It is the beginning of the end of paper copy lease agreements in NYS, at least for rent stabilized tenants. 

Moving forward, rent stabilized tenants are going to be processing their leases electronically because Bill A02679 passed the legislature and is pending Gov. Hochul's signature. This Bill requires that the Division of Housing and Community Renewal ("DHCR") develops regulations allowing electronic leases and signatures to be used for both leases and lease renewals of rent stabilized tenants. 

However, the Bill makes clear that electronic leases are not yet required. As such, those who may not be well-versed in technology, such as the Baby Boomer generation, need not worry about how this could affect their lease execution process as tenants will be able to choose whether or not they want to execute their lease via electronic means or via a traditional paper copy. A tenant will be presented with a form, developed by DHCR, in the top 6 languages that will confirm that the tenant has the choice whether to consent to the use of electronic records and signatures. Therefore, landlords will not be permitted to require their tenants to execute their lease by electronic means.

It is expected that electronic leases are going to become the norm sooner rather than later. They cut down on costs of office supplies, such as printer ink and paper, while provide for improved organization and retrieval. They save time by avoiding face-to-face meetings and can maximize safety in this COVID world. 

Do you think most rent stabilized tenants will choose to have their leases executed electronically? Or, will paper copies stand the test of time in a constantly evolving technology driven world? Seems unlikely. It's my guess that as the Boomer generation dissipates, paper copy leases will as well. 

Landlords are about to be capped on key reproduction fees in NYS. 

You may be saying whoopdeedoo, but it's not that simple. 

The cap is 110% of the actual cost of reproduction. However, the cap doesn't apply for the 4th time the tenant needs the keys in a calendar year. 

The real question is what happened the second and third time the tenant needed a new key. Why are they constantly losing their keys? Do you lose your house keys FOUR times in a year? 

Here is a question - does this new key reproduction cap also cap the shipping and handling of the new keys? Think about it. Now a landlord needs to stop their day, drive to a local hardware shop, wait about 20 minutes for the line and the key to be made, drive back to their office, and deliver the key for virtually fifty cents. This is nuts. 

Maybe the legislature should realize that landlords never wanted to make money on key reproduction in the first place. Instead, they charged a lot to motivate their tenants to STOP LOSING KEYS. 

Read the new law, section 235-i of the Real Property Law, here. 

Governor Cuomo should not to sign this stupid law. 

If he does, lawyers need to draft leases with shipping and handling fees for keys, but it's unclear if such fees will be upheld in court when the litigation ensues on the topic. 

Do you think landlords should be able to charge fees for shipping and handling of key reproduction?

Andrew Lieb advises why and what you should consider when you are negotiating a quaranty on your next commercial lease.

The article was published by the Long Island Business News. HERE is a direct link to download the PDF.