32-a. Additional supervision and regulation. The commissioner or the supervising agency, as the case may be, shall:
1. Promulgate regulations providing for recognition of duly constituted tenants' associations and cooperators' advisory councils by the commissioner or supervising agency, as the case may be, and providing that a housing company shall meet on a regular basis with representatives of such an association or council at the specific project involved to discuss matters relating to the project. A duly constituted cooperators' advisory council shall only be such a council in a mutual company project prior to the election of a board of directors by the tenant-cooperators.
2. Require every company to file with him or it an annual operating budget for each individual project in the manner prescribed by the commissioner or supervising agency.
3. Require every company to file with him or it semi-annual or quarterly financial statements and an annual financial statement. Each annual financial statement shall be accompanied by a certificate of the company's independent certified public accountant. Such financial statements shall be filed at the times and in the manner prescribed by the commissioner or supervising agency.
4. Afford tenants access to and an opportunity to acquire copies of all operating budgets or financial statements respecting the project in which such tenants reside, to the extent that such budgets and statements are required by law to be kept by the commissioner or supervising agency.
5. Permit any tenant, duly constituted tenants' association, duly constituted cooperators' advisory council or his or its duly authorized representative to audit the books of the company and to have access during normal business hours to the financial records upon which the company's financial statements are based.
6. Promulgate regulations relating to managing agents, including criteria for the eligibility for selection and the compensation of managing agents by companies organized pursuant to this article. Such regulations shall provide, among other things, that any contract with a managing agent entered into after September first, nineteen hundred seventy-seven shall be terminable for cause and shall be terminable, with or without cause, at least every twelve months after commencement of the term thereof, and that promptly upon termination the managing agent shall turn over to the company all project records, rent rolls, bills, cancelled checks, bank statements and other papers owned by such company.
7. Require that every company file with him or it, within six months of the effective date of regulations implementing this subdivision and in such format as shall be prescribed by the commissioner or the supervising agency after consultation with the state energy office, an energy audit report which identifies potential energy-saving building improvements, including alterations, modifications and adjustments to the building structure, heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation systems; their relative costs; potential energy and cost savings; and simple payback periods, which for the purpose of this subdivision shall mean that period of time within which the estimated cost of such improvements, exclusive of the cost of capital, would be recovered from the savings generated by reduced energy consumption resulting from the improvements. The energy audit shall be conducted by a public utility, an engineer or architect licensed by the state, or the managing agent or other representative of the company if such individual has attended an energy audit training workshop sponsored by the commissioner or the state energy office. A copy of the energy audit report, required herein, shall be given to any duly constituted tenant's association or cooperator's advisory council and a copy shall be available for inspection and copying by any individual tenant who requests it. The commissioner or supervising agency shall also require that every company certify by March thirty-first, nineteen hundred eighty-four that all compatible conservation measures identified in the energy audit report which have simple payback periods of one year or less have been implemented; provided, however, if the commissioner or supervising agency determines within sixty days of the date the energy audit report is filed that one or more of such identified conservation measures cannot be implemented by March thirty-first, nineteen hundred eighty-four, given the projected rent revenues and other monies available to the company from reserve funds, loans or grants from the state or federal government or any other source, the implementation of such conservation measures shall be provided for according to a schedule prescribed by the commissioner or supervising agency.
Require that within ten days of the filing of any reports or financial statements with the commissioner or supervising agency, the housing company shall transmit a copy of said report or financial statement to a duly constituted resident board of directors, and if there be none, to a cooperator's advisory council or a duly constituted tenants association representing the project concerned. Where no such council or association exists in a project, a notice shall be posted informing the residents of the location on the premises of the project where a copy of said report or financial statement is available for inspection. The notice shall be posted within ten days of filing, in a prominent place on the premises of the project concerned.
Last modified: February 3, 2019