Just when New York courts were beginning to consistently apply the law concerning the elements that a tenant must prove to establish the "fraud exception" to the "pre-HSTPA" four-year statute of limitations and lookback rule for rent overcharge claims, the Legislature, in reaction to recent court decisions, has made a belated effort to retroactively redefine "fraud" in the context of pre-HSTPA claims, passing a bill that would effectively deem any past violation of any law or duty by a landlord to constitute fraud.

On June 20, 2023, the final day of the legislative session, the New York State Assembly passed a controversial bill, already passed by the Senate on June 9, 2023, which, among other things, purports to "clearly define the scope of the fraud exception to the pre-HSTPA four-year rule for calculating rents," "in light of court decisions arising under the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA), including Regina Metro v. DHCR."