Benson Realty Corp. v. Beame
| Decision Date | 26 June 1980 |
| Citation | 50 N.Y.2d 994,409 N.E.2d 948,431 N.Y.S.2d 475 |
| Parties | , 409 N.E.2d 948 BENSON REALTY CORP. et al., Appellants, v. Abraham BEAME, as Mayor of the City of New York, et al., Respondents. |
| Court | New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
The order of the Appellate Division, 72 A.D.2d 758, 421 N.Y.S.2d 826, should be modified by substituting for its declaration and dismissal the declaration that the New York City Rent Control Law is constitutional, and, as so modified, the order should be affirmed.
While we agree that plaintiffs have not rebutted the presumption of constitutionality, the consequence of that failure is that defendants are entitled to a declaration of constitutionality (Lanza v. Wagner, 11 N.Y.2d 317, 334, 229 N.Y.S.2d 380, 183 N.E.2d 670).
Plaintiffs attack the New York City Rent Control Law on the grounds that there is no longer an emergency after 36 years, that as applied it is confiscatory, and that in any event there has been such a failure of administration of the law as to mandate its being declared unconstitutional. The need for rent control has been re-examined legislatively at intervals of three years, the most recent such review being the March 27, 1980 Report of the New York State Temporary Commission on Rental Housing, which concluded that "There is a need for continuing a form of rent regulation in those jurisdictions in which housing accommodations are presently subject to rent control or rent stabilization." Whether there is need for controls is a matter for legislative determination in the first instance. The presumption of a factual basis for that determination is not overcome by mere passage of time, nor have plaintiffs, whose affidavits concentrate on the effect of controls on property owners, presented evidence to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that there is no factual basis.
On the question of unconstitutional taking it need only be noted that plaintiffs' papers contain only generalized conclusions...
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