Rent Control

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One does not simply walk to nashville

You can also fly, drive, or bike to the upcoming 37th Annual ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference. in Nashville. Limited space still available, so don’t delay further and register now. We’re on track to record attendance, so you don’t want to miss the best nationally-focused three-day program on our area of law.

Takings, Knick, compensation, appraisals … and a bit of fun thrown in. We have many new attendees, and many new speakers, too.  Continue Reading (Nearly) Last Chance To Join Us In Nashville For ALI-CLE’s Eminent Domain Conference

Here’s the latest on the judicial takings/rent control case which we’ve been following. 

This is the case where New York property owners assert that the N.Y. Court of Appeals’ decision which concluded that the luxury apartments (which were never formerly subject to rent control) are now governed by the Rent Stabilization Law. This, the petition argues, allows tenants (who hardly need the protections of rent control) to renew less-than-market rent in perpetuity. 

Some heavy hitters have weighed in on the side of the Petitioner, including takings maven Richard Epstein, who filed this amicus brief:

But another way of thinking about this case is to focus less on Petitioner’s property right in the physical building and more on its interest in the public benefits conferred under the RPTL and RSL—namely, Section 421-g benefits and luxury decontrol. New York law recognizes a “vested” property right in a public benefit…

Continue Reading Takings Maven Prof Epstein Weighs In On Latest SCOTUS Judicial Takings Case: Owners Had A “Legitimate Claim Of Entitlement” To Rent Decontrol

We were not as creative as our colleague Paul Henry (see below), but our Planning Co-Chair Joe Waldo and I wanted to personally invite you to join the “big guns” in our area of law at the 37th Annual ALI-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference, January 23-25, 2020, in Nashville, Tennessee.

We’ve assembled an excellent faculty, and an agenda that covers the hot topics of the day. Go here to view the complete faculty list and agenda. Water rights, Knick, appraisal, ethics, civil rights, and a whole lot more in three days of the longest (and we think best) conference in our area of law. Also, for those new to the field, Andy Brigham and Jack Sperber are again leading their “Eminent Domain 101” program. A great way to learn the topic, or for experienced lawyers to get a quick refresher on the basics. Your registration…

Continue Reading Don’t Miss Out: Join The “Big Guns” And Secure Your Space At ALI-CLE’s Upcoming Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference (Jan 23-25, 2020, Nashville)

Check this out: the Complaint, filed a couple of days ago in federal court against the State of New York (and others), that alleges the state’s recently-adopted rent control regulations is a taking (among other claims). 

It’s a long complaint so we shall leave it to you to delve into the details yourselves. Most interesting to us is that the complaint’s first named defendant is the State of New York as the State of New York.

What about Eleventh Amendment immunity, you ask? 

Read on. 

Compliant, 74 Pinehurst LLC v. State of New York, No. 1:19-cv-06447 (E.D.N.Y. Nov. 14, 2019) 

Continue Reading New Federal Court Complaint: State’s Rent Control Is A Taking

Check this out. The Complaint that we’ve been meaning to post for a while, filed last month in a Los Angeles U.S. District Court, alleging that California’s new rent control laws are a taking, among other things.

Are rent control laws takings? Yes, pretty sure about that. But will courts conclude that they are takings? If past experience is any guide, courts look for (and find) ways to conclude they are not takings, because, you know, this is one government regulatory scheme that people — here, tenants, can rely on (compared to others, where if you claim a property right in government regulation you are, in Chief Justice Roberts’ words, a “chump”).

Chump on, rent control challengers.

Complaint, Better Housing for Long Beach v. City of Long Beach, No. 2:19-CV-08861 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 15, 2019)… 

Continue Reading New Fed Ct Complaint: City’s And California’s New Rent Control Laws Are Takings

Registration underway, so come join us! Agenda full of hot topics in takings and appraisal law! The best national faculty! Renew friendships, and make new colleagues! And Nashville! 

Download the brochure and make your plans for January. (Don’t wait, we’ve sold out the past three years.)Continue Reading Register Now! ALI-CLE Eminent Domain And Land Valuation Litigation Conference (Nashville, Jan 23-25, 2020)

Here’s a two-fer that covers very difficult and unsettled subjects in takings law: judicial takings and rent control. 

In this cert petition, New York property owners assert that the New York Court of Appeals (the state’s highest court for those of you who do not watch Law & Order (dun-dun)), took private property when the court held that the petitioner’s apartments are governed by the Rent Stabilization Law.

That holding subjected luxury apartments that were never formerly governed by rent control to the tenant’s power to renew less-than-market rent in perpetuity. The petition asserts that before the Court of Appeals’ ruling, “It was settled as a matter of New York law and practice … that Section 421-g property was eligible for luxury decontrol[.]” Pet. at 35.

Here are the Questions Presented:

In Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection, 560 U.S. 702…

Continue Reading New (Judicial Takings!) Cert Petition: NY Court Took Property When It Disallowed Deregulation Of Luxury Rent Controlled Apartments

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Here is a transcript of the remarks I delivered today at the 2019 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference. I was honored to join lawprof Henry Smith and Florida Supreme Court Justice (ret.) Ken Bell (who authored the Florida court’s opinion in Stop the Beach Renourishment which was challenged in SCOTUS as a “judicial taking”) to speak about “Public Resources and Private Rights” (moderated by Professor Katherine Mims Crocker). After paying our respects to 2019 B-K Prize winner Professor Steven Eagle, we each addressed some part of the question.

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The New New Property

As always, I bring to you tidings of “aloha” from the state where the legislature thought it was a going to reduce the price of residential housing by taking fee simple interests from “A” and giving them to “B,” the leaseholders. 

Where now, the median price for a single-family, two bedroom, one bath…

Continue Reading 2019 Brigham-Kanner Conference: The New New Property – Public Resources And Private Rights