The team of landlording advocate Rich Lanzarone and Benjamin Neidl, a lawyer for Hacker Murphy LLP, are two wins and no losses in their quest to overturn rent stabilization in the Hudson Valley.
In her ruling of November 22, Dutchess County judge Christi Ackerman characterized as “flawed” the vacancy study underpinning the Poughkeepsie common council’s declaration of a housing emergency. This defeat follows a similar ruling in Orange County issued by judge Timothy P. McElduff Jr. in May, which vacated the housing emergency declared in Newburgh.
In both cases, judges agreed with Neidl’s argument that the numbers produced by the vacancy studies, reported to be 3.93 percent in Newburgh and 3.96 percent in Poughkeepsie, did not accurately reflect the rental apartment vacancy rate, as not all landlords queried by the vacancy study had responded.
A housing emergency declaration may only be declared if a rental vacancy rate is found to be below five percent.
Newburgh has appealed McElduff’s ruling, claiming the court erred in finding that the city was required to update its vacancy study “based upon untimely, self-serving submissions from [landlords].”
Poughkeepsie government is now weighing its options. If Poughkeepsie decides on an appeal, like Newburgh, the city would argue before an appellate court which this year set precedent in favor of a vacancy study challenged in Ossining. That study was implemented by the same consultant, the Collective for Community Culture and the Environment (CCCE), which implemented the survey for Poughkeepsie.
Utilizing different counsel in 2022, Lanzarone failed to convince an Ulster County judge to overturn the City of Kingston’s vacancy study. He lost again on appeal.
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