CA2: Records production under NYS rent control relief provision doesn’t violate 4A

For landlords to get relief from the 1974 NYS rent stabilization laws, they have to provide some records. This does not violate the Fourth Amendment. Hudson Shore Assocs. Ltd. P’ship v. New York, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 13349 (2d Cir. June 2, 2025):

We find that there are sufficient opportunities for landlords to challenge records demands and vacancy calculations to enable the Vacancy Provisions to pass constitutional muster. Specifically, we hold that (1) the Vacancy Provisions are facially valid under the Fourth Amendment because adequate pre-compliance review of the warrantless administrative searches they authorize is available under Article 78 of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules (“Article 78”); (2) the facial Fourth Amendment challenge to the searches authorized by the Vacancy Provisions also fails because their ample notice and minimal penalties present a low risk of coercion and abuse by municipalities and, thus, the Landlords have failed to plausibly allege that the searches will be unreasonable in every situation; and (3) the Vacancy Provisions do not violate procedural due process because landlords can contest municipalities’ vacancy calculations both (a) before rent stabilization is adopted, at public hearings that local governments must hold before declaring a housing emergency; and (b) after rent stabilization is adopted, using Article 78. We therefore AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.