Income Discrimination Prohibitions And Landlord-Tenant Disputes

In March 2008, provisions of the New York City Human Rights Law were amended by the City Council with the enactment of Local Law 10¹ to prohibit discrimination based on a “lawful source of income.” The J-51 law includes a similar provision, as amended by Local Law 44 in 1993.² An owner who receives a J-51 tax abatement under this law is precluded from discriminating on the basis of a lawful source of income.³ Cases that have addressed the application of the lawful source of income provisions of Local Laws 10 and 44 to landlord and tenant disputes are herein discussed.

In Rosario v. Diagonal Realty,⁴ the Court of Appeals ruled that a landlord had to continue to accept Section 8 rental subsidies from a rent-stabilized tenant, where such payment arrangement was in the previous lease and that this requirement was consistent with federal law. Prior to the Court’s ruling in Rosario there was a split among the courts as to whether a landlord was required to continue to accept Section 8 rental assistance on behalf of a tenant.⁵ On the federal level, a landlords’ participation in the Section 8 program is voluntary and they may opt out of the program barring any state or local law prohibiting refusal of the subsidy.⁶