along has been I want the best tenant protections we've ever passed for the state of New York and I believe this is the best tenant protections they will pass, and I will sign it," Cuomo told reporters.

JCAMPBELL1@gannett.com

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