§ 4. The emergency tenant protection act of nineteen hundred
seventy-four is hereby enacted to read as follows:
* EMERGENCY TENANT PROTECTION ACT
OF NINETEEN SEVENTY-FOUR
Section 1. Short title.
2. Legislative finding.
3. Local determination of emergency; end of emergency.
4. Establishment of rent guidelines boards; duties.
5. Housing accommodations subject to regulation.
5-a. High income rent deregulation.
6. Regulation of rents.
7. Maintenance of services.
8. Administration.
9. Application for adjustment of initial legal regulated
rent.
10. Regulations.
10-a. Right to sublease.
11. Non-waiver of rights.
12. Enforcement and procedures.
12-a. Rent registration.
13. Cooperation with other governmental agencies.
14. Application of act.
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
* Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be
cited as the "emergency tenant protection act of nineteen
seventy-four".
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
* § 2. Legislative finding. The legislature hereby finds and
declares that a serious public emergency continues to exist in
the housing of a considerable number of persons in the state of
New York which emergency was at its inception created by war,
the effects of war and the aftermath of hostilities, that such
emergency necessitated the intervention of federal, state and
local government in order to prevent speculative, unwarranted
and abnormal increases in rents; that there continues to exist
in many areas of the state an acute shortage of housing
accommodations caused by continued high demand, attributable in
part to new household formations and decreased supply, in large
measure attributable to reduced availability of federal
subsidies, and increased costs of construction and other
inflationary factors; that a substantial number of persons
residing in housing not presently subject to the provisions of
the emergency housing rent control law or the local emergency
housing rent control act are being charged excessive and
unwarranted rents and rent increases; that preventive action by
the legislature continues to be imperative in order to prevent
exaction of unjust, unreasonable and oppressive rents and rental
agreements and to forestall profiteering, speculation and other
disruptive practices tending to produce threats to the public
health, safety and general welfare; that in order to prevent
uncertainty, hardship and dislocation, the provisions of this
act are necessary and designed to protect the public health,
safety and general welfare; that the transition from regulation
to a normal market of free bargaining between landlord and
tenant, while the ultimate objective of state policy, must take
place with due regard for such emergency; and that the policy
herein expressed shall be subject to determination of the
existence of a public emergency requiring the regulation of
residential rents within any city, town or village by the local
legislative body of such city, town or village.
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
* § 3. Local determination of emergency; end of emergency. a.
The existence of public emergency requiring the regulation of
residential rents for all or any class or classes of housing
accommodations, including any plot or parcel of land which had
been rented prior to May first, nineteen hundred fifty, for the
purpose of permitting the tenant thereof to construct or place
his own dwelling thereon and on which plot or parcel of land
there exists a dwelling owned and occupied by a tenant of such
plot or parcel, heretofore destabilized; heretofore or hereafter
decontrolled, exempt, not subject to control, or exempted from
regulation and control under the provisions of the emergency
housing rent control law, the local emergency housing rent
control act or the New York city rent stabilization law of
nineteen hundred sixty-nine; or subject to stabilization or
control under such rent stabilization law, shall be a matter for
local determination within each city, town or village. Any such
determination shall be made by the local legislative body of
such city, town or village on the basis of the supply of housing
accommodations within such city, town or village, the condition
of such accommodations and the need for regulating and
controlling residential rents within such city, town or village.
A declaration of emergency may be made as to any class of
housing accommodations if the vacancy rate for the housing
accommodations in such class within such municipality is not in
excess of five percent and a declaration of emergency may be
made as to all housing accommodations if the vacancy rate for
the housing accommodations within such municipality is not in
excess of five percent.
b. The local governing body of a city, town or village having
declared an emergency pursuant to subdivision a of this section
may at any time, on the basis of the supply of housing
accommodations within such city, town or village, the condition
of such accommodations and the need for continued regulation and
control of residential rents within such municipality, declare
that the emergency is either wholly or partially abated or that
the regulation of rents pursuant to this act does not serve to
abate such emergency and thereby remove one or more classes of
accommodations from regulation under this act. The emergency
must be declared at an end once the vacancy rate described in
subdivision a of this section exceeds five percent.
c. No resolution declaring the existence or end of an
emergency, as authorized by subdivisions a and b of this
section, may be adopted except after public hearing held on not
less than ten days public notice, as the local legislative body
may reasonably provide.
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
* § 4. Establishment of rent guidelines boards; duties. a. In
each county wherein any city having a population of less than
one million or any town or village has determined the existence
of an emergency pursuant to section three of this act, there
shall be created a rent guidelines board to consist of nine
members appointed by the commissioner of housing and community
renewal upon recommendation of the county legislature which
recommendation shall be made within thirty days after the first
local declaration of an emergency in such county; two such
members shall be representative of tenants, two shall be
representative of owners of property, and five shall be public
members each of whom shall have had at least five years
experience in either finance, economics or housing. One public
member shall be designated by the commissioner to serve as
chairman and shall hold no other public office. No member,
officer or employee of any municipal rent regulation agency or
the state division of housing and community renewal and no
person who owns or manages real estate covered by this law or
who is an officer of any owner or tenant organization shall
serve on a rent guidelines board. One public member, one member
representative of tenants and one member representative of
owners shall serve for a term ending two years from January
first next succeeding the date of their appointment; one public
member, one member representative of tenants and one member
representative of owners shall serve for terms ending three
years from the January first next succeeding the date of their
appointment and three public members shall serve for terms
ending four years from January first next succeeding the dates
of their appointment. Thereafter, all members shall serve for
terms of four years each. Members shall continue in office
until their successors have been appointed and qualified. The
commissioner shall fill any vacancy which may occur by reason of
death, resignation or otherwise in a manner consistent with the
original appointment. A member may be removed by the
commissioner for cause, but not without an opportunity to be
heard in person or by counsel, in his defense, upon not less
than ten days notice. Compensation for the members of the board
shall be at the rate of one hundred dollars per day, for no more
than twenty days a year, except that the chairman shall be
compensated at the rate of one hundred twenty-five dollars a day
for no more than thirty days a year. The board shall be provided
staff assistance by the division of housing and community
renewal. The compensation of such members and the costs of staff
assistance shall be paid by the division of housing and
community renewal which shall be reimbursed in the manner
prescribed in section four of this act. The local legislative
body of each city having a population of less than one million
and each town and village in which an emergency has been
determined to exist as herein provided shall be authorized to
designate one person who shall be representative of tenants and
one person who shall be representative of owners of property to
serve at its pleasure and without compensation to advise and
assist the county rent guidelines board in matters affecting the
adjustment of rents for housing accommodations in such city,
town or village as the case may be.
b. A county rent guidelines board shall establish annually
guidelines for rent adjustments which, at its sole discretion
may be varied and different for and within the several zones and
jurisdictions of the board, and in determining whether rents for
housing accommodations as to which an emergency has been
declared pursuant to this act shall be adjusted, shall consider
among other things (1) the economic condition of the residential
real estate industry in the affected area including such factors
as the prevailing and projected (i) real estate taxes and sewer
and water rates, (ii) gross operating maintenance costs
(including insurance rates, governmental fees, cost of fuel and
labor costs), (iii) costs and availability of financing
(including effective rates of interest), (iv) over-all supply of
housing accommodations and over-all vacancy rates, (2) relevant
data from the current and projected cost of living indices for
the affected area, (3) such other data as may be made available
to it. As soon as practicable after its creation and thereafter
not later than July first of each year, a rent guidelines board
shall file with the state division of housing and community
renewal its findings for the preceding calendar year, and shall
accompany such findings with a statement of the maximum rate or
rates of rent adjustment, if any, for one or more classes of
accommodation subject to this act, authorized for leases or
other rental agreements commencing during the next succeeding
twelve months. The standards for rent adjustments may be
applicable for the entire county or may be varied according to
such zones or jurisdictions within such county as the board
finds necessary to achieve the purposes of this subdivision.
The standards for rent adjustments established annually shall
be effective for leases commencing on October first of each year
and during the next succeeding twelve months whether or not the
board has filed its findings and statement of the maximum rate
or rates of rent adjustment by July first of each year. If such
lease is entered into before such filing by the board, it may
provide for the rent to be adjusted by the rates then in effect,
subject to change by the applicable rates of rent adjustment
when filed, such change to be effective as of the date of the
commencement of the lease. Said lease must provide that, if the
new rates of rent adjustment differ for leases of different
terms, the tenant has the option of changing the original lease
term to any other term for which a rate of rent adjustment is
set by the board, with the rental to be adjusted accordingly.
Where a city, town or village shall act to determine the
existence of public emergency pursuant to section three of this
act subsequent to the establishment of annual guidelines for
rent adjustments of the accommodations subject to this act, the
rent guidelines board as soon as practicable thereafter shall
file its findings and rates of rent adjustment for leases or
other rental agreements for the housing accommodations in such a
city, town or village, which rates shall be effective for leases
or other rental agreements commencing on or after the effective
date of the determination.
c. In a city having a population of one million or more, the
rent guidelines board shall be the rent guidelines board
established pursuant to the New York city rent stabilization law
of nineteen hundred sixty-nine as amemded, and such board shall
have the powers granted pursuant to the New York city rent
stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine as amended.
d. Maximum rates of rent adjustment shall not be established
more than once annually for any housing accommodation within a
board's jurisdiction. Once established, no such rate shall,
within the one-year period, be adjusted by any surcharge,
supplementary adjustment or other modification.
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
* § 5. Housing accommodations subject to regulation. a. A
declaration of emergency may be made pursuant to section three
as to all or any class or classes of housing accommodations in a
municipality, except:
(1) housing accommodations subject to the emergency housing
rent control law, or the local emergency housing rent control
act, other than housing accommodations subject to the New York
city rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine;
(2) housing accommodations owned or operated by the United
States, the state of New York, any political subdivision, agency
or instrumentality thereof, any municipality or any public
housing authority;
(3) housing accommodations in buildings in which rentals are
fixed by or subject to the supervision of the state division of
housing and community renewal under other provisions of law or
the New York city department of housing preservation and
development or the New York state urban development corporation,
or, to the extent that regulation under this act is inconsistent
therewith aided by government insurance under any provision of
the National Housing Act;
(4) (a) housing accommodations in a building containing fewer
than six dwelling units, other than any plot or parcel of land
in cities having a population of one million or more which had
been rented prior to May first, nineteen hundred fifty, for the
purpose of permitting the tenant thereof to construct or place
his own dwelling thereon and heretofore or hereafter
decontrolled, exempt, not subject to control or exempted from
regulation and control under the provisions of the emergency
housing rent control law or the local emergency housing rent
control act and on which plot or parcel of land there exists a
dwelling owned and occupied by a tenant of such plot or parcel;
(b) for purposes of this paragraph four, a building shall be
deemed to contain six or more dwelling units if it is part of a
multiple family garden-type maisonette dwelling complex
containing six or more dwelling units having common facilities
such as a sewer line, water main or heating plant and operated
as a unit under common ownership, notwithstanding that
certificates of occupancy were issued for portions thereof as
one- or two-family dwellings.
(5) housing accommodations in buildings completed or buildings
substantially rehabilitated as family units on or after January
first, nineteen hundred seventy-four;
(6) housing accommodations owned or operated by a hospital,
convent, monastery, asylum, public institution, or college or
school dormitory or any institution operated exclusively for
charitable or educational purposes on a non-profit basis other
than those accommodations occupied by a tenant on the date such
housing accommodation is acquired by any such institution, or
which are occupied subsequently by a tenant who is not
affiliated with such institution at the time of his initial
occupancy;
(7) rooms or other housing accommodations in hotels, other
than hotel accommodations in cities having a population of one
million or more not occupied on a transient basis and heretofore
subject to the emergency housing rent control law, the local
emergency housing rent control act or to the New York city rent
stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine;
(8) any motor court, or any part thereof, any trailer, or
trailer space used exclusively for transient occupancy or any
part thereof; or any tourist home serving transient guests
exclusively, or any part thereof;
The term "motor court" shall mean an establishment renting
rooms, cottages or cabins, supplying parking or storage
facilities for motor vehicles in connection with such renting
and other services and facilities customarily supplied by such
establishments, and commonly known as motor, auto or tourist
court in the community.
The term "tourist home" shall mean a rooming house which
caters primarily to transient guests and is known as a tourist
home in the community.
(9) non-housekeeping, furnished housing accommodations,
located within a single dwelling unit not used as a rooming or
boarding house, but only if:
(a) no more than two tenants for whom rent is paid (husband
and wife being considered one tenant for this purpose), not
members of the landlord's immediate family, live in such
dwelling unit, and
(b) the remaining portion of such dwelling unit is occupied by
the landlord or his immediate family.
(10) housing accommodations in buildings operated exclusively
for charitable purposes on a non-profit basis;
(11) housing accommodations which are not occupied by the
tenant, not including subtenants or occupants, as his or her
primary residence, as determined by a court of competent
jurisdiction. For the purposes of determining primary residency,
a tenant who is a victim of domestic violence, as defined in
section four hundred fifty-nine-a of the social services law,
who has left the unit because of such violence, and who asserts
an intent to return to the housing accommodation shall be deemed
to be occupying the unit as his or her primary residence. For
the purposes of this paragraph, where a housing accommodation is
rented to a not-for-profit hospital for residential use,
affiliated subtenants authorized to use such accommodations by
such hospital shall be deemed to be tenants. No action or
proceeding shall be commenced seeking to recover possession on
the ground that a housing accommodation is not occupied by the
tenant as his or her primary residence unless the owner or
lessor shall have given thirty days notice to the tenant of his
or her intention to commence such action or proceeding on such
grounds.
(12) upon issuance of an order by the division, housing
accommodations which are: (1) occupied by persons who have a
total annual income as defined in and subject to the limitations
and process set forth in section five-a of this act in excess of
the deregulation income threshold, as defined in section five-a
of this act, in each of the two preceding calendar years; and
(2) have a legal regulated rent that equals or exceeds the
deregulation rent threshold, as defined in section five-a of
this act. Provided however, that this exclusion shall not apply
to housing accommodations which became or become subject to this
act (a) by virtue of receiving tax benefits pursuant to section
four hundred twenty-one-a or four hundred eighty-nine of the
real property tax law, except as otherwise provided in
subparagraph (i) of paragraph (f) of subdivision two of section
four hundred twenty-one-a of the real property tax law, or (b)
by virtue of article seven-C of the multiple dwelling law.
(13) any housing accommodation with a legal regulated rent of
two thousand dollars or more per month at any time between the
effective date of this paragraph and October first, nineteen
hundred ninety-three which is or becomes vacant on or after the
effective date of this paragraph; or, for any housing
accommodation with a legal regulated rent of two thousand
dollars or more per month at any time on or after the effective
date of the rent regulation reform act of 1997 and before the
effective date of the rent act of 2011, which is or becomes
vacant on or after the effective date of the rent regulation
reform act of 1997 and before the effective date of the rent act
of 2011. This exclusion shall apply regardless of whether the
next tenant in occupancy or any subsequent tenant in occupancy
is charged or pays less than two thousand dollars a month; or,
for any housing accommodation with a legal regulated rent of two
thousand five hundred dollars or more per month at any time on
or after the effective date of the rent act of 2011, which is or
becomes vacant on or after such effective date, but prior to the
effective date of the rent act of 2015; or, any housing
accommodation with a legal regulated rent that was two thousand
seven hundred dollars or more per month at any time on or after
the effective date of the rent act of 2015, which becomes vacant
after the effective date of the rent act of 2015, provided,
however, that starting on January 1, 2016, and annually
thereafter, the maximum legal regulated rent for this
deregulation threshold, shall also be increased by the same
percentage as the most recent one year renewal adjustment,
adopted by the applicable rent guidelines board. An exclusion
pursuant to this paragraph shall apply regardless of whether the
next tenant in occupancy or any subsequent tenant in occupancy
actually is charged or pays less than two thousand seven hundred
dollars a month. Provided however, that an exclusion pursuant to
this paragraph shall not apply to housing accommodations which
became or become subject to this act (a) by virtue of receiving
tax benefits pursuant to section four hundred twenty-one-a or
four hundred eighty-nine of the real property tax law, except as
otherwise provided in subparagraph (i) of paragraph (f) of
subdivision two of section four hundred twenty-one-a of the real
property tax law, or (b) by virtue of article seven-C of the
multiple dwelling law. This paragraph shall not apply, however,
to or become effective with respect to housing accommodations
which the commissioner determines or finds that the landlord or
any person acting on his or her behalf, with intent to cause the
tenant to vacate, has engaged in any course of conduct
(including, but not limited to, interruption or discontinuance
of required services) which interfered with or disturbed or was
intended to interfere with or disturb the comfort, repose, peace
or quiet of the tenant in his or her use or occupancy of the
housing accommodations and in connection with such course of
conduct, any other general enforcement provision of this act
shall also apply.
(14) (i) housing accommodations owned as a cooperative or
condominium unit which are or become vacant on or after the
effective date of this paragraph, except that this subparagraph
shall not apply to units occupied by non-purchasing tenants
under section three hundred fifty-two-eee of the general
business law until the occurrence of a vacancy. (ii) This
paragraph shall not apply, however, to or become effective with
respect to housing accommodations which the commissioner
determines or finds the landlord or any person acting on his or
her behalf, with intent to cause the tenant to vacate, engaged
in any course of conduct (including, but not limited to,
interruption or discontinuance of required services) which
interfered with or disturbed or was intended to interfere with
or disturb the comfort, repose, peace or quiet of the tenant in
his or her use or occupancy of the housing accommodations. In
connection with such course of conduct any other general
enforcement provision of this act shall also apply;
b. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section,
nothing shall prevent the declaration of an emergency pursuant
to section three of this act for rental housing accommodations
located in buildings or structures which are subject to the
provisions of article eighteen of the private housing finance
law.
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* § 5-a. High income rent deregulation. (a) 1. For purposes of
this section, annual income shall mean the federal adjusted
gross income as reported on the New York state income tax
return. Total annual income means the sum of the annual incomes
of all persons whose names are recited as the tenant or
co-tenant on a lease who occupy the housing accommodation and
all other persons that occupy the housing accommodation as their
primary residence on other than a temporary basis, excluding
bona fide employees of such occupants residing therein in
connection with such employment and excluding bona fide
subtenants in occupancy pursuant to the provisions of section
two hundred twenty-six-b of the real property law. In the case
where a housing accommodation is sublet, the annual income of
the tenant or co-tenant recited on the lease who will reoccupy
the housing accommodation upon the expiration of the sublease
shall be considered.
2. Deregulation income threshold means total annual income
equal to one hundred seventy-five thousand dollars in each of
the two preceding calendar years for proceedings commenced
before July first, two thousand eleven. For proceedings
commenced on or after July first, two thousand eleven, the
deregulation income threshold means the total annual income
equal to two hundred thousand dollars in each of the two
preceding calendar years.
3. Deregulation rent threshold means two thousand dollars for
proceedings commenced before July first, two thousand eleven.
For proceedings commenced on or after July first, two thousand
eleven, the deregulation rent threshold means two thousand five
hundred dollars. For proceedings commenced on or after July
first, two thousand fifteen, the deregulation rent threshold
means two thousand seven hundred dollars, provided, however that
on January 1, 2016, and annually thereafter, the maximum legal
regulated rent for this deregulation threshold shall be adjusted
by the same percentage as the most recent one year renewal
adjustment adopted by the rent guidelines board.
(b) On or before the first day of May in each calendar year,
the owner of each housing accommodation for which the legal
regulated monthly rent equals or exceeds the deregulation rent
threshold may provide the tenant or tenants residing therein
with an income certification form prepared by the division of
housing and community renewal on which such tenant or tenants
shall identify all persons referred to in subdivision (a) of
this section and shall certify whether the total annual income
is in excess of the deregulation income threshold in each of the
two preceding calendar years. Such income certification form
shall state that the income level certified to by the tenant may
be subject to verification by the department of taxation and
finance pursuant to section one hundred seventy-one-b of the tax
law, and shall not require disclosure of any information other
than whether the aforementioned threshold has been exceeded.
Such income certification form shall clearly state that: (i)
only tenants residing in housing accommodations which had a
legal regulated monthly rent that equals or exceeds the
deregulation rent threshold are required to complete the
certification form; (ii) that tenants have protections available
to them which are designed to prevent harassment; (iii) that
tenants are not required to provide any information regarding
their income except that which is requested on the form and may
contain such other information the division deems appropriate.
The tenant or tenants shall return the completed certification
to the owner within thirty days after service upon the tenant or
tenants. In the event that the total annual income as certified
is in excess of the deregulation income threshold in each of the
two preceding calendar years, the owner may file the
certification with the state division of housing and community
renewal on or before June thirtieth of such year. Upon filing
such certification with the division, the division shall, within
thirty days after the filing, issue an order providing that such
housing accommodation shall not be subject to the provisions of
this act upon the expiration of the existing lease. A copy of
such order shall be mailed by regular and certified mail, return
receipt requested, to the tenant or tenants and a copy thereof
shall be mailed to the owner.
(c) 1. In the event that the tenant or tenants either fail to
return the completed certification to the owner on or before the
date required by subdivision (b) of this section or the owner
disputes the certification returned by the tenant or tenants,
the owner may, on or before June thirtieth of such year,
petition the state division of housing and community renewal to
verify, pursuant to section one hundred seventy-one-b of the tax
law, whether the total annual income exceeds the deregulation
income threshold in each of the two preceding calendar years.
Within twenty days after the filing of such request with the
division, the division shall notify the tenant or tenants that
such tenant or tenants named on the lease must provide the
division with such information as the division and the
department of taxation and finance shall require to verify
whether the total annual income exceeds the deregulation income
threshold in each of the two preceding calendar years. The
division's notification shall require the tenant or tenants to
provide the information to the division within sixty days of
service upon such tenant or tenants and shall include a warning
in bold faced type that failure to respond will result in an
order being issued by the division providing that such housing
accommodations shall not be subject to the provisions of this
act.
2. If the department of taxation and finance determines that
the total annual income is in excess of the deregulation income
threshold in each of the two preceding calendar years, the
division shall, on or before November fifteenth of such year,
notify the owner and tenants of the results of such
verification. Both the owner and the tenants shall have thirty
days within which to comment on such verification results.
Within forty-five days after the expiration of the comment
period, the division shall, where appropriate, issue an order
providing that such housing accommodation shall not be subject
to the provisions of this act upon expiration of the existing
lease. A copy of such order shall be mailed by regular and
certified mail, return receipt requested, to the tenant or
tenants and a copy thereof shall be sent to the owner.
3. In the event the tenant or tenants fail to provide the
information required pursuant to paragraph one of this
subdivision, the division shall issue, on or before December
first of such year, an order providing that such housing
accommodation shall not be subject to the provisions of this act
upon the expiration of the current lease. A copy of such order
shall be mailed by regular and certified mail, return receipt
requested, to the tenant or tenants and a copy thereof shall be
sent to the owner.
4. The provisions of the state freedom of information act
shall not apply to any income information obtained by the
division pursuant to this section.
(d) This section shall apply only to paragraph twelve of
subdivision a of section five of this act.
(e) Upon receipt of such order of deregulation pursuant to
this section, an owner shall offer the housing accommodation
subject to such order to the tenant at a rent not in excess of
the market rent, which for the purposes of this section means a
rent obtainable in an arm's length transaction. Such rental
offer shall be made by the owner in writing to the tenant by
certified and regular mail and shall inform the tenant that such
offer must be accepted in writing within ten days of receipt.
The tenant shall respond within ten days after receipt of such
offer. If the tenant declines the offer or fails to respond
within such period, the owner may commence an action or
proceeding for the eviction of such tenant.
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
* § 6. Regulation of rents. a. Notwithstanding the provisions
of any lease or other rental agreement, no owner shall, on or
after the first day of the first month or other rental period
following a declaration of emergency pursuant to section three,
which date shall be referred to in this act as the local
effective date, charge or collect any rent in excess of the
initial legal regulated rent or adjusted initial legal regulated
rent until such time as a different legal regulated rent shall
be authorized pursuant to guidelines adopted by a rent
guidelines board pursuant to section four.
b. The initial legal regulated rents for housing
accommodations in a city having a population of less than one
million or a town or village as to which a declaration of
emergency has been made pursuant to this act shall be:
(1) For housing accommodations subject to the emergency
housing rent control law which become vacant on or after the
local effective date of this act, the rent agreed to by the
landlord and the tenant and reserved in a lease or provided for
in a rental agreement; provided that such initial legal
regulated rent may be adjusted on application of the owner or
tenant pursuant to subdivision a of section nine of this act;
and provided further that no increase of such initial regulated
rent pursuant to annual guidelines adopted by the rent
guidelines board shall become effective until the expiration of
the first lease or rental agreement taking effect after the
local effective date, but in no event before one year from the
commencement of such rental agreement.
(2) For all other housing accommodations, the rent reserved in
the last effective lease or other rental agreement; provided
that an initial rent based upon the rent reserved in a lease or
other rental agreement which became effective on or after
January first, nineteen hundred seventy-four may be adjusted on
application of the tenant pursuant to subdivision b of section
nine of this act or on application of either the owner or tenant
pursuant to subdivision a of such section; and further provided
that if a lease is entered into for such housing accommodations
after the local effective date, but before the effective date of
the first guidelines applicable to such accommodations, the
lease may provide for an adjustment of rent pursuant to such
guidelines, to be effective on the first day of the month next
succeeding the effective date of such guidelines.
c. The initial legal regulated rents for housing
accommodations in a city having a population of one million or
more shall be the initial rent established pursuant to the New
York city rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine
as amended.
d. Provision shall be made pursuant to regulations under this
act for individual adjustment of rents where:
(1) there has been a substantial modification or increase of
dwelling space or an increase in the services, or installation
of new equipment or improvements or new furniture or
furnishings, provided in or to a tenant's housing accommodation,
on written tenant consent to the rent increase. In the case of a
vacant housing accommodation, tenant consent shall not be
required. The permanent increase in the legal regulated rent for
the affected housing accommodation shall be one-fortieth, in the
case of a building with thirty-five or fewer housing
accommodations, or one-sixtieth, in the case of a building with
more than thirty-five housing accommodations where such
permanent increase takes effect on or after September
twenty-fourth, two thousand eleven, of the total cost incurred
by the landlord in providing such modification or increase in
dwelling space, services, furniture, furnishings or equipment,
including the cost of installation, but excluding finance
charges. Provided further that an owner who is entitled to a
rent increase pursuant to this paragraph shall not be entitled
to a further rent increase based upon the installation of
similar equipment, or new furniture or furnishings within the
useful life of such new equipment, or new furniture or
furnishings.
(2) there has been since January first, nineteen hundred
seventy-four an increase in the rental value of the housing
accommodations as a result of a substantial rehabilitation of
the building or the housing accommodation therein which
materially adds to the value of the property or appreciably
prolongs its life, excluding ordinary repairs, maintenance, and
replacements, or
(3) there has been since January first, nineteen hundred
seventy-four a major capital improvement required for the
operation, preservation or maintenance of the structure. An
adjustment under this paragraph shall be in an amount sufficient
to amortize the cost of the improvements pursuant to this
paragraph over an eight-year period for a building with
thirty-five or fewer housing accommodations, or a nine-year
period for a building with more than thirty-five housing
accommodations, for any determination issued by the division of
housing and community renewal after the effective date of the
rent act of 2015, or
(4) an owner by application to the state division of housing
and community renewal for increases in the rents in excess of
the rent adjustment authorized by the rent guidelines board
under this act establishes a hardship, and the state division
finds that the rate of rent adjustment is not sufficient to
enable the owner to maintain approximately the same ratio
between operating expenses, including taxes and labor costs but
excluding debt service, financing costs, and management fees,
and gross rents which prevailed on the average over the
immediate preceding five year period, or for the entire life of
the building if less than five years, or
(5) as an alternative to the hardship application provided
under paragraph four of this subdivision, owners of buildings
acquired by the same owner or a related entity owned by the same
principals three years prior to the date of application may
apply to the division for increases in excess of the level of
applicable guideline increases established under this law based
on a finding by the commissioner that such guideline increases
are not sufficient to enable the owner to maintain an annual
gross rent income for such building which exceeds the annual
operating expenses of such building by a sum equal to at least
five percent of such gross rent. For the purposes of this
paragraph, operating expenses shall consist of the actual,
reasonable, costs of fuel, labor, utilities, taxes, other than
income or corporate franchise taxes, fees, permits, necessary
contracted services and non-capital repairs, insurance, parts
and supplies, management fees and other administrative costs and
mortgage interest. For the purposes of this paragraph, mortgage
interest shall be deemed to mean interest on a bona fide
mortgage including an allocable portion of charges related
thereto. Criteria to be considered in determining a bona fide
mortgage other than an institutional mortgage shall include;
condition of the property, location of the property, the
existing mortgage market at the time the mortgage is placed, the
term of the mortgage, the amortization rate, the principal
amount of the mortgage, security and other terms and conditions
of the mortgage. The commissioner shall set a rental value for
any unit occupied by the owner or a person related to the owner
or unoccupied at the owner's choice for more than one month at
the last regulated rent plus the minimum number of guidelines
increases or, if no such regulated rent existed or is known, the
commissioner shall impute a rent consistent with other rents in
the building. The amount of hardship increase shall be such as
may be required to maintain the annual gross rent income as
provided by this paragraph. The division shall not grant a
hardship application under this paragraph or paragraph four of
this subdivision for a period of three years subsequent to
granting a hardship application under the provisions of this
paragraph. The collection of any increase in the rent for any
housing accommodation pursuant to this paragraph shall not
exceed six percent in any year from the effective date of the
order granting the increase over the rent set forth in the
schedule of gross rents, with collectability of any dollar
excess above said sum to be spread forward in similar increments
and added to the rent as established or set in future years. No
application shall be approved unless the owner's equity in such
building exceeds five percent of: (i) the arms length purchase
price of the property; (ii) the cost of any capital improvements
for which the owner has not collected a surcharge; (iii) any
repayment of principal of any mortgage or loan used to finance
the purchase of the property or any capital improvements for
which the owner has not collected a surcharge; and (iv) any
increase in the equalized assessed value of the property which
occurred subsequent to the first valuation of the property after
purchase by the owner. For the purposes of this paragraph,
owner's equity shall mean the sum of (i) the purchase price of
the property less the principal of any mortgage or loan used to
finance the purchase of the property, (ii) the cost of any
capital improvement for which the owner has not collected a
surcharge less the principal of any mortgage or loan used to
finance said improvement, (iii) any repayment of the principal
of any mortgage or loan used to finance the purchase of the
property or any capital improvement for which the owner has not
collected a surcharge, and (iv) any increase in the equalized
assessed value of the property which occurred subsequent to the
first valuation of the property after purchase by the owner.
This subdivision shall apply to accommodations outside a city
of one million or more.
e. Notwithstanding any contrary provisions of this act, on and
after July first, nineteen hundred eighty-four the legal
regulated rent shall be the rent registered pursuant to section
twelve-a of this act subject to any modification imposed
pursuant to this act.
f. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law, rule,
regulation, contract, agreement, lease or other obligation, no
owner, in addition to the authorized collection of rent, shall
demand, receive or retain a security deposit or advance payment
which exceeds the rent of one month for or in connection with
the use or occupancy of a housing accommodation by (i) any
tenant who is sixty-five years of age or older for any lease or
lease renewal entered into after July 1, 1996 or (ii) any tenant
who is receiving disability retirement benefits or supplemental
security income pursuant to the federal social security act for
any lease or lease renewal entered into after July 1, 2002.
g. Notwithstanding any provision of this act to the contrary
in the case where all tenants named in a lease have permanently
vacated a housing accommodation and a family member of such
tenant or tenants is entitled to and executes a renewal lease
for the housing accommodation if such accommodation continues to
be subject to this act after such family member vacates, on the
occurrence of such vacancy the legal regulated rent shall be
increased by a sum equal to the allowance then in effect for
vacancy leases, including the amount allowed by subdivision
(a-1) of section ten of this act. Such increase shall be in
addition to any other increases provided for in this act
including an adjustment based upon a major capital improvement,
or a substantial modification or increase of dwelling space or
services, or installation of new equipment or improvements or
new furniture or furnishings provided in or to the housing
accommodation, pursuant to section six of this act and shall be
applicable in like manner to each second subsequent succession.
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
* § 7. Maintenance of services. a. In order to collect a rent
adjustment authorized pursuant to the provisions of subdivision
b of section four, the owner of housing accommodations subject
to this act located in a city having a population of less than
one million or a town or village must file with the state
division of housing and community renewal on a form which it
shall prescribe, a written certification that he is maintaining
and will continue to maintain all services furnished on the date
upon which this act becomes a law or required to be furnished by
any law, ordinance or regulation applicable to the premises. In
addition to any other remedy afforded by law, any tenant may
apply to the state division of housing and community renewal for
a reduction in the rent to the level in effect prior to its most
recent adjustment, and the state division of housing and
community renewal may so reduce the rent if it finds that the
owner has failed to maintain such services. The owner shall be
supplied with a copy of the application and shall be permitted
to file an answer thereto. A hearing may be held upon the
request of either party, or the state division of housing and
community renewal may hold a hearing upon its own motion. The
state division of housing and community renewal may consolidate
the proceedings for two or more petitions applicable to the same
building. If the state division of housing and community renewal
finds that the owner has knowingly filed a false certification,
it shall, in addition to abating the rent, assess the owner with
the reasonable costs of the proceeding, including reasonable
attorneys' fees, and impose a penalty not in excess of two
hundred fifty dollars for each false certification. The amount
of the reduction in rent ordered by the state division of
housing and community renewal under this subdivision shall be
reduced by any credit, abatement or offset in rent which the
tenant has received pursuant to section two hundred
thirty-five-b of the real property law, that relates to one or
more conditions covered by such order.
b. In order to collect a rent adjustment authorized pursuant
to the provisions of subdivision c of section four, the owner of
housing accommodations located in a city having a population of
more than one million shall comply with the requirements with
respect to the maintenance of services of the New York city rent
stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine.
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
* § 8. Administration. a. Whenever a city having a population
of less than one million, or a town or village has determined
the existence of an emergency pursuant to section three of this
act, the state division of housing and community renewal shall
be designated as the sole administrative agency to administer
the regulation of residential rents as provided in this act. The
costs incurred by the state division of housing and community
renewal in administering such regulation shall be paid by such
city, town or village. Such local resolution shall forthwith be
transmitted to the state division of housing and community
renewal and shall be accompanied by an initial payment in an
amount previously determined by the commissioner of housing and
community renewal as necessary to defray the division's
anticipated first year cost. Thereafter, annually, after the
close of the fiscal year of the state, the commissioner of
housing and community renewal shall determine the amount of all
costs incurred and shall certify to each such city, town or
village its proportionate share of such costs, after first
deducting therefrom the amount of such initial payment. The
amount so certified shall be paid to the commissioner by such
city, town or village within ninety days after the receipt of
such certification. In the event that the amount thereof is not
paid to the commissioner as herein prescribed, the commissioner
shall certify the unpaid amount to the comptroller, and the
comptroller shall withhold such amount from the next succeeding
payment of per capita assistance to be apportioned to such city,
town or village.
b. The legislative body of any city, town or village acting to
impose regulation of residential rents pursuant to the
provisions of this act may impose on the owner of every building
containing housing accommodations subject to such regulation an
annual charge for each such accommodation in such amount as it
determines to be necessary for the expenses to be incurred in
the administration of such regulation.
c. Whenever a city having a population of one million or more
has determined the existence of an emergency pursuant to section
three of this act, the provisions of this act and the New York
city rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine shall
be administered by the state division of housing and community
renewal as provided in the New York city rent stabilization law
of nineteen hundred sixty-nine, as amended, or as otherwise
provided by law. The costs incurred by the state division of
housing and community renewal in administering such regulation
shall be paid by such city. All payments for such administration
shall be transmitted to the state division of housing and
community renewal as follows: on or after April first of each
year commencing with April, nineteen hundred eighty-four, the
commissioner of housing and community renewal shall determine an
amount necessary to defray the division's anticipated annual
cost, and one-quarter of such amount shall be paid by such city
on or before July first of such year, one-quarter of such amount
on or before October first of such year, one-quarter of such
amount on or before January first of the following year and
one-quarter of such amount on or before March thirty-first of
the following year. After the close of the fiscal year of the
state, the commissioner shall determine the amount of all actual
costs incurred in such fiscal year and shall certify such amount
to such city. If such certified amount shall differ from the
amount paid by the city for such fiscal year, appropriate
adjustments shall be made in the next quarterly payment to be
made by such city. In the event that the amount thereof is not
paid to the commissioner as herein prescribed, the commissioner
shall certify the unpaid amount to the comptroller, and the
comptroller shall, to the extent not otherwise prohibited by
law, withhold such amount from any state aid payable to such
city. In no event shall the amount imposed on the owners exceed
ten dollars per unit per year.
d. The failure to pay the prescribed assessment not to exceed
ten dollars per unit for any housing accommodation subject to
this act or the New York city rent stabilization law of nineteen
hundred sixty-nine shall constitute a charge due and owing such
city, town or village which has imposed an annual charge for
each such housing accommodation pursuant to subdivision b of
this section. Any such city, town or village shall be authorized
to provide for the enforcement of the collection of such charges
by commencing an action or proceeding for the recovery of such
fees or by the filing of a lien upon the building and lot. Such
methods for the enforcement of the collection of such charges
shall be the sole remedy for the enforcement of this section.
e. The division shall maintain at least one office in each
county which is governed by the rent stabilization law of
nineteen hundred sixty-nine or this act; provided, however, that
the division shall not be required to maintain an office in the
counties of Nassau, Rockland, or Richmond.
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
* § 9. Application for adjustment of initial legal regulated
rent. a. The owner or tenant of a housing accommodation
described in paragraph one or two of subdivision b of section
six may, within sixty days of the local effective date of this
act or the commencement of the first tenancy thereafter,
whichever is later, file with the state division of housing and
community renewal an application for adjustment of the initial
legal regulated rent for such housing accommodation. The state
division of housing and community renewal may adjust such
initial legal regulated rent upon a finding that the presence of
unique or peculiar circumstances materially affecting the
initial legal regulated rent has resulted in a rent which is
substantially different from the rents generally prevailing in
the same area for substantially similar housing accommodations.
b. The tenant of a housing accommodation described in
paragraph two, subdivision b, of section six may file with the
state division of housing and community renewal, within ninety
days after notice has been received pursuant to subdivision c of
this section, an application for adjustment of the initial legal
regulated rent for such housing accommodation. Such tenant need
only allege that such rent is in excess of the fair market rent
and shall present such facts which, to the best of his
information and belief, support such allegation. The rent
guidelines board shall promulgate as soon as practicable after
its creation guidelines for the determination of fair market
rents for housing accommodations as to which an application may
be made pursuant to this subdivision. In rendering a
determination on an application filed pursuant to this
subdivision b, the state division of housing and community
renewal shall be guided by such guidelines. Where the state
division of housing and community renewal has determined that
the rent charged is in excess of the fair market rent it shall
order a refund, of any excess paid since January first, nineteen
hundred seventy-four or the date of the commencement of the
tenancy, whichever is later. Such refund shall be made by the
landlord in cash or as a credit against future rents over a
period not in excess of six months.
c. Upon receipt of any application filed pursuant to this
section nine, the state division of housing and community
renewal shall notify the owner or tenant, as the case may be,
and provide a copy to him of such application. Such owner or
tenant shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to respond to
the application. A hearing may be held upon the request of
either party, or the division may hold a hearing on its own
motion. The division shall issue a written opinion to both the
tenant and the owner upon rendering its determination.
d. Within thirty days after the local effective date of this
act the owner of housing accommodations described in paragraph
two of subdivision b of section six, as to which an emergency
has been declared pursuant to this act, shall give notice in
writing by certified mail to the tenant of each such housing
accommodation on a form prescribed by the state division of
housing and community renewal of the initial legal regulated
rent for such housing accommodation and of such tenant's right
to file an application for adjustment of the initial legal
regulated rent of such housing accommodation.
e. The initial legal regulated rents for housing
accommodations in a city having a population of one million or
more shall be subject to adjustment in accordance with the
provisions of the New York city rent stabilization law as
amended.
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
* § 10. Regulations. a. For cities having a population of less
than one million and towns and villages, the state division of
housing and community renewal shall be empowered to implement
this act by appropriate regulations. Such regulations may
encompass such speculative or manipulative practices or renting
or leasing practices as the state division of housing and
community renewal determines constitute or are likely to cause
circumvention of this act. Such regulations shall prohibit
practices which are likely to prevent any person from asserting
any right or remedy granted by this act, including but not
limited to retaliatory termination of periodic tenancies and
shall require owners to grant a new one or two year vacancy or
renewal lease at the option of the tenant, except where a
mortgage or mortgage commitment existing as of the local
effective date of this act provides that the owner shall not
grant a one-year lease; and shall prescribe standards with
respect to the terms and conditions of new and renewal leases,
additional rent and such related matters as security deposits,
advance rental payments, the use of escalator clauses in leases
and provision for increase in rentals for garages and other
ancillary facilities, so as to insure that the level of rent
adjustments authorized under this law will not be subverted and
made ineffective. Any provision of the regulations permitting an
owner to refuse to renew a lease on grounds that the owner seeks
to recover possession of the housing accommodation for his own
use and occupancy or for the use and occupancy of his immediate
family shall require that an owner demonstrate immediate and
compelling need and shall not apply where a member of the
housing accommodation is sixty-two years of age or older, has
been a tenant in a housing accommodation in that building for
twenty years or more, or has an impairment which results from
anatomical, physiological or psychological conditions, other
than addiction to alcohol, gambling, or any controlled
substance, which are demonstrable by medically acceptable
clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques, and which are
expected to be permanent and which prevent the tenant from
engaging in any substantial gainful employment.
(a-1) provides that, notwithstanding any provision of this
act, the legal regulated rent for any vacancy lease entered into
after the effective date of this subdivision shall be as
hereinafter set forth. The previous legal regulated rent for
such housing accommodation shall be increased by the following:
(i) if the vacancy lease is for a term of two years, twenty
percent of the previous legal regulated rent; or (ii) if the
vacancy lease is for a term of one year the increase shall be
twenty percent of the previous legal regulated rent less an
amount equal to the difference between (a) the two year renewal
lease guideline promulgated by the guidelines board of the
county in which the housing accommodation is located applied to
the previous legal regulated rent and (b) the one year renewal
lease guideline promulgated by the guidelines board of the
county in which the housing accommodation is located applied to
the previous legal regulated rent. However, where the amount
charged and paid by the prior tenant pursuant to paragraph
fourteen of this subdivision, was less than the legal regulated
rent, such increase to the legal regulated rent shall not
exceed: five percent of the previous legal regulated rent if the
last vacancy lease commenced less than two years ago; ten
percent of the previous legal regulated rent if the last vacancy
commenced less than three years ago; fifteen percent of the
previous legal regulated rent if the last vacancy lease
commenced less than four years ago; twenty percent of the
previous legal regulated rent if the last vacancy lease
commenced four or more years ago. In addition, if the legal
regulated rent was not increased with respect to such housing
accommodation by a permanent vacancy allowance within eight
years prior to a vacancy lease executed on or after the
effective date of this subdivision, the legal regulated rent may
be further increased by an amount equal to the product resulting
from multiplying such previous legal regulated rent by
six-tenths of one percent and further multiplying the amount of
rent increase resulting therefrom by the greater of (A) the
number of years since the imposition of the last permanent
vacancy allowance, or (B) if the rent was not increased by a
permanent vacancy allowance since the housing accommodation
became subject to this act, the number of years that such
housing accommodation has been subject to this act. Provided
that if the previous legal regulated rent was less than three
hundred dollars the total increase shall be as calculated above
plus one hundred dollars per month. Provided, further, that if
the previous legal regulated rent was at least three hundred
dollars and no more than five hundred dollars in no event shall
the total increase pursuant to this subdivision be less than one
hundred dollars per month. Such increase shall be in lieu of any
allowance authorized for the one or two year renewal component
thereof, but shall be in addition to any other increases
authorized pursuant to this act including an adjustment based
upon a major capital improvement, or a substantial modification
or increase of dwelling space or services, or installation of
new equipment or improvements or new furniture or furnishings
provided in or to the housing accommodation pursuant to section
six of this act. The increase authorized in this subdivision may
not be implemented more than one time in any calendar year,
notwithstanding the number of vacancy leases entered into in
such year.
(a-2) Provides that where the amount of rent charged to and
paid by the tenant is less than the legal regulated rent for the
housing accommodation, the amount of rent for such housing
accommodation which may be charged upon renewal or upon vacancy
thereof, may, at the option of the owner, be based upon such
previously established legal regulated rent, as adjusted by the
most recent applicable guidelines increases and other increases
authorized by law. Such housing accommodation shall be excluded
from the provisions of this act pursuant to paragraph thirteen
of subdivision a of section five of this act when subsequent to
vacancy: (i) such legal regulated rent is two thousand five
hundred dollars per month, or more, for any housing
accommodation that is, or becomes, vacant after the effective
date of the rent act of 2011 but prior to the effective date of
the rent act of 2015 or (ii) such legal regulated rent is two
thousand seven hundred dollars per month or more for any housing
accommodation that is or becomes vacant on or after the rent act
of 2015; starting on January 1, 2016, and annually thereafter,
the maximum legal regulated rent for this deregulation
threshold, shall also be increased by the same percent as the
most recent one year renewal adjustment, adopted by the
applicable rent guidelines board pursuant to the rent
stabilization law.
b. For cities having a population of one million or more, this
act may be implemented by regulations adopted pursuant to the
New York city rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred
sixty-nine, as amended, or as otherwise provided by law.
c. Each owner of premises subject to this act shall furnish to
each tenant signing a new or renewal lease, a copy of the fully
executed new or renewal lease bearing the signatures of owner
and tenant and the beginning and ending dates of the lease term,
within thirty days from the owner's receipt of the new or
renewal lease signed by the tenant.
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
* § 10-a. Right to sublease. Units subject to this law may be
sublet pursuant to section two hundred twenty-six-b of the real
property law provided that (a) the rental charged to the
subtenant does not exceed the legal regulated rent plus a ten
percent surcharge payable to the tenant if the unit sublet was
furnished with the tenant's furniture; (b) the tenant can
establish that at all times he has maintained the unit as his
primary residence and intends to occupy it as such at the
expiration of the sublease; (c) an owner may terminate the
tenancy of a tenant who sublets or assigns contrary to the terms
of this section but no action or proceeding based on the
non-primary residence of a tenant may be commenced prior to the
expiration date of his lease; (d) where an apartment is sublet
the prime tenant shall retain the right to a renewal lease and
the rights and status of a tenant in occupancy as they relate to
conversion to condominium or cooperative ownership; (e) where a
tenant violates the provisions of subdivision (a) of this
section the subtenant shall be entitled to damages of three
times the overcharge and may also be awarded attorneys fees and
interest from the date of the overcharge at the rate of interest
payable on a judgment pursuant to section five thousand four of
the civil practice law and rules; (f) the tenant may not sublet
the unit for more than a total of two years, including the term
of the proposed sublease, out of the four-year period preceding
the termination date of the proposed sublease. The provisions of
this subdivision (f) shall only apply to subleases commencing on
and after July first, nineteen hundred eighty-three; (g) for the
purposes of this section only, the term of the proposed sublease
may extend beyond the term of the tenant's lease. In such event,
such sublease shall be subject to the tenant's right to a
renewal lease. The subtenant shall have no right to a renewal
lease. It shall be unreasonable for an owner to refuse to
consent to a sublease solely because such sublease extends
beyond the tenant's lease; and (h) notwithstanding the
provisions of section two hundred twenty-six-b of the real
property law, a not-for-profit hospital shall have the right to
sublet any housing accommodation leased by it to its affiliated
personnel without requiring the landlord's consent to any such
sublease and without being bound by the provisions of
subdivisions (b), (c) and (f) of this section. Commencing with
the effective date of this subdivision, whenever a
not-for-profit hospital executes a renewal lease for a housing
accommodation, the legal regulated rent shall be increased by a
sum equal to fifteen percent of the previous lease rental for
such housing accommodation, hereinafter referred to as a vacancy
surcharge, unless the landlord shall have received within the
seven year period prior to the commencement date of such renewal
lease any vacancy increases or vacancy surcharges allocable to
the said housing accommodation. In the event the landlord shall
have received any such vacancy increases or vacancy surcharges
during such seven year period, the vacancy surcharge shall be
reduced by the amount received by any such vacancy increase or
vacancy surcharges.
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
* § 11. Non-waiver of rights. Any provision of a lease or
other rental agreement which purports to waive a tenant's rights
under this act or regulations promulgated pursuant thereto shall
be void as contrary to public policy.
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
* § 12. Enforcement and procedures. a. (1) Subject to the
conditions and limitations of this paragraph, any owner of
housing accommodations in a city having a population of less
than one million or a town or village as to which an emergency
has been declared pursuant to section three, who, upon complaint
of a tenant or of the state division of housing and community
renewal, is found by the state division of housing and community
renewal, after a reasonable opportunity to be heard, to have
collected an overcharge above the rent authorized for a housing
accommodation subject to this act shall be liable to the tenant
for a penalty equal to three times the amount of such
overcharge. In no event shall such treble damage penalty be
assessed against an owner based solely on said owner's failure
to file a proper or timely initial or annual rent registration
statement. If the owner establishes by a preponderance of the
evidence that the overcharge was neither willful nor
attributable to his negligence, the state division of housing
and community renewal shall establish the penalty as the amount
of the overcharge plus interest at the rate of interest payable
on a judgment pursuant to section five thousand four of the
civil practice law and rules. (i) Except as to complaints filed
pursuant to clause (ii) of this paragraph, the legal regulated
rent for purposes of determining an overcharge, shall be deemed
to be the rent indicated in the annual registration statement
filed four years prior to the most recent registration
statement, (or, if more recently filed, the initial registration
statement) plus in each case any subsequent lawful increases and
adjustments. Where the amount of rent set forth in the annual
rent registration statement filed four years prior to the most
recent registration statement is not challenged within four
years of its filing, neither such rent nor service of any
registration shall be subject to challenge at any time
thereafter. (ii) As to complaints filed within ninety days of
the initial registration of a housing accommodation, the legal
regulated rent for purposes of determining an overcharge shall
be deemed to be the rent charged on the date four years prior to
the date of the initial registration of the housing
accommodation (or, if the housing accommodation was subject to
this act for less than four years, the initial legal regulated
rent) plus in each case, any lawful increases and adjustments.
Where the rent charged on the date four years prior to the date
of the initial registration of the accommodation cannot be
established, such rent shall be established by the division.
Where the amount of rent set forth in the annual rent
registration statement filed four years prior to the most recent
registration statement is not challenged within four years of
its filing, neither such rent nor service of any registration
shall be subject to challenge at any time thereafter.
(a) The order of the state division of housing and community
renewal shall apportion the owner's liability between or among
two or more tenants found to have been overcharged by such owner
during their particular tenancy of a unit.
(b) (i) Except as provided under clauses (ii) and (iii) of
this subparagraph, a complaint under this subdivision shall be
filed with the state division of housing and community renewal
within four years of the first overcharge alleged and no
determination of an overcharge and no award or calculation of an
award of the amount of an overcharge may be based upon an
overcharge having occurred more than four years before the
complaint is filed. This paragraph shall preclude examination of
the rental history of the housing accommodation prior to the
four-year period preceding the filing of a complaint pursuant to
this subdivision.
(ii) No penalty of three times the overcharge may be based
upon an overcharge having occurred more than two years before
the complaint is filed or upon an overcharge which occurred
prior to April first, nineteen hundred eighty-four.
(iii) Any complaint based upon overcharges occurring prior to
the date of filing of the initial rent registration as provided
in subdivision b of section twelve-a of this act shall be filed
within ninety days of the mailing of notice to the tenant of
such registration.
(c) Any affected tenant shall be notified of and given an
opportunity to join in any complaint filed by an officer or
employee of the state division of housing and community renewal.
(d) An owner found to have overcharged shall, in all cases, be
assessed the reasonable costs and attorney's fees of the
proceeding, and interest from the date of the overcharge at the
rate of interest payable on a judgment pursuant to section five
thousand four of the civil practice law and rules.
(e) The order of the state division of housing and community
renewal awarding penalties may, upon the expiration of the
period in which the owner may institute a proceeding pursuant to
article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules, be
filed and enforced by a tenant in the same manner as a judgment
or, in the alternative, not in excess of twenty percent thereof
per month may be offset against any rent thereafter due the
owner.
(f) Unless a tenant shall have filed a complaint of overcharge
with the division which complaint has not been withdrawn,
nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to prevent a
tenant or tenants, claiming to have been overcharged, from
commencing an action or interposing a counterclaim in a court of
competent jurisdiction for damages equal to the overcharge and
the penalty provided for in this section, including interest
from the date of the overcharge at the rate of interest payable
on a judgment pursuant to section five thousand four of the
civil practice law and rules, plus the statutory costs and
allowable disbursements in connection with the proceeding. Such
action must be commenced or counterclaim interposed within four
years of the date of the alleged overcharge but no recovery of
three times the amount of the overcharge may be awarded with
respect to any overcharge which had occurred more than two years
before the action is commenced or counterclaim is interposed.
(2) In addition to issuing the specific orders provided for by
other provisions of this act, the state division of housing and
community renewal shall be empowered to enforce this act and its
regulations by issuing, upon notice and a reasonable opportunity
for the affected party to be heard, such other orders as it may
deem appropriate.
(3) If the owner is found by the commissioner:
(i) to have violated an order of the division the commissioner
may impose by administrative order after hearing, a civil
penalty at minimum in the amount of one thousand but not to
exceed two thousand dollars for the first such offense, and at
minimum in the amount of two thousand but not to exceed three
thousand dollars for each subsequent offense; or
** (ii) to have harassed a tenant to obtain vacancy of his
housing accommodation, the commissioner may impose by
administrative order after hearing, a civil penalty for any such
violation. Such penalty shall be at minimum in the amount of two
thousand but not to exceed three thousand dollars for the first
such offense, and at minimum in the amount of ten thousand but
not to exceed eleven thousand dollars for each subsequent
offense or for a violation consisting of conduct directed at the
tenants of more than one housing accommodation.
** NB Effective until June 16, 2019
** (ii) to have harassed a tenant to obtain vacancy of his
housing accommodation, the commissioner may impose by
administrative order after hearing, a civil penalty for any such
violation. Such penalty shall be at minimum in the amount of two
thousand but not to exceed three thousand dollars for the first
such offense, and at minimum in the amount of ten thousand but
not to exceed eleven thousand dollars for each subsequent
offense or for a violation consisting of conduct directed at the
tenants of more than one housing accommodation.
** NB Effective June 16, 2019
Such order shall be deemed a final determination for the
purposes of judicial review. Such penalty may, upon the
expiration of the period for seeking review pursuant to article
seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules, be docketed
and enforced in the manner of a judgment of the supreme court.
(4) Any proceeding pursuant to article seventy-eight of the
civil practice law and rules seeking review of any action
pursuant to this act shall be brought within sixty days of the
expiration of the ninety day period and any extension thereof
provided in subdivision c of this section or the rendering of a
determination, whichever is later. Any action or proceeding
brought by or against the commissioner under this act shall be
brought in the county in which the housing accommodation is
located.
(5) Violations of this act or of the regulations and orders
issued pursuant thereto may be enjoined by the supreme court
upon proceedings commenced by the state division of housing and
community renewal or the tenant or tenants who allege they have
been overcharged. The division shall not be required to post
bond.
(6) In furtherance of its responsibility to enforce this act,
the state division of housing and community renewal shall be
empowered to administer oaths, issue subpoenas, conduct
investigations, make inspections and designate officers to hear
and report. The division shall safeguard the confidentiality of
information furnished to it at the request of the person
furnishing same, unless such information must be made public in
the interest of establishing a record for the future guidance of
persons subject to this act.
(7) In any action or proceeding before a court wherein a party
relies for a ground of relief or defense or raises issue or
brings into question the construction or validity of this act or
any regulation, order or requirement hereunder, the court having
jurisdiction of such action or proceeding may at any stage
certify such fact to the state division of housing and community
renewal. The state division of housing and community renewal may
intervene in any such action or proceeding.
(8) Any owner who has duly registered a housing accommodation
pursuant to section twelve-a of this act shall not be required
to maintain or produce any records relating to rentals of such
accommodation more than four years prior to the most recent
registration or annual statement for such accommodation.
b. Within a city having a population of one million or more,
the state division of housing and community renewal shall have
such powers to enforce this act as shall be provided in the New
York city rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine,
as amended, or as shall otherwise be provided by law.
c. The state division of housing and community renewal may, by
regulation, provide for administrative review of all orders and
determinations issued by it pursuant to this act. Any such
regulation shall provide that if a petition for such review is
not determined within ninety days after it is filed, it shall be
deemed to be denied. However, the division may grant one
extension not to exceed thirty days with the consent of the
party filing such petition; any further extension may only be
granted with the consent of all parties to the petition. No
proceeding may be brought pursuant to article seventy-eight of
the civil practice law and rules to challange any order or
determination which is subject to such administrative review
unless such review has been sought and either (1) a
determination thereon has been made or (2) the ninety-day period
provided for determination of the petition for review (or any
extension thereof) has expired.
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
* § 12-a. Rent registration. a. Each housing accommodation in
a city having a population of less than one million or a town or
village as to which an emergency has been declared pursuant to
section three of this act which is subject to this act shall be
registered by the owner thereof with the state division of
housing and community renewal prior to July first, nineteen
hundred eighty-four upon forms prescribed by the commissioner of
such division. The data to be provided on such forms shall
include the following: (1) the name and address of the building
or group of buildings or development in which such housing
accommodation is located and the owner and the tenant thereof;
(2) the number of housing accommodations in the building or
group of buildings or development in which such housing
accommodation is located; (3) the number of housing
accommodations in such building or group of buildings or
development subject to this act and the number of such housing
accommodations subject to the emergency housing rent control
law; (4) the rent charged on the registration date; (5) the
number of rooms in such housing accommodation; and (6) all
services provided in the last lease or rental agreement
commencing at least six months prior to the local effective date
of this act.
b. Registration pursuant to this section shall not be subject
to the freedom of information law, provided that registration
information relative to a tenant, owner, lessor or subtenant
shall be made available to such party or his authorized
representative.
c. Housing accommodations which become subject to this act
after the initial registration period must be registered within
ninety days thereafter. Registration of housing accommodations
subject to the emergency housing rent control law immediately
prior to the date of filing the initial registration statement
as provided in this section shall include, in addition to the
items listed above, where existing, the maximum rent immediately
prior to the date that such housing accommodations became
subject to this act.
d. Copies of the registration shall be filed with the state
division of housing and community renewal in such place or
places as it may require. In addition, one copy of that portion
of the registration statement which pertains to the tenant's
unit must be mailed by the owner to the tenant in possession at
the time of initial registration or to the first tenant in
occupancy if the apartment is vacant at the time of initial
registration.
e. The failure to file a proper and timely initial or annual
rent registration statement shall, until such time as such
registration is filed, bar an owner from applying for or
collecting any rent in excess of the legal regulated rent in
effect on the date of the last preceding registration statement
or if no such statements have been filed, the legal regulated
rent in effect on the date that the housing accommodation became
subject to the registration requirements of this section. The
filing of a late registration shall result in the prospective
elimination of such sanctions and provided that increases in the
legal regulated rent were lawful except for the failure to file
a timely registration, the owner, upon the service and filing of
a late registration, shall not be found to have collected an
overcharge at any time prior to the filing of the late
registration. If such late registration is filed subsequent to
the filing of an overcharge complaint, the owner shall be
assessed a late filing surcharge for each late registration in
an amount equal to fifty percent of the timely rent registration
fee.
f. An annual statement shall be filed containing the current
rent for each unit and such other information contained in
subdivision a of this section as shall be required by the
division. The owner shall provide each tenant then in occupancy
with a copy of that portion of such annual statement as pertains
to the tenant's unit.
g. Within a city having a population of one million or more,
each housing accommodation subject to this act shall be
registered with the state division of housing and community
renewal as shall be provided in the New York city rent
stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine.
h. Each housing accommodation for which a timely registration
statement was filed between April first, nineteen hundred
eighty-four and June thirtieth, nineteen hundred eighty-four,
pursuant to subdivision a of this section shall designate the
rent charged on April first, nineteen hundred eighty-four, as
the rent charged on the registration date.
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
* § 13. Cooperation with other governmental agencies. The
state division of housing and community renewal and any rent
guidelines board may request and shall receive cooperation and
assistance in effectuating the purposes of this act from all
departments, divisions, boards, bureaus, commissions or agencies
of the state and political subdivisions thereof.
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
* § 14. Application of act. The provisions of this act shall
only be applicable:
a. in the city of New York; and
b. in the counties of Nassau, Westchester and Rockland and
shall become and remain effective only in a city, town or
village located therein as provided in section three of this
act.
* NB Expires June 16, 2019
Last modified: February 3, 2019