New Article: Rent Regulations After Cedar Point

New Article: Abigail K. Flanigan, Rent Regulations After Cedar Point, 123 Colum. L. Rev. 475, note (2023). Abstract below:

In 2021, the Supreme Court decided Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, a landmark case that established a new categorical rule in takings law: When the government enacts a regulation authorizing a temporary invasion of a property owner’s land, it effects a per se taking under the Fifth Amendment for which it must pay just compensation. By examining the interaction between this holding and legal challenges to New York’s Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) of 2019, this Note explores the implications of the Court’s decision for rent regulation legislation. This Note considers alternative analytical paths a court considering rent regulation legislation could pursue in the wake of Cedar Point. Under a maximalist approach, a court could find that the HSTPA infringes on the landlord’s “right to exclude” and is thus a compensable taking. Under a minimalist approach, a court could apply one of the Cedar Point exceptions to uphold the HSTPA as constitutional. Ultimately, this Note argues that the maximalist approach is at odds with precedent, endangers antidiscrimination housing laws, and hampers the government’s ability to make housing more economically accessible for citizens who may not otherwise have access to adequate shelter. It concludes that courts should apply an expansive reading of the Cedar Point exceptions when confronted with constitutional challenges to rent regulation legislation like the HSTPA.