Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
the "emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four".
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, that such
emergency necessitates 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 this act or 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.
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.
d. When requested by a municipality or a designee, as a part of a
study to determine its vacancy rate, owners, or their agent, of housing
accommodations in the class of housing accommodations determined, shall
provide the most recent records of rent rolls and, if available, records
for the preceding thirty-six months. Such records shall include the
tenant's relevant information relating to finding the vacancy rate of
such municipality including but not limited to the name, address, and
amount paid or charged on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis for each
occupied housing accommodation and which housing accommodations are
vacant at the time of the survey and available for rent. Such records
shall also include any housing accommodations that are vacant and not
available for rent and provide the reason why such unit is not available
for rent.
e. A municipality may impose a civil penalty or fee of up to five
hundred dollars on an owner or their agent if the owner or their agent
refuses to participate in such vacancy survey and cooperate with the
municipality or a designee in such vacancy survey, or submits knowingly
and intentionally false vacancy information.
f. A nonrespondent owner shall be deemed to have zero vacancies.
g. Identifying data or information shall be kept confidential and
shall not be shared, traded, given, or sold to any other entity for any
purpose outside of such vacancy study.
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, except that a rent guidelines board created
subsequent to the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two
thousand nineteen that amended this section shall consist of nine
members appointed by the commissioner of housing and community renewal
upon recommendations of the local legislative body of each city having a
population of less than one million or town or village which has
determined the existence of an emergency pursuant to section three of
this act. Such 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.
a-1. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision a of this section
to the contrary, in each county that became subject to this act pursuant
to the chapter of the laws of two thousand nineteen that amended this
section, the commissioner shall reconstitute the existing rent
guidelines board subsequent to any initial local declaration of
emergency within such county for the purpose of ensuring representation
of all cities having a population of less than one million and all towns
and villages within such county having determined the existence of an
emergency in accordance with this act are represented, pursuant to rules
and regulations promulgated by the division of housing and community
renewal.
b. A county rent guidelines board shall establish annual 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. A
rent guidelines board shall not establish annual guidelines for rent
adjustments based on the current rental cost of a unit or on the amount
of time that has elapsed since another rent increase was authorized
pursuant to this chapter.
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 amended, 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.
e. Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, the adjustment for
vacancy leases covered by the provisions of this act shall be determined
exclusively pursuant to section ten of this act. Rent guidelines boards
shall no longer promulgate adjustments for vacancy leases.
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; provided that an owner claiming exemption
from rent stabilization on the basis of a substantial rehabilitation,
where the work for such rehabilitation was initiated on or after the
first day of January, two thousand twenty-four, shall seek approval from
state division of housing and community renewal within one year of the
completion of the substantial rehabilitation, and ultimately obtain such
approval, which shall be denied on the following grounds:
(a) the owner or its predecessors in interest have engaged in
harassment of tenants in the five years preceding the completion of the
substantial rehabilitation;
(b) the building was not in a substandard or seriously deteriorated
condition requiring substantial rehabilitation; or
(c) any additional grounds as set forth by regulation;
(5-a) housing accommodations located outside of a city with a
population of one million or more in any such buildings that were vacant
and unoccupied on June first, two thousand nineteen and had been vacant
and unoccupied for at least the one-year period immediately preceding
such date;
(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 (i) 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 or (ii) permanent housing accommodations with government
contracted services, as of and after June fourteenth, two thousand
nineteen, to vulnerable individuals or individuals with disabilities who
are or were homeless or at risk of homelessness; provided, however, that
the terms of leases in existence as of June fourteenth, two thousand
nineteen, shall only be affected upon lease renewal, and further
provided that upon the vacancy of such housing accommodations, the legal
regulated rent for such housing accommodations shall be the legal
regulated rent paid for such housing accommodations by the prior tenant,
subject only to any adjustment adopted by the applicable rent guidelines
board;
(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 except for permanent housing
accommodations with government contracted services, as of and after the
effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand nineteen that
amended this paragraph, to vulnerable individuals or individuals with
disabilities who are or were homeless or at risk of homelessness;
provided, however, that the terms of leases in existence as of the
effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand nineteen that
amended this paragraph, shall only be affected upon lease renewal, and
further provided that upon the vacancy of such housing accommodations,
the legal regulated rent for such housing accommodations shall be the
legal regulated rent paid for such housing accommodations by the prior
tenant, subject only to any adjustment adopted by the applicable rent
guidelines board;
(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. For the purposes of this paragraph, where a housing
accommodation is rented to a not-for-profit for providing, as of and
after the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand
nineteen that amended this paragraph, permanent housing to individuals
who are or were homeless or at risk of homelessness, affiliated
subtenants authorized to use such accommodations by such not-for-profit
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.
(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.
* § 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
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 installation of new equipment or improvements or new furniture
or furnishings, provided in or to a tenant's housing accommodation, on
written informed tenant consent to the rent increase. In the case of a
vacant housing accommodation, tenant consent shall not be required.
Except as provided in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, the increase
in the legal regulated rent for the affected housing accommodation shall
be one-one hundred sixty-eighth, in the case of a building with
thirty-five or fewer housing accommodations or one-one hundred eightieth
in the case of a building with more than thirty-five housing
accommodations where such increase takes effect on or after the
effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand nineteen that
amended this paragraph, of the total actual cost incurred by the
landlord up to an amount set forth in this paragraph in providing such
reasonable and verifiable modification or increase in dwelling space,
furniture, furnishings, or equipment, including the cost of installation
but excluding finance charges and any costs that exceed reasonable costs
established by rules and regulations promulgated by the division of
housing and community renewal. Such rules and regulations shall include:
(i) requirements for work to be done by licensed contractors and a
prohibition on common ownership between the landlord and the contractor
or vendor; and (ii) a requirement that the owner resolve within the
dwelling space all outstanding hazardous or immediately hazardous
violations of the Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code (Uniform
Code), New York City Fire Code, or New York City Building and Housing
Maintenance Codes, if applicable. 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. Provided
further that the recoverable costs incurred by the landlord, pursuant to
this paragraph, shall be limited to an aggregate cost pursuant to the
following:
(A) thirty thousand dollars that may be expended in a fifteen-year
period beginning with the first individual apartment improvement on or
after June fourteenth, two thousand nineteen, provided further that:
(1) if there is a tenant in place at the time the individual apartment
improvement is undertaken, no costs incurred by the landlord shall be
recoverable pursuant to this subparagraph unless the landlord obtains
written tenant consent from the tenant in place at the time the
individual apartment improvement was undertaken;
(2) increases to the legal regulated rent pursuant to this
subparagraph shall be permanent; and
(3) the thirty thousand dollars may be expended, in the aggregate, on
any number of separate individual apartment improvements in a
fifteen-year period, but in no event shall costs above thirty thousand
dollars be recoverable in a fifteen-year period pursuant to this
subparagraph.
(B) fifty thousand dollars that may be expended in a fifteen-year
period beginning with the first individual apartment improvement on or
after June fourteenth, two thousand nineteen, pursuant to regulation,
operational bulletin or such other guidance as the division of housing
and community renewal may issue, provided further that:
(1) costs shall only be recoverable by a landlord pursuant to this
subparagraph for an individual apartment improvement undertaken during a
vacancy;
(2) costs shall only be recoverable by a landlord pursuant to this
subparagraph for an individual apartment improvement if (i) the
apartment was timely registered as vacant by no later than the
thirty-first of December in each of two thousand twenty-two, two
thousand twenty-three, and two thousand twenty-four, provided that a
landlord may recover costs on this basis no more than once, or (ii) if
the apartment is vacant following a period of continuous occupancy of at
least twenty-five years that occurred immediately prior to the
commencement of such individual apartment improvement;
(3) costs shall only be recoverable by a landlord pursuant to this
subparagraph if such landlord has received prior certification to
recover costs pursuant to this subparagraph from the division of housing
and community renewal based on establishing that the landlord satisfies
one of the eligibility criteria delineated in clause two of this
subparagraph, provided further that such certification shall not be
deemed as evidence that the work performed or costs claimed for the
individual apartment improvement was substantiated or to otherwise act
as a defense in any subsequent rent overcharge proceeding,
determination, or audit;
(4) increases to the legal regulated rent pursuant to this
subparagraph shall be permanent;
(5) the increase in the legal regulated rent for the affected housing
accommodation shall be one-one hundred forty-fourth, in the case of a
building with thirty-five or fewer housing accommodations or one-one
hundred fifty-sixth in the case of a building with more than thirty-five
housing accommodations where such increase takes effect on or after the
effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand twenty-four
that amended this paragraph, of the total actual cost incurred by the
landlord up to fifty thousand dollars in providing such reasonable and
verifiable modification or increase in dwelling space, furniture,
furnishings, or equipment, including the cost of installation but
excluding finance charges and any costs that exceed reasonable costs
established by rules and regulations promulgated by the division of
housing and community renewal;
(6) costs shall only be recoverable by a landlord pursuant to this
subparagraph for an individual apartment improvement if, immediately
prior to undertaking such individual apartment improvement, the landlord
submits to the division of housing and community renewal any evidence
that the division of housing and community renewal deems necessary and
requests pursuant to regulation, operational bulletin or other guidance,
demonstrating that the improvement was necessitated by a sub-standard
condition or exceeding its useful life immediately prior to the
landlord's work to improve the unit and the landlord's planned work to
improve the unit. Such evidence shall include, but shall not be limited
to, photos of any areas, aspects or appliances in the apartment that
will be improved, and any necessary permits required to undertake the
improvements;
(7) costs shall only be recoverable by a landlord pursuant to this
subparagraph for an individual apartment improvement if, immediately
subsequent to undertaking the individual apartment improvement, the
landlord submits to the division of housing and community renewal any
evidence that the division of housing and community renewal deems
necessary and requests pursuant to regulation, operational bulletin or
other guidance, evidence of the completed work. Such evidence shall
include, but shall not be limited to, photographs of the completed work,
itemized receipts for all parts, materials, appliances, and labor costs,
and proof of payment. Provided further, the division of housing and
community renewal shall require the payment of a fee that equals one
percent of the amount claimed for the individual apartment improvement
at the time of such filing;
(8) for costs recoverable pursuant to item (ii) of clause two of this
subparagraph, the fifty thousand dollars may be expended, in the
aggregate, on any number of separate individual apartment improvements
in a fifteen-year period, but in no event shall costs above fifty
thousand dollars be recoverable in a fifteen-year period pursuant to
this subparagraph;
(9) the division of housing and community renewal may perform an audit
of any individual apartment improvement conducted pursuant to this
subparagraph to determine whether the individual apartment improvement
was undertaken in the manner described and to the extent claimed by the
landlord, whether the costs claimed were substantiated by records, and
whether the rent was properly adjusted. Such audit may incorporate an
inspection of the accommodation at bar. The landlord and the tenant
living in the accommodation may participate in such audit. In the event
the audit finds that the recoverable costs claimed by the landlord
cannot be substantiated, the resulting overcharge shall be considered to
be willful. In addition, the division of housing and community renewal
may issue any fines or penalties set forth in regulations;
(10) the division of housing and community renewal shall perform
random on-site inspections, as it deems necessary, for any unit for
which the owner seeks to recover costs pursuant to this subparagraph;
and
(11) no owner shall be eligible for the rent increase based on
individual apartment improvements pursuant to this subparagraph if,
within the five year period prior to filing such individual apartment
improvement, any unit within any building owned by any owner of the
building in which the unit for which the owner seeks an individual
apartment improvement is located, including but not limited to partial
or beneficial owners, has been the subject of an award or determination
by the division of housing and community renewal or a court of competent
jurisdiction for treble damages due to an overcharge or the owner of the
building in which the unit is located has been the subject of an award
or determination by the division of housing and community renewal or a
court of competent jurisdiction for harassment of any tenants, provided
that such owner shall provide an affidavit confirming such owner's
eligibility under this clause to the division of housing and community
renewal at the same time as, and in addition to, any other materials the
division of housing and community renewal shall require an owner to
submit pursuant to clause six of this subparagraph, and provided further
that such affidavit shall not be deemed to be evidence of compliance
with this clause or a defense in any subsequent rent overcharge
proceeding, determination, or audit.
(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 essential for the preservation, energy
efficiency, functionality, or infrastructure of the entire building,
improvement of the structure including heating, windows, plumbing and
roofing, but shall not be for operation costs or unnecessary cosmetic
improvements. An adjustment under this paragraph shall be in an amount
sufficient to amortize the cost of the improvements pursuant to this
paragraph over a twelve-year period for a building with thirty-five or
fewer housing accommodations, or a twelve and one-half period for a
building with more than thirty-five housing accommodations and shall be
removed from the legal regulated rent thirty years from the date the
increase became effective inclusive of any increases granted by the
applicable rent guidelines board, for any determination issued by the
division of housing and community renewal after the effective date of
the chapter of the laws of two thousand nineteen that amended this
paragraph. Temporary major capital improvement increases shall be
collectable prospectively on the first day of the first month beginning
sixty days from the date of mailing notice of approval to the tenant.
Such notice shall disclose the total monthly increase in rent and the
first month in which the tenant would be required to pay the temporary
increase. An approval for a temporary major capital improvement increase
shall not include retroactive payments. The collection of any increase
shall not exceed two 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. Upon vacancy, the landlord may add
any remaining balance of the temporary major capital improvement
increase to the legal regulated rent. Notwithstanding any other
provision of the law, the collection of any rent increases for any
renewal lease commencing on or after June 14, 2019, due to any major
capital improvements approved on or after June 16, 2012 and before June
16, 2019 shall not exceed two percent in any year for any tenant in
occupancy on the date the major capital improvement was approved, or
(3-a) an application for a temporary major capital improvement
increase has been filed, a tenant shall have sixty days from the date of
mailing of a notice of a proceeding in which to answer or reply. The
state division of housing and community renewal shall provide any
responding tenant with the reasons for the division's approval or denial
of such application; 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.
f-1. An owner, lessor or agent thereof shall be prohibited from
assessing a lessee any fee, surcharge or other charges for legal
services in connection with the operation or rental of a residential
unit unless the owner, lessor or agent has the legal authority to do so
pursuant to a court order. Legal services include, but are not limited
to, court fees, legal representation, attorney fees, notary public
charges, and administrative fees incurred by the owner, lessor or agent
in connection with management of the building, including actions and
proceedings in a court of law. Any agreement or assessment to the
contrary shall be void as contrary to public policy.
g. No owner of a housing accommodation subject to the provisions of
this section shall impose any surcharge for the installation and use of
a tenant-installed air conditioner unit where the tenant pays for
electric utility service.
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.
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, in consultation with the director of the
budget, 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, in
consultation with the director of the budget, 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, in
consultation with the director of the budget, as herein prescribed, the
commissioner, in consultation with the director of the budget, 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 twenty dollars per unit per year.
d. Notwithstanding subdivision c of this section or any other
provision of law to the contrary, whenever the state has incurred any
costs as a result of administering the rent regulation program for a
city having a population of one million or more in accordance with
subdivision c of this section, on or after April first of each year, the
commissioner of housing and community renewal, in consultation with the
director of the budget, shall determine an amount necessary to defray
the state's anticipated annual cost. In the event that the division does
not send a bill to the city to defray such costs in accordance with
subdivision c of this section, it shall submit to the city an invoice
showing all such costs as soon as practicable after the start of the
state fiscal year in which the costs are to be incurred. The director of
the budget may direct any other state agency to reduce the amount of any
other payment or payments owed to such city or any department, agency,
or instrumentality thereof; provided however, that such reduction shall
be made no sooner than thirty days after the transmittal of the invoice
of costs, and shall be in an amount equal to the costs incurred by the
state in administering the rent regulation program for such city in
accordance with subdivision c of this section. Within thirty days of the
receipt of the invoice of costs, the city may send to the division, in
written form, requests for additional information relating to such
costs, including any recommendations on which local assistance payment
would be reduced. If the director of the budget makes such direction in
accordance with this subdivision, the impacted city shall not make the
payments required by subdivision c of this section, and the division of
housing and community renewal shall notify such city in writing of what
payment or payments will be reduced and the amount of the reduction and
shall suballocate, as necessary, the value of the costs it incurred to
the agency or agencies which reduces the payments to such city or any
department, agency or authority thereof in accordance with this
subdivision.
e. The failure to pay the prescribed assessment not to exceed twenty
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.
f. 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.
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.
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 ensure 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 a housing accommodation for his or her
own use and occupancy or for the use and occupancy of his or her
immediate family shall permit recovery of only one housing
accommodation, shall require that an owner demonstrate immediate and
compelling need and that the housing accommodation will be the proposed
occupants' primary residence 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 fifteen 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; provided, however, that a tenant
required to surrender a housing accommodation under this subdivision
shall have a cause of action in any court of competent jurisdiction for
damages, declaratory, and injunctive relief against a landlord or
purchaser of the premises who makes a fraudulent statement regarding a
proposed use of the housing accommodation. In any action or proceeding
brought pursuant to this subdivision a prevailing tenant shall be
entitled to recovery of actual damages, and reasonable attorneys' fees.
(a-2) 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
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. For any tenant who is subject to a lease on or after the effective
date of a chapter of the laws of two thousand nineteen which amended
this subdivision, or is or was entitled to receive a renewal or vacancy
lease on or after such date, upon renewal of such lease, the amount of
rent for such housing accommodation that may be charged and paid shall
be no more than the rent charged to and paid by the tenant prior to that
renewal, as adjusted by the most recent applicable guidelines increases
and any other increases authorized by law. Provided, however, that for
buildings that are subject to this statute by virtue of a regulatory
agreement with a local government agency and which buildings receive
federal project based rental assistance administered by the United
States department of housing and urban development or a state or local
section eight administering agency, where the rent set by the federal,
state or local governmental agency is less than the legal regulated rent
for the housing accommodation, the amount of rent for such housing
accommodation which may be charged with the approval of such federal,
state or local governmental agency upon renewal or upon vacancy thereof,
may be based upon such previously established legal regulated rent, as
adjusted by the most recent applicable guidelines increases or other
increases authorized by law; and further provided that such vacancy
shall not be caused by the failure of the owner or an agent of the
owner, to maintain the housing accommodation in compliance with the
warranty of habitability set forth in subdivision one of section two
hundred thirty-five-b of the real property 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.
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.
Major capital improvements and individual apartment
improvements in rent regulated units. (a) Notwithstanding any other
provision of law to the contrary, the division of housing and community
renewal, the "division", shall promulgate rules and regulations
applicable to all rent regulated units that shall:
1. establish a schedule of reasonable costs for major capital
improvements, which shall set a ceiling for what can be recovered
through a temporary major capital improvement increase, based on the
type of improvement and its rate of depreciation;
2. establish the criteria for eligibility of a temporary major capital
improvement increase including the type of improvement, which shall be
essential for the preservation, energy efficiency, functionality or
infrastructure of the entire building, including heating, windows,
plumbing and roofing, but shall not be for operational costs or
unnecessary cosmetic improvements. Allowable improvements must
additionally be depreciable pursuant to the Internal Revenue Service,
other than for ordinary repairs, that directly or indirectly benefit all
tenants; and no increase shall be approved for group work done in
individual apartments that is otherwise not an improvement to an entire
building. Only such costs that are actual, reasonable, and verifiable
may be approved as a temporary major capital improvement increase;
3. require that any temporary major capital improvement increase
granted pursuant to these provisions be reduced by an amount equal to
(i) any governmental grant received by the landlord, where such grant
compensates the landlord for any improvements required by a city, state
or federal government, an agency or any granting governmental entity to
be expended for improvements and (ii) any insurance payment received by
the landlord where such insurance payment compensates the landlord for
any part of the costs of the improvements;
4. prohibit temporary major capital improvement increases for
buildings with outstanding hazardous or immediately hazardous violations
of the Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code (Uniform Code), New
York City Fire Code, or New York City Building and Housing Maintenance
Codes, if applicable;
5. prohibit individual apartment improvement increases for housing
accommodations with outstanding hazardous or immediately hazardous
violations of the Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code (Uniform
Code), New York City Fire Code, or New York City Building and Housing
Maintenance Codes, if applicable;
6. prohibit temporary major capital improvement increases for
buildings with thirty-five per centum or fewer rent-regulated units;
7. establish that temporary major capital improvement increases shall
be fixed to the unit and shall cease thirty years from the date the
increase became effective. Temporary major capital improvement increases
shall be added to the legal regulated rent as a temporary increase and
shall be removed from the legal regulated rent thirty years from the
date the increase became effective inclusive of any increases granted by
the local rent guidelines board;
8. establish that temporary major capital improvement increases shall
be collectible prospectively on the first day of the first month
beginning sixty days from the date of mailing notice of approval to the
tenant. Such notice shall disclose the total monthly increase in rent
and the first month in which the tenant would be required to pay the
temporary increase. An approval for a temporary major capital
improvement increase shall not include retroactive payments. The
collection of any increase shall not exceed two 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. Upon vacancy,
the landlord may add any remaining balance of the temporary major
capital improvement increase to the legal regulated rent.
Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, for any renewal lease
commencing on or after June 14, 2019, the collection of any rent
increases due to any major capital improvements approved on or after
June 16, 2012 and before June 16, 2019 shall not exceed two percent in
any year for any tenant in occupancy on the date the major capital
improvement was approved;
9. ensure that the application procedure for temporary major capital
improvement increases shall include an itemized list of work performed
and a description or explanation of the reason or purpose of such work;
10. provide, that where an application for a major capital improvement
rent increase has been filed, a tenant shall have sixty days from the
date of mailing of a notice of a proceeding in which to answer or reply;
11. establish a notification and documentation procedure for
individual apartment improvements that requires an itemized list of work
performed and a description or explanation of the reason or purpose of
such work, inclusive of photographic evidence documenting the condition
prior to and after the completion of the performed work. Provide for the
centralized electronic retention of such documentation and any other
supporting documentation to be made available in cases pertaining to the
adjustment of legal regulated rents; and
12. establish a form in the top six languages other than English
spoken in the state according to the latest available data from the U.S.
Bureau of Census for an individual apartment improvement rent increase
for a tenant in occupancy which shall be used by landlords to obtain
written informed consent that shall include the estimated total cost of
the improvement and the estimated monthly rent increase. Such consent
shall be executed in the tenant's primary language. Such form shall be
completed and preserved in the centralized electronic retention system
to be operational by June 14, 2020, provided further that any changes to
the form required due to the individual apartment improvement being
permanent shall be completed as of October 14, 2024. Nothing herein
shall relieve a landlord, lessor, or agent thereof of such person's duty
to retain proper documentation of all improvements performed or any rent
increases resulting from said improvements.
13. (i) where an owner combines two or more vacant housing
accommodations or combines a vacant housing accommodation with an
occupied housing accommodation, such initial rent for such new housing
accommodation shall be the combined legal rent for both previous housing
accommodations, subject to any applicable guideline increases and any
other increases authorized by this chapter including any individual
apartment improvement increases applicable for both housing
accommodations. If an owner combines a rent regulated accommodation with
an apartment not subject to rent regulation, the resulting apartment
shall be subject to this act. If an owner increases the area of an
apartment not subject to rent regulation by adding space that was
previously part of a rent regulated apartment, each apartment shall be
subject to this act.
(ii) where an owner substantially increases the outer dimension of a
vacant housing accommodation, such initial rent shall be the prior rent
of such housing accommodation, increased by a percentage that is equal
to the percentage increase in the dwelling space and such other
increases authorized by this act including any applicable guideline
increase and individual apartment improvement increase that could be
authorized for the unit prior to the alteration of the outer dimensions.
(iii) notwithstanding subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of this paragraph,
such increases may be denied based on the occurrence of such vacancy due
to harassment, fraud, or other acts of evasion which may require that
such rent be set in accordance with section twelve of this act.
(iv) where the vacant housing accommodations are combined, modified,
divided or the dimension of such housing accommodation otherwise altered
and these changes are being made pursuant to a preservation regulatory
agreement with a federal, state or local governmental agency or
instrumentality, the rent stabilized rents charged thereafter shall be
based on an initial rent set by such agency or instrumentality.
(v) where an owner substantially decreases the outer dimensions of a
vacant housing accommodation, such initial rent shall be the prior rent
of such housing accommodation, decreased by the same percentage the
square footage of the original apartment was decreased by and such other
increases authorized by this act including any applicable guideline
increase and individual apartment improvement increase that could be
authorized for the apartment prior to the alteration of the outer
dimensions.
(vi)(1) when an owner combines two or more rent regulated apartments,
the owner may use each of the previous apartments' remaining individual
apartment improvement allowances for the purposes of a temporary
individual apartment improvement rent increase. The owner shall
subsequently designate a surviving apartment for the purposes of
registration that has the same apartment number as one of the prior
apartments. If that prior apartment has any reimbursable individual
apartment improvement money remaining after the combination, that money
may be reimbursed for future individual apartment improvements
undertaken within the subsequent fifteen years following the
combination.
(2) in order for an owner to qualify for a temporary individual
apartment improvement rent increase when apartments are combined, the
requirements for an individual apartment improvement, including all
notification requirements under this act shall be met.
(vii) owners shall maintain the records and rent histories of all
combined apartments, both prior to and post combination, for the
purposes of rent setting, overcharge and all other proceedings to which
the records are applicable.
(b) The division shall establish an annual inspection and audit
process which shall review twenty-five percent of applications for a
temporary major capital improvement increase that have been submitted
and approved. Such process shall include individual inspections and
document review to ensure that owners complied with all obligations and
responsibilities under the law for temporary major capital improvement
increases. Inspections shall include in-person confirmation that such
improvements have been completed in such way as described in the
application.
(c) The division shall issue a notice to the landlord and all the
tenants sixty days prior to the end of the temporary major capital
improvement increase and shall include the initial approved increase and
the total amount to be removed from the legal regulated rent inclusive
of any increases granted by the applicable rent guidelines board.
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.
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. 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. After a complaint of rent overcharge has been
filed and served on an owner, the voluntary adjustment of the rent
and/or the voluntary tender of a refund of rent overcharges shall not be
considered by the division of housing and community renewal or a court
of competent jurisdiction as evidence that the overcharge was not
willful. (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 most recent
reliable annual registration statement for a rent stabilized tenant
filed and served upon the tenant six or more 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. The division of housing and community renewal
or a court of competent jurisdiction, in investigating complaints of
overcharge and in determining legal regulated rent, shall consider all
available rent history which is reasonably necessary to make such
determinations. (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 six 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 six years, the
initial legal regulated rent) plus in each case, any lawful increases
and adjustments. Where the rent charged on the date six years prior to
the date of the initial registration of the accommodation cannot be
established, such rent shall be established by the division.
(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 may be filed with the
state division of housing and community renewal or in a court of
competent jurisdiction at any time, however any recovery of overcharge
penalties shall be limited to the six years preceding the complaint.
(ii) A penalty of three times the overcharge shall be assessed upon
all overcharges willfully collected by the owner starting six years
before the complaint is filed.
(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. The courts and the
division shall have concurrent jurisdiction, subject to the tenant's
choice of forum.
(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.
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) Except where a specific provision of this law requires the
maintenance of rent records for a longer period, including records of
the useful life of improvements made to any housing accommodation or any
building, 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 six years prior to the most recent registration
or annual statement for such accommodation. However, an owner's election
not to maintain records shall not limit the authority of the division of
housing and community renewal and the courts to examine the rental
history and determine legal regulated rents pursuant to this
subdivision.
(9) The division of housing and community renewal and the courts, in
investigating complaints of overcharge and in determining legal
regulated rents, shall consider all available rent history which is
reasonably necessary to make such determinations, including but not
limited to (a) any rent registration or other records filed with the
state division of housing and community renewal, or any other state,
municipal or federal agency, regardless of the date to which the
information on such registration refers; (b) any order issued by any
state, municipal or federal agency; (c) any records maintained by the
owner or tenants; and (d) any public record kept in the regular course
of business by any state, municipal or federal agency. Nothing contained
in this paragraph shall limit the examination of rent history relevant
to a determination as to:
(i) whether the legality of a rental amount charged or registered is
reliable in light of all available evidence including, but not limited
to, whether an unexplained increase in the registered or lease rents, or
a fraudulent scheme to destabilize the housing accommodation, rendered
such rent or registration unreliable;
(ii) whether an accommodation is subject to the emergency tenant
protection act;
(iii) whether an order issued by the division of housing and community
renewal or a court of competent jurisdiction, including, but not limited
to an order issued pursuant to section seven of this act, or any
regulatory agreement or other contract with any governmental agency, and
remaining in effect within six years of the filing of a complaint
pursuant to this section, affects or limits the amount of rent that may
be charged or collected;
(iv) whether an overcharge was or was not willful;
(v) whether a rent adjustment that requires information regarding the
length of occupancy by a present or prior tenant was lawful;
(vi) the existence or terms and conditions of a preferential rent, or
the propriety of a legal registered rent during a period when the
tenants were charged a preferential rent;
(vii) the legality of a rent charged or registered immediately prior
to the registration of a preferential rent; or
(viii) the amount of the legal regulated rent where the apartment was
vacant or temporarily exempt on the date six years prior to a tenant's
complaint.
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. 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. The courts and the division shall have concurrent
jurisdiction, subject to the tenant's choice of forum.
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.
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. In addition to all
other requirements set forth in this subdivision, in the event a timely
rent registration is not filed and after notice of such delinquency is
provided by the division of housing and community renewal to the owner
in the form of electronic mail and mail to the address listed in the
owner's most recent registration statement, the owner shall be subject
to a fine of five hundred dollars per unregistered unit for each month
the registration is delinquent. Such a fine shall be imposed by order,
and such order imposing a fine shall be deemed a final determination for
the purposes of judicial review. Such fine 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 by the division of housing and community
renewal.
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.
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.
Application of act. The provisions of this act shall be
applicable:
a. in the city of New York; and
b. in all counties within the state of New York outside the city of
New York and shall become and remain effective only in a city, town or
village located therein as provided in section three of this act.